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I just filed to ESPNLA about this week's back-and-forth in the Dodgers' bankrtuptcy case. I'll update this post with a link when one is available (UPDATE: here's the link), and I'll tweet it out as well. Meanwhile, here's a chart offered by MLB to summarize the differences between its plan (selling the Dodgers) and Frank's (selling the TV rights). Some zooming may be necessary.
MLB Chart
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Seven Reasons for Optimism in 2012
9 minutes ago
Of all the articles I have read since Frank McCourt purchased the Dodgers, this article from Bloomberg is the smoking gun of all articles, and firmly espouses the "real" reason behind Bud Selig and MLB's nuclear option to remove Frank as owner. In particular, the recognition that Selig would only choose an owner who agreed to not pursue a RSN, leading to the ten year extension by McCourt when Eli Broad was waiting in the wings, is breathtaking and offers the most concrete example that MLB was involved in unfair labor practices and tampering by his selective approval of other teams partial stake in their own networks, while hampering any Dodger owner from doing the same. While not technically allowable by Gross, you can be sure this will be a MAJOR part of McCourt's examination of the commissioner, among many other highly pressurized revelations, such as the approved Steinberg e-mails that were granted by Gross today. By Selig refusing the HighBridge loan to Frank, that constituted bad faith, which allowed Frank to negotiate an ownership stake the in the FOX contract, which Selig refused in direct selectivity to other franchises. However this plays out, the fact that it took this long for even one media outlet to finally recognize that from the beginning this was MLBs ploy to keep revenue for themselves and out of the hands of far more financially viable owners back in '04 is a scandal of epic proportions. READ THIS ARTICLE!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-24/selig-bends-rules-to-fit-as-baseball-attempts-to-oust-mccourt-from-dodgers.html
Thanks Josh for putting this up. MLB's chart seems accurate to me. Plenty of evidence for MLB to support all of those claims.
ReplyDeleteTony, maybe you are sincere that you're not biased towards McCourt, but it seems evident you just despise Selig so much that you'd rather see anyone but him win.
No one is denying what kind of an idiot Selig has been. He's made some pretty awful decisions with the steroid issue and letting Frank become owner of the Dodgers without a careful examination. I for one would LOVE to see him gone. In this case, however Selig is trying to right a wrong that he made. If he loses, the Dodger fans will be the biggest losers.
That being said, from a legal standpoint Frank needs to prove to the judge that he can get out of bankruptcy with the creditors paid and the team being 100% solvent. That won't happen because there's too much uncertainty with future lawsuits and too much current debt as is. The numbers are not in Frank's favor.
If the judge voids the current contract and allows the media auction Fox will sue and collect a LOT of money for breach of contract and lost advertisement commitments for 2012 and 2013. What kind of an upfront payment does Frank need? $500 million at least to cover the lawsuit and the creditors, and that's even if the judge allows him to use funds outside of Dodger related business.
But Frank nor his attorneys are even thinking about that. If their plan next week is just to scorch Selig or the rest of the owners for that manner, the judge isn't going to be impressed. He'll just be irked.
It's all about the creditors and the only way viable way Frank can cover them is to sell the team and related properties.
As much of an idiot that Bud Selig is, Frank signed on to play by his rules. One of which stated that an owner is NOT allowed to take a team into bankruptcy against MLB's wishes. Frank's odds of getting the media auction are thin, and even if he does just to repay the creditors on his terms it's certain he'll be voted out.
It's fine to hate the commissioner Tony, but at what cost? Do you really want the Dodger fans to suffer?
Bottom line is that Frank McCourt is not good for Dodger fans, period.
ReplyDeleteStrike One. The official creditors' committee asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross to deny the Dodgers their proposed television rights auction and a prompt sale of the team.
ReplyDeleteStrike Two. Fox asks the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross deny the Dodgers their proposed television rights auction and a prompt sale of the team. Fox sues the Dodgers. Strike Three. The MLB asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross to deny the Dodgers their proposed television rights auction and a prompt sale of the team. Strike Four. Read all the Dunkin' Doughnuts franchise lawsuits. If Judge Gross follows any of the same rulings in court, Frank's is as good as gone. Again. How many strikes in baseball is a batter allowed in baseball?
Frank McCourt = bad for creditors and even worse for Dodgers fans.
ReplyDeleteI for one would love to see Frank and Jamie featured on "American Greed", after the IRS completes their investigation of those two cons for not paying taxes and all the scams they've created.
ReplyDeleteFrank is very nearly done. It is extremely hard to imagine how he will satisfy Judge Gross's insistence that the case be resolved by December 2011, while simultaneously allowing the sale of TV rights, an option that would surely result in protracted legal actions outside the courtroom. Fox now opposes giving Frank additional lifelines, and so even if he wanted to negotiate a Fox extension, it is doubtful he would get it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I must say, "unfair labor practices" is a new one, and one of the best yet from Mr. Forkush. Must be some really good drugs.
Bud very clearly made a bad decision in allowing McCourt to buy the team in the first place. Even admitting that doesn't give Frank the right to keep the team. It was a clear concession to Fox to bend their rules in the first place.
ReplyDeleteFrank's lawyers can point to all of Selig's words of praise of Frank when he bought the team. And Bud can say he thought those words were true at the time, and clearly Frank has proven me wrong. The McCourts trying to turn the blame on Selig for low attendance is just crazy.
With all the other looting going on, how can Frank explain paying his sons exorbitant salaries for work they didn't even do? Doesn't that practice sort of fall under racketeering? At the end of the day, when the bankruptcy court's job is to ensure creditors are paid in full, and the creditors' committee recommends the sale of the team, I think Frank would have to have an incredibly compelling case for Judge Gross to allow his twisted game of using the bankruptcy court to skirt his legal responsibilities to Fox and to MLB. And he hasn't shown one compelling argument yet.
Clearly some of you do not know what an executory contract is, nor do you know how much discretion a bankruptcy judge has in his court. See the RICO violation by the BK judge who gave GM to the unions.
ReplyDeleteFrank has to prove to the BK Judge that he is solvent, that all creditors can be paid over time and that the Dodgers are no longer in violation of the MLB Debt to EBITDA formula. That he can due if (1) the BK judge rules that the Fox contract is an executory contract and is therefore void resulting in no grounds for a lawsuit by Fox, (2) certain lawsuits are not filed until after the club is out of BK, (3) receiving a large signing bonus from the part with the new TV contract. Being able to obtain revenue that is considered as income under GAAP and eliminating debt such as what is now owed to Jamie is how Frank wins.
Bud needs to convince the owners and players that Frank is bad for baseball and then collectively amend the CBA to include all intra-family debt as debt under the CBA and give Bud the right to approve and/or prevent any distributions to owners and intercompany payments so long as there is deferred compensation owed to any players.
I want Frank out but please be objective.
Bud bent the rules for MCCourt to allow him into the MLB owners club. What Frank did from there is all on him. If someone gives you an oppurtunity and "you" screw it up, who's fault is it? Yours!
ReplyDeleteHey Ken, be objective? all we have to have is some common sense. Suppose McCourt is allowed to get the tv contract and an advance payment. All he will be doing is to steal from the future to pay for current debt. So what will he do for income in the future? other than to cut costs and payroll? Franks goodwill with the fans is gone and thus attendance. I'm sure Franks tv contract dollar amount was indirectly based on advertising, attendance and tv viewership. If no one goes to the games, you can deduct many are not watching on the tv thus advetisers will pay less and with less income for FOX, less money they will pay Frank. The Dodgers value is in decline as long as Frank is the owner. Put Mark Cuban in charge and the value will skyrocket. There is no way McCourt can stay owner
ReplyDeleteJust as I have been saying for months and months, behind the scenes mediation is going to eventually settle the proceedings. Retired Judge Farnan, who was secretly appointed in July and who has had seven known mediation sessions, is no doubt getting ready for the most serious and sincere yet. There was no way that Bud Selig, a man who some have chattered may be exhibiting signs of dementia, will ever testify. Nor will Tom Schieffer, nor Rob Manfred. It will never get to that point. It is far too risky for MLB to potentially open itself up to such scrutiny, and one can be sure that Frank's legal people are licking their chops for that opportunity, ripe with all of the documents they are combing over. At the end of the day, I cannot fathom a more propitious ending to this insanity than a settlement in which Selig, who needs a going away celebration next year which ongoing acrimony prevents, will not waive the "best interests of Baseball" olive branch and issue forth a Camp David like resolution to this wasteful and ongoing Dodger spectacle. The FOX contract will be approved and, restructuring eventually granted, McCourt resumes as the defacto "first time" sole owner of the team, a promise to utilize revenue specifically for the team, and everything returning to status quo, which it has always been anyway, and would remain that way even if the team were ordered sold. All roads lead to Selig's and, I strongly suspect, the other owner's growing discomfort with this ever getting to an oath. Watch, you'll see.
ReplyDeleteI always find conspiratorialists boring. The BK judge will rule and that will be the end of it. And I suspect that Vegas would bet that Frank to win is +900.
ReplyDeleteTo the above poster who thinks Tony is merely an extreme Selig hater:
ReplyDeleteGo check the comments of Bill Shaikin's latest article at LA Times and check out Tony's comment. He's not only an extreme Selig hater, but also a paranoid conspiracy theorist and McCourt worshipper.
Tony, Congratulations, you have won the award for the most thumb downs ever of anyone who has blog in the L.A. Times. Seems like you are a want to be delusional attorney. Fellow bloggers, please check out all of Tony Forkush postings in the L.A. Sports Page Comments.
ReplyDeleteHere is Tony Forkush blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tonyforkush.blogspot.com/
I want to thank every single one of you who have stooped to personal attacks on me as a person, whom you have never met, literally know nothing about who I am or what I do, and have developed a prejudice about that is literally terrifying. The fact that I have shown total restraint, have never responded in kind, is one of the proudest things I have ever done. It has been an eye opening experience to realize the smallness that exists on the web, that attacks on people trumps attacks on opinions, and yet I have stood up to these thuggish bullys and have not altered my stance. I didn't realize I had it in me. Thanks, mom and dad. You taught me well. Hopelessly sad state of affairs, however, and one that challenges the deepest limits of my ability to love and forgive. I understand, now, why youths commit suicide with impunity after the evil that is spawned by the hollow men. What a dreadful illness, lack of empathy and lonliness must be motivating such needs. To simply state ones opinions in this country is dangerous business. Twas ever thus, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteDID WE JUST SEE SELIG BLINK?
ReplyDeleteThe continuance of the trial of Frank's attempt to sell the tv rights is a strong indication that MLB and Selig's position may not be as strong as advertises (even if their lawyers can create a nice chart). I read the Bloomberg article mentioned by Tony (above), and I can see why Selig would prefer not to take the stand.
While McCourt's franchise agreement with MLB gives Selig great latitude, given the erratic history of Selig's exercise of the capital requirements that he established, I would think that he would have a lot of trouble justifying his position in the bankruptcy court. Even if MLB did win the point, his examination at trial would clearly demonstrate that the Commissioner is wearing not clothes.
Tony you are a strange little man. You know your posts will upset Dodger fans as we have fresh wounds from Frank McFraud. He is destroying some thing we all hold dear. Our beloved Dodgers. How can you claim to be a fan of the Dodgers as Frank has run us on deferred payments, taken most of the money from scouting, as well as cutting back security to where its an UNSAFE EXPERIENCE going to Dodger games. You stoop so low as to write about childs suicide??? That is the depths of where a dilusional human being goes. Good luck on life!! Cheering on Frank you would either need to be related to him (thus being paid) or are on his payroll. Keep up your posts and people will hate you as they do Frank!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat I read out of what Ken said is simply this: there is law, and then there is justice. Justice says Frankie should be tarred and feathered and ride the rail all the way back to Boston. The Law says - he has a shot at this.
ReplyDeleteI find it all tragically comical. One thing I remember reading about this cockroach when he first slithered under the door was his propensity to sue the living crap out of all his partners. And here's the thing, evidently he was damn successful at it.
Selig and the owners let a scorpion into their private men's club. Pucker up boys.
Tony, Congratulations, you have now won the strange little man award.
ReplyDeleteTony you put your name and opinion out on the web then you have to deal with people's responses. Like the person said above, you know your comments are going to piss Dodger fans off. Sports fans are not about common sense, we are about passion. Passion makes me throw things around the house when Bills throws a cock shot down the middle, or when Lilly gives up another dinger. If I didn't agree you winning the "Strange Little Man Award" I might lash out at you too. On the note that you have been right month after month keep in mind you have been saying that Frank will keep the team, if Frank sells then you have been wrong all along. Time will tell
ReplyDeleteAnthonyForkush at 6:52 PM October 26, 2011
ReplyDeleteNice try, Mr. President (of the Baseball Writers Association of America...however you got that gig). This is obviously more press smear released quickly upon the announcement of the postponement in order to make Frank appear weakened and MLB, of which Bill Shaiken is a proxy, appear on stable ground in these matters. It is smear 101, in which he cites more of his anonymous sources, that we are all expected to believe, not unlike most of his articles to date. More desperation from MLB as the hearing date approaches and Frank's legal team brings to bear freshly bound documents in which to expose Selig's shams.
Thumbs Up 0 Thumbs down 15
In response to Tony's Oct. 27th 9:40am post..
ReplyDeleteThe News Corp./Fox Sports contract won't be approved, even if restructured. It is too long, it puts in upfront money, but way undervalues a team in the second largest media market. Fox Sports could make a huge amount of money on ad revenue, and cable subscriptions while the Dodgers are contractually stuck with a set annual fee every year.
Any new TV contract whether with News Corp./Fox Sports or with Time Warner will not solve the Dodgers financial problem as much as it give it short term financial relief. The Dodgers are carrying a way too high debt load, and any more loans will be acquired with higher interests to pay off past loans, besides the Dodgers appeared to have a problem getting short term loans to pay off basic things like salaries, everyday bills, etc.
Frank McCourt can sue everyone he wants, and do a repeat of what Al Davis has done in the past couple years. However, his debt load limits his options. If he had some serious revenue streams, or didn't collateralize and securitized pretty all his revenue streams, (parking lot fees, season ticket holders payments, gate receipts, etc) he could have a fighting chance to keep the Dodgers. McCourt is really at the end of his rope. His business plan was always risky to start with, and it has failed. He was over leveraged to start and he refused to be financially prudent.
The McCourts should had done, when they decided to end their marriage, is hold off on filing divorce, and quietly find prospective buyers for the Dodgers. They would had gotten a pretty good deal then and had less of a debt load, than now, where the Dodgers probably added more than $100 million in debt to their books since 2009, with the debtor in possession financing and MLB financing..
I'm not sure what Mr. Forkush is talking about when he says that MLB doesn't want Selig, Schieffer, or Manfred testifying at the BK trial because that would open up MLB to unwanted scrutiny of their dealings with other teams. Judge Gross has already ruled that McCourt will not be able to examine the financial documents of the other Major League teams. Gross said, "To open this up at this point to all of baseball, to the other 29 teams, would be more burdensome than is appropriate and perhaps not even relevant to the issue of bad faith." McCourt is gone when the judge rules (or sooner if the reports of a settlement with MLB to sell the team are true).
ReplyDeleteDid you any stronger proof that Selig is a complete doofus than his performance presenting the Qorld Series trophy? The personality of a snail.
ReplyDeleteMark Cuban would be a good owner however I suspect that real estate is not yet one of his more serious interests and therefore he would desire to create a consortium before investing in the entire Dodger empire.
ReplyDeleteThink Executory Contracts. Think BK Judge discretion.
The BK Judge will open the bidding for a TV contract much more generous tot he Dodgers then the alleged existing offer from Fox IF he rules that the existing TV contract is an executory contract. If the BK Judge does rules that the existing TV contract is NOT an executory contract, then I do no see a road that allows Frank to win.
I have been watching this whole process with grim fascination since its beginning stages. Once he brought the Dodgers into bankruptcy, my thought was that he would lose the team and that he knew it deep down.
ReplyDeleteHowever, since he was shrewd enough to separate the entities into a bucketload of companies, he could be selective in what he sold to meet his obligations. My thought was that he would be resigned to selling the Dodgers and the Stadium. However, I think he wanted to keep the parking lots the way Tom Hicks did when he sold the Rangers. In that context, Selig may have even allowed it if a reasonable use agreement could be reached. Now, however, as all of this has unfolded and his obligations (and potential debts re: Stow) have skyrocketed, I think that the land around the stadium for development may be the end game. If he could sell the Dodgers, Stadium, and parking lots for $1B or so, he may be able to keep the real estate in an effort to develop it or just keep it and leverage it into something useful.
This would leave him with the Bingham/McCutcheon lawsuit and a hundred acres or so of undeveloped, downtown real estate. That could leave him with $250M or so to, you know, buy other stuff he can't afford.
THE BINGHAM-MCCUTCHEON LAWSUIT HAS THE VALUE OF A BUCKET OF SPIT.
ReplyDeleteFolks keep harping on the Bingham suit as a bid deal, but the simple point is that the judge's decision in the divorce case was that there hade never been a meeting of the minds as between Frank and Jamie. If there was no agreeement, then the lawyers "mistake" in drafting the agreement is of no consequence. To quote Chick, "No harm, no foul." The lawyer made a mistake, but his mistake was not the cause of Frank's problem. If Frank and Jamie had clearly concluded an agreement and there was a fatal defect in the agreement, Frank would have a case, but as it stands, I don't think Frank's case is worth much.
If Frank wanted a post nupitial agreement that would hold up in Family Law Court, he would need a very detailed contract, that would specifically lists value of items, Jamie's or Frank's specific compensation if one party retain a very valuable property or business, and a very clear waiver that is signed and notarized by each party acknowledging their rights to contest ownership of the stated property/valuable asset in lieu of a cash payout..
ReplyDeleteWhat Frank and Jamie set up was an assets protection/shield protection plan in case of McCourts went bankrupt from running the Dodgers. It wasn't made to be post nuptial agreement, and it was a poorly written assets shields agreement. The McCourts were hardly going to be their assets shielded if they looted $190 million out of the Dodgers, and used that money to buy more property and maintain the upkeep of their properties bought before the purchase of the Dodgers in 2004.
Hey Tony....I do not seeing you posting any of your smart @ss comments now. Frank WILL SELL THE DODGERS SOON. And every Dodger fan will be throwing parties and saying their prayers that the EVIL OWNERSHIP OF THE MCCOURTS WILL OFFICIALLY BE OVER =)
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to that strange little man named Tony ?
ReplyDeleteBill Shaikin says:
ReplyDeleteMcCourt agrees to sell #Dodgers. Team to be auctioned in bankruptcy court. More soon at latimes.com/sports.
What do you have to say now Tony?
ReplyDeleteDodgers and MLB issue joint statement confirming McCourt will sell team.
ReplyDeleteYAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAY any sale price be eaten up by their debt. The McCourts deserve to Make NOTHING for running the team into the ground, and making all of L.A. hate them.
ReplyDeleteJosh, Thank You for all the work you have done covering the Dodgers through these tough times being a Dodger fan.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so sad about this whole melodrama from the divorce to the Dodgers declaring bankruptcy to the auctioning off of the team.. all of it could had been avoided if both parties in the divorce sat down before filing divorce papers and made a deal. Both Frank and Jamie would had gotten more money in selling the Dodgers and more of a profit that is now eaten up by more debt accumulated in two years, lawsuits, and a tax bill that will be a huge headache for both of them.
ReplyDeleteIt was beyond stupid to go to trial on the divorce, given what was released in the public domain, from the $190 million in equity taken out of the Dodgers by the McCourts, to their business plan that they presented to MLB when they were buying the team in 2003/2004. (ie cutting payroll while raising ticket prices.)
They should never ever been approved by MLB baseball in the first place. There were red flags from the start about their financing, and whether they could pull it off. Obviously they didn’t pull it off, and both Frank and Jamie were incompetent in running a MLB baseball organization.
Well, that's that then.
ReplyDeleteHurray!
Many thanks to the BK Judge for letting Frank know that he would not give Frank the only avenue for victory. Too bad Bryan Cave does not allow more legal opinoons in Josh's writings.
ReplyDeleteWHERE IS MARSHALL GROSSMAN NOW?
ReplyDeleteGrossman is the missing man in this whole picture. He started Frank's downward spiral by allowing Frank to throw gasoline on the fire (firing Jamie) at the start. He further inflamed things by calling her virtue into question -- a totally irrelevant issue under California's no fault divorce law. He produces the property agreement as Frank's silver bullet, only to see it explode -- largely due to the mistakes of one his partners. He did create the most expensive divorce in California history.
Is there some reason that I don't see Marshall on the tube taking credit for Frank's victorious end?
We seem to be a bit out of date here at the moment...
ReplyDeleteI now notice the absence of Mr. Forkush, both here and on the comments of the LAT story announcing the deal. He was right about a negotiated settlement, but wrong, utterly, catastrophically, and (IMO) gleefully wrong about Frank retaining the Dodgers.
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe Tony Forkush illusional statements like this one of Bill Shaikin:
ReplyDelete"Nice try, Mr. President (of the Baseball Writers Association of America..however you got that gig)." This is obviously more press smear released quickly upon the announcement of the postponement in order to make Frank appear weakened and MLB, of which Bill Shaiken is a proxy, appear on stable ground in these matters.
Will you be closing down this site now, or does it still make sense to check in here? Do you expect to be posting?
ReplyDelete"This is really a very fascinating post, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou will find numerous blogs on this topic
but this 1 states precisely what I think also."
Divorce Mediation Los Angeles
Bryan Cave must have put a gag order on this website!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are just working Josh so hard that he does not have time to post updates. Josh, let us know that you are alive!!!
ReplyDeleteMe thinks he became a Cardinal fan!
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