MLB – Los Angeles Dodgers File for Bankruptcy Protection

Things are not going too well for the Dodgers. Many are wondering why Frank McCourt decided to file right now for Bankruptcy protection, considering that they have been dragging this issue for quite a while. It seems only appropriate to guess that it has something to do with the soon to be expired deadline. Some reporters have come to believe that the Dodgers would fail to make payroll this next month, something that would give the MLB the power to overrun the Dodgers.

In a statement given to the press little after the team had filled for Chapter 11 protection in a court in Delaware, Frank McCourt said that this wouldn’t had been necessary should the MLB commissioner, Bud Selig, had approved a multibillion dollar TV deal with FOX Sports News.

The Chapter 11 financing will buy McCourt some time, providing that he has enough evidence and financial records to convince the judge that he is still capable of overturning this situation and basically of running the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Chapter 11 financing permits the Dodgers to use $150 million for daily operations and buys time for the team to seek a media deal and ensure the team’s long-term financial stability.

McCourt didn’t hold back against his critics and threw out a full on attack against the league. He defended his work at the helm of the Dodgers and basically kept on insisting that the MLB commissioner, Bud Selig, was going to intentionally put the Dodgers in a precarious economic situation by not allowing him to seal off the TV deal with FOX. In the statement, McCourt said the following: “We turned the team around financially after years of annual losses before I purchased the team. We invested $150 million in the stadium. We’ve had excellent on-field performance, including playoff appearances four times in seven years.

This is the bottom of the issue, what it all comes down to: money. It is still uncertain on what grounds commissioner Bud Selig didn’t approve the Dodgers television deal with Fox Sports. All we know is that it has become a nightmare for the Dodgers and its fans.

McCourt said later on that his team brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge the team reported to the MLB a year ago.