Major League Baseball wrested financial control of the Los Angeles Dodgers away from Frank McCourt in part because they felt that he was not making financial decisions that were in the best interests of the Dodgers. In court filings on Monday, MLB itemized some of the more egregious financial shufflings of the McCourt era. From the Los Angeles Times:
In the filing, the league claimed McCourt funneled $73 million in parking revenue through Blue Land Co., a non-team related entity; used $61.16 million in team revenue to pay off personal debts; and took $55 million from team revenue for personal distributions.
I'm sure it makes Dodger fans happy to know that every dollar they've spent in tickets, food, and Manny wigs at Dodger Stadium all went to McCourt for his chinchilla remote cozies, which is why MLB claims that he "has completely alienated the Dodgers' fan base."
McCourt and the Dodgers volleyed charges back at MLB, saying ...
The Dodgers claim Selig approved the business structures about which he now complains, including the Blue Land mechanism by which the Dodgers pay $14 million in annual rent to play in their own stadium.
And if the story couldn't get any unseemlier, both sides are invoking the name of Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was critically injured after a beating in the parking lot of Dodgers Stadium, to make key points about the other side.
It's a lot to digest, but the most important thing to take away from the article is probably that the name of the U.S. bankruptcy judge is Kevin Gross, who is presiding over the case despite having spent four years with the Dodgers.