NEW YORK, June 27 (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming Major League Baseball for refusing to approve a television deal with News Corp’s Fox Network to give the financially strapped baseball team a quick injection of cash.
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has been struggling to meet payroll and other financial commitments, having been heavily in debt and locked in a bitter divorce battle with his former wife Jamie tied to the team’s ownership.
On June 20, the league rejected a proposed $3 billion, 17-year transaction with Fox, saying it would not be in the best interests of the Dodgers, the game and fans. Baseball has been monitoring the Dodgers’ day-to-day operations.
McCourt in a statement, blamed baseball Commissioner Bud Selig for the filing.
“We brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago,” McCourt said. “Yet he’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today.”
Patrick Courtney, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, had no immediate comment.
The Dodgers said it has arranged $150 million of financing so that it can keep operating normally while in bankruptcy.
Its Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware shows between $500 million and $1 billion of assets and between $100 million and $500 million of liabilities.
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has been struggling to meet payroll and other financial commitments, having been heavily in debt and locked in a bitter divorce battle with his former wife Jamie tied to the team’s ownership.
On June 20, the league rejected a proposed $3 billion, 17-year transaction with Fox, saying it would not be in the best interests of the Dodgers, the game and fans. Baseball has been monitoring the Dodgers’ day-to-day operations.
McCourt in a statement, blamed baseball Commissioner Bud Selig for the filing.
“We brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago,” McCourt said. “Yet he’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today.”
Patrick Courtney, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, had no immediate comment.
The Dodgers said it has arranged $150 million of financing so that it can keep operating normally while in bankruptcy.
Its Chapter 11 filing in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware shows between $500 million and $1 billion of assets and between $100 million and $500 million of liabilities.
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