Dodger Sale Moves Into ‘Seventh Inning’

The seemingly glacial pace of selling a major league baseball team picked up steam Wednesday when the major league baseball ownership committee agreed to let Dodger owner Peter O’Malley open the team’s books to Fox and network owner Rupert Murdoch.

“I’d say we’re in the seventh inning of a nine-inning game,� O’Malley said of the proposed sale, the process of which began on Jan. 6 when he stunned baseball by announcing that its last family-owned and operated club was on the block.

“This is a significant step . . . and, quite frankly, I do not anticipate any surprises down the road,� O’Malley said. “I believe Fox will be an outstanding owner of the Dodgers. They have an excellent understanding of the complex issues facing baseball today.�

Unlike in the sale of other businesses, a baseball franchise must get permission from a committee of eight of its owner-partners to open its books to a potential buyer, because of the various shared interests common to all teams in a sport, O’Malley said, adding that the rule was common to most other professional sports.

In a statement, Bill Bartholomay, chairman of the ownership committee as representative of Atlanta Braves’ owner Ted Turner, listed the next step.

“The Los Angeles Dodgers may now proceed to draft an agreement with Fox subject to the approval of the ownership committee and major league baseball for the change of ownership of the Dodgers,� Bartholomay said.

That approval would be sought at meetings in September, at which two-thirds of the National League club owners and a majority of those in the American League would have to vote approval.

That vote would involve the Braves’ Turner, Murdoch’s bitter rival in the cable television industry, and observers are curious as to whether he will seek to marshal forces to keep Murdoch away from the owners’ table.

Neither side has mentioned a price for the Dodgers, whose sale includes Dodger Stadium, the franchise’s 300-acre Vero Beach, Fla., spring training base and a baseball complex in the Dominican Republic, but analysts estimate that the package could bring between $300 and $400 million.

The highest price paid for a baseball franchise was the $173 million that a group headed by Peter Angelos paid for the Baltimore Orioles, but that did not include a stadium and the other facilities offered in the Dodger package.

The O’Malley family has controlled the Dodgers since 1950 and brought it from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to begin play in the 1958 season. But, in making the announcement that the team was for sale, O’Malley cited the changing dynamics of professional sports ownership.

“If you look at all sports, it’s a high-risk business,� he said. “Professional sports today is as high risk as the oil business. You need a broader base than an individual family to carry you through the storm.�

In Murdoch’s case, that broad base includes the Fox network, which already carries Saturday afternoon major league baseball nationally and, this year, began a package of 40 Dodger games on its regional Fox Sports 2 network.