Dodgers, MLB reach settlement on $8.5 billion TV deal, per report

The league and the newly rich Dodgers have come to terms on the details of Los Angeles' new television deal.

By Spencer Schneier Jun 14, 2013, 9:00am EDT

The Dodgers and MLB reached a settlement on the exact terms of their $8.5 billion TV deal Thursday, according to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times.

The two sides could not comment on the ongoing negotiations, but it sounds as though the Dodgers will have to pay roughly $2 billion of the TV money to revenue sharing. The figure falls in between the numbers each side started with at the beginning of negotiations.

More Dodgers TV deal at True Blue LA: Dodgers, MLB reach tentative agreement on cable deal, per report

One of the reasons the numbers have been argued as much as they have is the record $2.15 billion the Dodgers were sold for this past season, and the fact that a lot of that was based on the amount of money they would bring in with a TV deal.

According to the report, the Dodgers would be able to add two players on $200 million contracts, and also make as much as $100 million in stadium improvements if the deal goes through.

The team gets around the normal revenue sharing rules here by an exception made for networks owned by the team itself, but the league is questioning the exact amount of risk the Dodgers would truly be taking on in this new deal. They would own the new SportsNet LA.