Reports are out that Frank McCourt is finally going to sell the Dodgers. If the Padres had been doing better in recent seasons, I might have enjoyed the spectacle happening in LA more, but Padres Fan has had their own problems so it hasn't been quite as fun sticking it to our Dodger Fan neighbor across the street.
That said, as a curious Padre Fan, I am really wondering what ownership group will step up and buy the Dodgers. The Padres of course were the team most recently sold to Jeff Moorad and his ownership group. Since AEG has such a strong presence in LA, and essentially owns all of the teams in the city other than the Dodgers, are they planning (or able) to take the team on? Dodger Stadium and the LA Dodgers would be feathers in their already peacock-looking caps, but I'd have to imagine that getting an NFL team into Los Angeles is top priority.
Jason Reese, the Chairman of Imperial Capital, has also been rumored as a prospective buyer, though, if I'm Dodger Fan, I don't know if I want to be associating myself with some banker these days. The Gores brothers, billionaires who run a private equity group, were rumored, but denied interest.
Another name that Padres Fans would probably be disappointed to hear is that of Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban says he wouldn't buy the team if it were over $1 billion. Some analysts are predicting that the total sale would end up between $1.3 and 1.5 billion dollars, putting Cuban out of the running.
Why don't we want Cuban? Because he's psycho. And he's a hobbyist. He'd be just the type of person to potentially extend himself in terms of payroll to make a splash on his investment. But even worse than being a rich psycho hobbyist owner... He's also really smart and (despite his presence on basketball courts), would likely be able to put together a front office group that really knew what they were doing.
In any case, Hollywood has no shortage of billionaires who could pull off a deal. It's just a matter of who comes up with the ridiculous number that the McCourts will be splitting.