Dodgers takeover set to clear path for rights sale

The Guggenheim Baseball Management consortium agreed a deal to acquire Major League Baseball franchise the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2 billion (€1.5 billion) in a move that is set to precipitate the sale of the club’s lucrative local broadcast rights.

The GBM consortium includes Mark R. Walter, chief executive officer of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners as its controlling partner, as well as basketball player Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly. Guber is chief executive of multimedia company Mandalay Entertainment.

The agreement was reached on Tuesday just hours after the league approved three finalists for what was intended to be an auction process. The acquisition is still subject to approval in the US federal bankruptcy court.

Dodgers’ executives believe the Fox network’s current local rights deal for the franchise, which expires at the end of the 2013 season, undervalues the rights.

Fox is reportedly interested in retaining the rights, as are US network CBS and regional network MSG, owned by New York sports venue Madison Square Garden.

The Dodgers were put up for sale by owner Frank McCourt in November, five months after the team filed for bankruptcy.