Bidders Whittled Down to at Least 8 *Updated*

Last night Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported that Blackstone Advisory Partners, the bank handling the sale process of the Dodgers, has accepted at least eight bidders into the next round of the auction process.

The Dodgers issued this statement:

"“The Los Angeles Dodgers today confirmed the round of preliminary bidding has been completed successfully. The preliminary round of bidding has underscored the robust nature of the sales process, the significant purchase opportunity which the Dodgers represent and the enormous value that the sale of the Dodgers, including their media assets, will generate. Each of the preliminary bids has been reviewed carefully by the Dodgers and its financial advisor Blackstone. Blackstone is notifying all of the bidders as to which ones will and which ones will not advance in the sales process.”"

There were reportedly 23 initial bids. That means there were some bidders we had not heard from or had chosen to remain anonymous.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, did not make the cut to the second round. He led our poll, but had said in the past that an asking price over $1 billion was too high. We do not know the amount of his bid, but McCourt looks to sell the team for a record price.

White Sox executive and former agent, Dennis Gilbert who was aligned with Larry King and Jason Reese and Randy Wooster of Imperial Capital, also did not make it to the next level of bidding.

Shaikin’s sources have said  that the following groups have advanced:

Joe Torre/Rick Caruso

Magic Johnson/Stan Kasten who are primarily funded by Guggenheim Partners C.E.O. Mark Walter

East Coast hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen

Stan Kroenke, the world’s biggest sports mogul, has reached the second round as well. He has stake in and control of the St. Louis Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and the English soccer club Arsenal. Rumors run rampant that if he buys the Dodgers, the Rams would move to L.A. since NFL rules prohibit an owner from having controlling interest in a major sports team outside of the football team’s market.

It looks like Josh Macciello has also advanced if you read between the lines of his tweet he wrote Friday evening:

ESPN has reported that the family of Roy Disney headed by Stanley Gold, the C.E.O. of Shamrock Holdings, has advanced.

Peter O’ Malley’s group has also advanced, and has been rumored to be interested in joining forces with the Disney/Gold group but hasn’t as of yet. *Reports surfacing Monday say that O’Malley is backed by South Korean conglomerate E-Land.

We still don’t know the status of the Hershiser/Garvey group.

*UPDATE* The Hershiser/garvey Group did not make the next round. Just confirmed via twitter Hershiser/Garvey Tweet via Bill Shaikin

Bill Shaikin also reported Sunday evening that Tom Barrack has partnered up with investors Leo Hindry and Mark Utay who survived the first round of bidding. Barrack’s company, Colony Capital, is a Santa Monica-based firm which controls $29 billion in assets.

Alan Casden, the Beverly Hills developer, has also advanced to the next round.

The current tally is up to 9 accepted bidders as of Monday afternoon.

The MLB has agreed to approve up to 10 bidders which will be required to pay a $25,000 fee for a background check.