The prospect of a significant increase in the local media rights value of MLB baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers boosted the minimum asking price for acquiring the franchise, set at $1.5 billion (€1.18 billion) by Blackstone, the investment bank overseeing its sale.
Dodgers executives believe that the rights are undervalued in the existing deal with the Fox network. The deal runs out at the end of the 2013 season.
Several bids for the team in excess of $1 billion were submitted by the preliminary bidding deadline on Monday. Blackstone is understood to be open to further bids, and the sale of the team is scheduled to be completed by April 30.
Several companies not yet involved in the auction are considered to be potential bidders, including Fox and media group Time Warner, which are both interested in acquiring the team’s media rights from the start of the 2014 season, telco Charter and pay-television broadcaster DirecTV.
The Financial Times said earlier this month that the News Corporation media group was interested in acquiring a stake of between 15 and 20 per cent in the Dodgers in a move designed to help Fox – which it owns – retain the media rights. News Corp was also reported to be considering a joint bid to purchase the team along with a partner.
Earlier this month, the Dodgers settled a dispute with Fox, agreeing to honour the broadcaster’s existing media rights deal. The Dodgers had earlier attempted to push through a new rights tender prior to the auction of the team against Fox’s wishes.
The Dodgers were put up for sale by owner Frank McCourt in November, five months after the team filed for bankruptcy.