Not So Shocking Report About McCourt

By now I’m sure you’re all aware of yesterday’s news about the McCourt’s settlement. I have my own feelings about what this potentially means for the organization, but I wanted to have a look at what other baseball writers take on the subject was. So first I went to Buster Olney with ESPN. He’s not a Dodger beat writer, isn’t around the club on a daily basis, so obviously he doesn’t have a personal agenda to try and sell papers by being controversial like say TJ Simers does.

So when I came across the following comments by Olney on Twitter yesterday my interest became piqued. First of all he posted the following:

"Bottom line on proposed McCourt settlement:it would require tens of millions of $ in TV deal to be used for personal use, rather than team."

Wait a minute didn’t Frank promise that all of the TV money would be used for the team and none of it would be spent for personal use? Yes in fact he did, back on April 27th when he was in New York meeting with MLB executives his exact words were:

"McCourt said he would invest that $300 million into the team and said he had signed an agreement that none of that money would be used to settle his divorce or for any other personal purpose."

I’m sorry but we are supposed to give Frank a second chance when he’s going back on his word, less than 2 months after he supposedly put it in writing that the TV revenue from the FOX  deal that he needs to survive is going to the Dodgers not to his personal use. Well how about some more proof that Frank is not being honest with Dodger fans, MLB, and all of us who care about the Dodgers.

Again from Olney we get this nugget of just who benefits the most from the proposed deal with FOX:

"Divorce settlement seems to be good for McCourt and his business interests–but it appears to be a bad $ deal for the franchise, either way."

I’m sure that is exactly what all of Dodger Nation was just dying to hear. But so far this is the nice stuff to be reported about Frank and what his plans are for the allocation of the funds from FOX, remember he’s cashing out the remaining three years of the Dodgers current TV deal with FOX to get the funds he needs to keep the Dodgers,

So yesterday Steve Dilbeck at the L.A. Times wrote a very disturbing article that breaks down the FOX deal and provides some more undeniable proof just how dishonest Frank is being with MLB and all of us Dodger fans. And these are not my opinions on the situation, these are fact provided by reporters who are the closest to the situation. I’m not going to try and summarize Dilbeck’s  article, for me it’s so shocking your better off reading the whole thing, titled “So much for Frank McCourt’s promise to MLB that all up front TV money would go to team.”

"Remember that amazing Frank McCourt news conference in New York, the one he conducted after meeting with Major League Baseball executives? The one where he accused Commissioner Bud Seligof being un-American?It was then in a rather curious move that McCourt first publicly pledged that all the money he would receive up front from the Fox television deal would go directly to the team and not to settle his divorce or be used for personal matters.This was completely bogus on the surface, since any money he spent on the settlement had to come from the Dodgers one way or another, the team his only source of income.But he said it anyway. At the time, he was talking about receiving approximately $300 million up front.“The $300 million I made clear to baseball today, that the entirety of the $300 million is going directly into the Dodgers as equity,” McCourt said April 27th. “None of those dollars is being used in any personal way. I would be happy to make that commitment in writing.”Well, he did make a commitment in writing Friday in his “divorce settlement,” though the money to be loaned by Fox up front had somehow mushroomed to $385 million.And per the divorce agreement, out of that $385 million: $5 million would go each to Frank andJamie McCourt to cover attorneys’ fees (hey, they stayed up to 3 a.m. Friday); each would get $5 million to do with as they please (down payment on another villa!); $23.5 million would repay Frank for the personal loan he acquired to make payroll (think that $30 mil Fox already loaned him); $80 million will be used to pay off debt (well, a little of it); and $50 million will be placed into an account subject to the court’s orders (no, not for a left fielder, it’s just-in-case money).Grand total: $173.5 million.Otherwise, not a cent of the TV money will be for personal use! Other than that $173.5 million.I don’t know, other than that, I’m sure MLB is convinced Frank is reformed, has learned all those valuable lessons and will always put the Dodgers first. I mean, why wouldn’t they take Frank at his word?"

Anyone else out there get the feeling that the Dodgers well being is no where near the top of his priorities? Unless the “$5 million to do with as they please,” is used to add a left fielder, or catcher, or third baseman, or the $50 million “subject to the court’s order” is used to sign Matt Kemp to an extension. The idea of Frank being given millions of dollars to do with as he pleases is a scary thought, cause he’s already proven he will use it to benefit himself, not the Dodgers.

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