Comments on: Teams That Grind My Gears – The Real Tragedy of the Los Angeles Dodgers http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/ What your view of sports would be if you had too many concussions Sun, 19 May 2013 17:20:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: tophatal http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1431 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:58:26 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1431 The financial instruments will ultimately also rain down on the commercial market ….. Mortgage Backed Securities were also being used there as well and the fallout is about to arrive there . Look at the situation with the Glazers who own both the Bucs (NFL) and Man Utd (EPL) ? Their commercial property company is hemorrhaging red ink because their entities are less than 70 % occupied .

tophatal ……………..

]]> By: tophatal http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1430 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:53:05 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1430 They weren’t that far apart and in the case of both the Cubs and Rangers the parties in question had to be force the creditors’ situation to take cents on the dollar . As to value of the real estate it’s a misnomer to think it’s great to be sitting on a commercial property or any type of real estate that’s not garnering a return . What’s the land worth that Dodgers’ Stadium sits on at present ?
You’re kidding yourself if you think that the Dodgers is worth even 20 to thirty times their earnings if that .

And it has to tell you something if someone like billionaire philanthropist shows no interest in the Dodgers whatsoever . Real estate prices have been depreciating and they’re not about to jump back to the pre 2005 levels anytime soon. Have you seen what’s happening with prices for REIT’s ?

And don’t forget the debt that McCourt has laden the club with so do you really feel that someone will overpay and absorb that debt as well ?

Try telling Trump that now with the as he’s seen the value of his portfolios and developments decline . His property development in Palo Verdes is undergoing some real problems . He places a book value on it of $1.5 billion but in reality it’s not even worth half that amount as of now . Of the 75 mansions built he’s only sold three and through creative accounting he’ll write down the losses .

tophatal ………………

]]> By: JW http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1429 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:57:18 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1429 First of all, bankruptcy and and folding are miles apart on the spectrum. If bankruptcy meant the death of an entity, we’d only have one airline in this country. Every major airline except Southwest has been in bankruptcy at some point in the past 20 years.

Secondly, your argument about the Cubs and Rangers supposes that a chucklehead like Bud Selig a) understands the value of an asset and b) knows how to sell it at max value. Good luck getting me to buy either of those points, especially since Selig had a chance to sell the Cubs for far too much money to Mark Cuban.

Finally, do not underestimate the power of real estate even in a deflated market. Granted the housing market in California is flatter than a stove lid (trust me, I know about this first-hand), but the same cannot be said for the commercial market. Sure, that market has taken a hit as well, but it is no where nearly as sick as the housing market is. Having said that, your argument assumes the sale of the real estate for cash value. In actuality, the value is as an investment, you will find it difficult convince me there is not a speculator out there unwilling to take a shot at an investment in the Dodgers knowing full well that the value of the real estate likely can’t get any lower. It’s a “buy low, sell high” deal.

]]> By: tophatal http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1428 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:09:13 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1428 JW

You mentioned in my piece that the Dodgers had tangible assets ? What might that be ? Dodger Stadium can’t be considered prime real estate and with the way prices are now they can’t get anything for it . Bankrupcty filing in the Federal Courts could be the only way out if the league hierarchy can’t reach an agreement with the team’s creditors .

As I’d stated you’ve only got to look at what happened to the Cubs and Rangers that effectively forced those organizations into filing for bankruptcy before they eventually found new owners .

And let me say this what the hell have Colletti and LaSorda been doing in all of this ? Surely they’re not as dumb as they now appear be ?

tophatal ………………

]]> By: JW http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1425 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:26:03 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1425 Again, I have to believe the two things that made the decision to act quickly were the Bryan Stow incident with its resultant McCourt looking like a complete dickbag, and the fact that McCourt was a major league owner largely because of Selig.

]]> By: chappy81 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1424 Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:10:19 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1424 I know you mentioned that this was a long time coming, and I agree with you, but the thing I can’t get over is how quickly the MLB threw the hammer down. I mean, my A’s have been trying to get a ruling from the MLB on whether they can build a stadium in San Jose for seven years! The MLB took probably 10 years to institute some instant replay, and boom, they take over the Dodgers after only a year of crappy media killing them for the divorce… I guess it shows you how bad it really was for them to act fast…

]]> By: tophatal http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1417 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:08:31 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1417 JW

I use to be an ardent and fervent fan of the Marlins ( [lived in S Florida at the time ] now crossed over in support of the Braves ) . I’ve been lucky enough to have witnessed their triumphs , the lulls and the lows of the organization. But what finally got to me was the fact that Loria as owner of the team has been culpable of one massive fraud perpetrated on the fans and the local municipalities of Miami Dade county and the city of Miami who went out on a limb for the guy. He now has his stadium (ready for the 2012 season possibly) at taxpayers’ expense but what he’d egregiously had done was to lie about the team’s finances , all the while the team and in particular the front office executives have pocketed in excess of $ 65 million over the past few years . Money under the this asinine tax sharing revenue scheme that’s meant for the organization to bolster its roster . Tell me how many of the small market teams do you actually believe have actually done that over the years since this so called rule has been in place ?

Have you seen any improvement in the likes of the Royals , Pirates , D’backs or any of these so called small market teams meant to be the beneficiary of the league’s largesse ?

Bud Selig is an a_s of the highest order !

tophatal …………………..

]]> By: JW http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1416 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:24:26 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1416 I couldn’t agree more with your points – if you want to know why Selig let this get as far our of hand as he did, ask yourself a question: Have you ever had a boss who clearly made a mistake hiring a wrong person and keeps trying to deny there’s a problem. That’s the Selig-McCourt relationship in a nutshell. McCourt was rejected once for ownership by MLB, but he got in anyway when it was clear there were some issues which needed to be at least investigated.

As the Dodger situation continued to crumble, Selig was forced to admit he screwed up, and he’s not the sort of guy who does that easily. The trouble is now that Selig finally made a move, this buys time for the Mets, because Selig doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who can handle two train-wrecks at once.

]]> By: tophatal http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1415 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:01:51 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1415 JW

The league has a rule in place where teams cannot borrow in excess of ten times their operating profit in order to safe guard their financial stability . But somehow McCourt since his assuming control of the Dodgers has used the team as his own personal ATM . He’s used the Dodgers as collateral on several occasions to obtain short terms loans and as recently as last month he was looking to once again use the team as collateral in order to obtain a $300 million loan from Fox and its parent company News Corp.

What’s more asinine is that while this has been happening Selig and the league hierarchy stood pat watching this fiasco manifest itself into a damn nightmare. Now McCourt is saying that the league hierarchy has documents in their possession that suggest they knew of McCourt’s dealings and in particular a document that suggest that he’d come to an agreement with the local Fox affiliate and News Corp for a $3 billion 20 yr televised deal . You tell me how f_cked up this situation is as of now ? Bear in mind that the fallout from the Mets own fiasco could make what’s happening with the Dodgers seem like a stroll in the park on a Sunday afternoon .

If at all interested see the link below and let me know what you think ?

http://tophatal.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/finally-an-act-of-rationale-by-mlb-and-in-particular-bud-selig-who-shows-that-he-might-indeed-have-a-backbone/

tophatal ………………

]]> By: JW http://dubsism.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/teams-that-grind-my-gears-the-real-tragedy-of-the-los-angeles-dodgers/#comment-1414 Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:40:32 +0000 http://dubsism.wordpress.com/?p=4159#comment-1414 If you look at the comments I’ve made recently over at Doin’ Work’s blog
( http://doin-work.com/2011/04/20/changing-of-the-eras-in-the-nba/ ), the discussion became about the value of franchises. The Dodgers are perfect example of what happens to value when a franchise owns something tangible. The Dodgers own Dodger Stadium, which means they control all the revenue streams that go with it – the parking, the concessions, the ad space, etc…plus, there is just the value of the real estate.

As far as the timing of Selig’s intervention is concerned, my question is this: Why did MLB allow McCourt to buy the Dodgers in the first place? He tried to buy the Red Sox before that and was rejected, but just a few months later he was cleared to purchase the Dodgers. McCourt didn’t fix any of the concerns which caused the sale to him of the Red Sox to be derailed (namely, he didn’t have the cash up front), so what was the factor that made baseball let this guy in?

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