Friday, March 23, 2012

And Then There Were Three

From "Dodgers bidders cut to Cohen, Magic, Kroenke" by Bill Shaikin at the LA Times:

The field of Dodgers bidders was cut to three on Friday, and a winner could be identified as soon as next week.

The three finalists: a group led by hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen and Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Patrick Soon-Shiong; a group led by Magic Johnson and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten; and St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke.

The parties eliminated: a partnership between Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and Los Angeles investor Tony Ressler; and a bid by Stanley Gold and the family of the late Roy Disney.

Maybe you've read how Cohen's bid includes the threat of Tony La Russa in an executive capacity, which would presumably scare away progressive-minded management. Which is why it's disappointing Lakers minority shareholder Soon-Shiong partnered with Cohen and not Magic. With Cohen the frontrunner, we can't expect Frank McCourt to do the right thing for the city of Los Angeles and choose Magic...but we can hope.

3 comments:

Greg Hao said...

With Cohen's present bid some $200MM short of the Magic/Kasten/Walter group, I think the only people who think Cohen's bid is "in the lead" all reside within the executive suites of MLB's offices but those aren't the people who will make the final decision.

To be honest, I doubt anybody knows who actually is "in the lead" or what that even means right now.

rbnlaw said...

The only "lead" I care about is someone leading Silent Sam Kroenke out the door.

Dude is poison.

Is there a booze thread near by?

jmk said...

I hope that MLB Owners understand that anyone besides the Magic team getting the Dodgers will be viewed negatively by the LA public (warily at best) and very negatively by Dodger fans. If McCourt has any role or connection still with the new owner, either with the Parking Lots or in any other capacity, same thing. That new owner will come in with a yoke around his neck and a dark cloud above him in the eyes of Dodger fans. I really hope that McCourt's advisers at Blackstone/ Blackwater/ Whatever Co. encourage him to have his parting quip be one that doesn't leave the new owner with a huge hill to climb. Basically, they can make it easy, or hard for themselves in the eyes of the public. I hope for once the right thing gets done.