Guggenheim Baseball Management

Last updated

Guggenheim Baseball Management is the ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball team. [1] The consortium consisted of Guggenheim controlling partner Mark Walter, and also includes as investors basketball hall of famer Magic Johnson, movie producer Peter Guber, baseball team executive Stan Kasten, and investors Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly. [2] Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Kloss joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group in 2018. [3] Entrepreneurs Alan Smolinisky and Robert L. Plummer joined the ownership group in September 2019. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Background and history

In the late 1990s Rupert Murdoch's Fox Entertainment Group bought the Dodgers from the team's original owner, the O’Malley family. Fox in 2004 sold the team to Frank McCourt, a Boston real estate developer. Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's commissioner at the time, later accused McCourt of saddling the Dodgers with debt and dipping into team funds to pay for personal expenses. [7]

In April 2011 MLB Commissioner Selig announced that MLB would be appointing a representative to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Dodgers. His statement said that he took that action because of his "deep concerns for the finances and operations" of the Dodgers. [8] This event occurred shortly after an LA Times report that McCourt had obtained a personal loan from Fox to cover the team's payroll for April and May. McCourt vigorously disputed MLB's actions. Nevertheless, Selig appointed former diplomat and former Texas Rangers executive Tom Schieffer to oversee the Dodgers' finances. On June 27, the Dodgers filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. [9]

After much legal wrangling between McCourt's lawyers and MLB lawyers in bankruptcy court, he reached a deal with the league to put the team up for sale. [10]

There were three final bidders for the team: Stan Kroenke, a St. Louis real-estate already owned the then-St. Louis Rams NFL football team, the Denver Nuggets NBA basketball team, the Colorado Avalanche NHL hockey team, and the English soccer club Arsenal; hedge fund manager Steven Cohen; and a group that originally included Todd Boehly and Mark Walter, the former president and current C.E.O. of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based global financial services company, and basketball hall of famer Magic Johnson. [11]

Guggenheim Baseball Management, which included Boehly, Walter and Johnson, was formed to acquire the team in March 2012 from McCourt. [12]

On March 27, 2012, McCourt agreed to sell the team to Guggenheim Baseball Management for a record price of $2.15 billion, the highest ever paid for a professional sports team at the time. [13] McCourt separately sold the land surrounding the stadium for $150 million to the same group, while maintaining some economic interest in the property. According to Guggenheim Baseball Management, McCourt will have no control or influence over the land, but will profit from potential future development of it. Also, the new ownership will pay $14 million to rent the parking lots surrounding Dodger Stadium from an entity half-owned by McCourt. [14] The sale officially closed on May 1, 2012, ending McCourt's turbulent period as Dodgers owner. [15]

Television deal

On January 22, 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported that Time Warner Cable had signed a deal to partner with the Dodgers to form a new regional sports network, which would be majority-owned by the team. [16]

On January 28 the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable signed a 25-year broadcast agreement valued at $8.35 billion, [17] subject to the approval of Major League Baseball, which would see the establishment of a new channel known as SportsNet LA. [18] The deal ended long-standing broadcast partnerships with Fox Sports West, which had aired Dodgers games on its Prime Ticket channel since 1997; and with KCAL-TV, an independent station which had been the Dodgers' over-the-air broadcast television outlet since 2006. TWC's winning bid exceeded Fox's bid by $2 billion and was worth $210 million for the inaugural 2014 season, or $1.5 million a game. That amount exceeded the revenues from Prime Ticket and KCAL-TV by more than four times. The agreement increased the number of games aired: nearly 100 games were carried in 2014 compared with the 49 games aired by Prime Ticket in 2013. [19]

The Dodgers television deal has been controversial, with a distribution dispute that has locked out wide swaths of the Los Angeles television market. SportsNet LA has never been available to the majority of households in its service area. [20] Carriage was most limited in the channel's inaugural 2014 season, when it was carried by Time Warner Cable systems in Los Angeles, Bright House Networks' system in Bakersfield, and Champion Broadband serving a small portion of the San Gabriel Valley. Together, these distributors covered only 30% of the market, leaving the remaining 70% without the channel. Coverage rose when Charter Communications added SportsNet LA in June 2015, but remains under 50 percent: about 1.8 million homes. DirecTV is the largest unsigned distributor. [21] [22] [23] Since Charter's acquisition of TWC on September 20, 2016, SportsNet LA continues to only be carried by the former Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks systems in the region (which now operate as Spectrum). [24] The team and Spectrum finally came to terms with DirecTV/U-verse TV to add the network before the 2020 season. [25] [26]

Investors and executives

Guggenheim Baseball Management investors and executives include: [27]

Mark R. Walter

Walter is the "controlling partner" of Guggenheim Baseball Management and the chairman of the Dodgers. He is the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, an investment and advisory firm with more than $270 billion in assets under management. Based in New York and Chicago, the firm was founded in 1999 and is now a global investment and advisory financial services firm that engages in investment banking, asset management, capital markets services, and insurance services.

Todd Boehly

Previously president of Guggenheim Partners until leaving in 2015, Boehly bought some of the assets he had collected at Guggenheim, including The Hollywood Reporter, Dick Clark Productions, and Security Benefit, to found Eldridge Industries, a private investment firm that specializes in providing both debt and equity capital. [28] A graduate of William & Mary in Virginia, Mr. Boehly dealt in leveraged finance at Credit Suisse First Boston and high-yield investments at Whitney & Co. He joined Guggenheim in 2001 to lead its corporate-credit business. [27]

Peter Guber

Guber is an American business executive, entrepreneur, educator and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include The Kids Are All Right, Soul Surfer and Bernie. He has also produced Rain Man , Batman, The Color Purple , Midnight Express , Gorillas in the Mist, The Witches of Eastwick , Missing, and Flashdance. Guber's films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide and received 50 Academy Award nominations. [29]

Guber is also co-owner of four professional sports teams: the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the Major League Soccer team Los Angeles FC, and the professional eSports organization aXiomatic Gaming, that acquired controlling interest in one of the world's premier esports team franchises, Team Liquid. [30]

Stan Kasten

Stan Kasten (born February 1, 1952, in Lakewood Township, New Jersey) is the former president of the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals, and the current president and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Long involved in Atlanta professional sports, he also served as general manager of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and president of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers.

A native of New Jersey, Mr. Kasten became the youngest NBA general manager in 1979 when he joined the Atlanta Hawks at age 27. In 1986 he took over as president of both the Hawks and Ted Turner 's other franchise, the Atlanta Braves, where he stayed until 2003. He landed in Washington in 2006 as president of the Nationals franchise, stepping down after the 2010 season. [27]

He has won two NBA Executive of the Year awards, three NBA division titles, and, with the Braves, 12 baseball division titles, five National League pennants and one World Series Championship. [27]

Robert (Bobby) Patton, Jr.

Patton is a partner of Guggenheim Baseball Management and became part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 30, 2012. Patton principally operates oil and gas properties in Texas and Kansas and has additional investments in many other sectors, including ranching and insurance. He serves on the Board of Security Benefit Corporation and the advisory council of the University of Texas College of Liberal Arts. He also serves as the tournament chairman of the Dean & Deluca Invitational PGA Tour event at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Patton received a B.B.A. from the University of Texas as well as a J.D. from St. Mary's University and LLM from Southern Methodist University. Patton resides in Fort Worth, where he was born and raised. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bud Selig</span> Major League Baseball Commissioner from 1992 to 2015

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as de facto acting commissioner beginning in 1992 in his capacity as chairman of the Major League Baseball Executive Committee before being named the official commissioner in 1998. Selig oversaw baseball through the 1994 strike, the introduction of the wild card, interleague play, and the de facto merging of the National and American Leagues under the Office of the Commissioner. He was instrumental in organizing the World Baseball Classic in 2006. Selig also introduced revenue sharing. He is credited for the financial turnaround of baseball during his tenure with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record breaking attendance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Dodgers</span> Major League Baseball franchise in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn, which in 1898 became a borough of New York City, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and assumed several other monikers before finally settling on the name Dodgers in 1932. From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers developed a fierce crosstown rivalry with the New York Yankees as the two clubs faced each other in the World Series seven times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before defeating them to win the franchise's first title in 1955. It was also during this period that the Dodgers made history by breaking the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the Major Leagues since 1884. Another major milestone was reached in 1956 when Don Newcombe became the first player ever to win both the Cy Young Award and the NL MVP in the same season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Clark Productions</span> American television production company

Dick Clark Productions is an American multinational television production company founded by radio and TV host Dick Clark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Guber</span> American businessman, educator and author

Howard Peter Guber is an American film producer, business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include The Kids Are All Right, Soul Surfer and Bernie. He has also produced Rain Man, Batman, The Color Purple, Midnight Express, Gorillas in the Mist, The Witches of Eastwick, Missing, and Flashdance. Guber's films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide and received 50 Academy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank McCourt (executive)</span> American businessman (born 1953)

Frank H. McCourt Jr. is an American business executive and philanthropist. As of 2023, he is the executive chairman and former CEO of McCourt Global, owner of the football club Marseille and founder and executive chairman of international non-profit Project Liberty. He was the owner and chairman of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dodger Stadium from 2004 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Colletti</span> American sports executive

Ned Louis Colletti Jr. is an American sports executive with 40 years experience in Major League Baseball, is a four-time Emmy Award-winning baseball analyst, a professor of Sports Administration at Pepperdine University, the author of the best-selling book The Big Chair, and a scout for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. He was general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 through 2014. Before moving to the Dodgers, he was assistant general manager of the San Francisco Giants. Colletti is one of very few American sports executives to work in two major sports: Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Kasten</span> American sports executive

Stan Kasten is the former president of the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals, and the current president and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Long involved in Atlanta professional sports, he also served as general manager of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and president of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports West</span> American regional sports network

Bally Sports West is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of Bally Sports, along with its sister network Bally Sports SoCal. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bally Sports West is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

Major League Baseball games not broadcast exclusively by its media partners are televised by regional sports networks, which present sports programming of interest to their respective region. Most MLB broadcasters are members of chains such as NBC Sports Regional Networks and Bally Sports, although several teams are broadcast by regional networks that are independent of these chains. Some teams own partial or majority stakes in their regional broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports SoCal</span> American regional sports network

Bally Sports SoCal is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of Bally Sports, along with its sister network Bally Sports West. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bally Sports SoCal is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

The history of the Los Angeles Dodgers begins in the 19th century when the team was based in Brooklyn, New York.

The Los Angeles Dodgers underwent a period of turmoil in management in 2011 and 2012 that began when Major League Baseball (MLB) seized control of the team from owner Frank McCourt on April 20, 2011 and ended when the team was sold to new owners on May 1, 2012.

Spectrum SportsNet, formerly Time Warner Cable SportsNet, is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016, with the Los Angeles Lakers maintaining editorial control over the content, including team-assigned reporters and anchors, as well as team-related programming. The network is based near the Lakers' team headquarters in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo, California.

Mark Walter is an American businessman and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm with more than $325 billion in assets under management and headquarters in Chicago and New York. He is also the part-owner and chairman of the Major League Baseball franchise Los Angeles Dodgers and co-owner of Premier League club Chelsea F.C. He also owns the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Boehly</span> American businessman and investor

Todd Boehly is an American businessman and investor. He is the co-founder, chairman, chief executive officer and controlling member of Eldridge Industries, a holding company headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is also the interim CEO of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and co-controlling owner and chairman of Premier League football club Chelsea, and Ligue 1 football club RC Strasbourg under BlueCo. As of 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth at US$6.1 billion.

Spectrum SportsNet LA and Spectrum Deportes LA is an American regional sports network jointly owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team and Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016. The channel's programming is devoted completely to the Dodgers, and includes coverage of all Dodgers games not being exclusively televised by MLB's national television partners, along with news, interview, and documentary programming focusing on the team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Smolinisky</span> American Entrepreneur

Alan Smolinisky is an American entrepreneur/investor and part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball franchise. In June 2022, Smolinisky partnered with Nike founder Phil Knight and submitted an offer of more than $2 billion to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers National Basketball Association franchise.

BlueCo is a consortium led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjörg Wyss. The group was formed as the investment vehicle for the takeover of Premier League football club Chelsea in 2022. Its name is derived from the home colour of Chelsea F.C., its flagship football club, and acts as the club's parent company.

References

  1. ↑ "Magic Johnson-led group is picked as Dodgers' next owner". Los Angeles Times. March 28, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ Futterman, Matthew (March 29, 2012). "$2 Billion Dodgers Price Tag Shatters Records". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  3. ↑ ESPN News (September 20, 2018). "Dodgers welcome 'trailblazing' Billie Jean King, partner to ownership group". ESPN.
  4. ↑ "Plummer, Smolinisky join Dodgers' ownership". Dodgers.com. September 19, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Los Angeles Dodgers Add Two Entrepreneurs to Ownership Team". The Wall Street Journal. September 19, 2019.
  6. ↑ "The Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group has added two new limited partners in businessmen Robert L. Plummer and Alan Smolinisky". Twitter. September 19, 2019.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Katie (June 27, 2011). "Dodgers File for Bankruptcy, Increasing Tension With Selig". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ ESPNLosAngeles (April 27, 2011). "Bud Selig says MLB will run Dodgers". ESPN.
  9. ↑ ESPN.com News Services (June 28, 2011). "Dodgers file for bankruptcy protection". ESPN.
  10. ↑ "Frank McCourt agrees to sell Dodgers". LA Times Blogs – Dodgers Now. November 1, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  11. ↑ Knight, Molly (July 9, 2015). "How the Dodgers Went from Mismanaged Failure to One of the Most Valuable Teams in Sports". Vanity Fair.
  12. ↑ ESPN.com News Services (May 2, 2012). "Sale of Dodgers finalized". ESPN.
  13. ↑ ESPN.com News Services (March 28, 2012). "Dodgers sold to Magic Johnson group". ESPN.
  14. ↑ "Dodgers' owners to pay $14 million a year to rent parking lots from McCourt entity". Los Angeles Times. May 4, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Dodgers sale closes; McCourt era ends". Los Angeles Times. May 1, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Dodgers, Time Warner Cable have a deal". Los Angeles Times. January 22, 2013. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Standoff over Dodgers games could be defining moment in sports TV". Los Angeles Times. July 18, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Dodgers announce deal with Time Warner, launch of SportsNet LA". CBSSports.com. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Standoff over Dodgers games could be defining moment in sports TV". Los Angeles Times. July 18, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Dodgers' TV blackout for thousands of fans to enter fourth season". Los Angeles Times. February 14, 2017. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  21. ↑ "SportsNet LA cuts back on Dodgers spring broadcasts". Los Angeles Times. February 20, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Charter to carry Dodgers channel, SportsNet LA, beginning Tuesday". Los Angeles Times. June 4, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Time Warner Cable lowers price of Dodgers channel, hoping to end stalemate". Los Angeles Times. March 23, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  24. ↑ "FAQs | Los Angeles Dodgers | Spectrum SportsNet LA". www.sportsnetla.com. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  25. ↑ Castillo, Jorge; Shaikin, Bill (April 1, 2020). "Dodgers TV blackout ends: Spectrum deal puts SportsNet LA on AT&T platforms". Los Angeles Times.
  26. ↑ "Spectrum Networks Announces Carriage Agreements with AT&T". SportsNet LA. April 1, 2020. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Austin, Scott (March 28, 2012). "Who Are the New Dodgers Owners?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  28. ↑ Childs, Mary. "Former Guggenheim President Todd Boehly Is Growing His Investment Empire, From the Dodgers to Collateralized Loans". www.barrons.com. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  29. ↑ "What Does New Co-Owner Peter Guber Bring to the L.A. Dodgers?". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  30. ↑ "aXiomatic Acquires Controlling Interest in Team Liquid, a Leading Professional Esports Franchise". www.businesswire.com. September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Robert 'Bobby' Patton, Jr". MLB.com. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.