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2B Daily News – Thursday, March 29, 2012 Magic Johnson group to buy L.A. Dodgers for record $2B NEW YORK (AP) — One Los Angeles institution is buying another. A group that includes former Lak- ers star Magic Johnson and longtime baseball executive Stan Kasten agreed Tuesday night to buy the Dodgers from Frank McCourt for a record $2 billion. The price would shatter the mark for a sports franchise. Stephen Ross paid $1.1 billion for the NFL's Miami Dolphins in 2009, and in England, Malcolm Glazer and his family took over the Manchester United soccer club in 2005 in a deal then valued at $1.47 billion. Mark Walter, chief executive offi- cer of the financial services firm Guggenheim Partners, would become the controlling owner. The deal, revealed about five hours after Major League Baseball owners approved three finalists for an intend- ed auction, is one of several steps toward a sale of the team by the end of April. It is subject to approval in fed- eral bankruptcy court. ''I am thrilled to be part of the his- toric Dodger franchise and intend to build on the fantastic foundation laid by Frank McCourt as we drive the Dodgers back to the front page of the sports section in our wonderful com- munity of Los Angeles,'' Johnson said in a statement. As part of the agreement, the Dodgers said McCourt and ''certain affiliates of the purchasers'' would acquire the land surrounding Dodger Stadium, including its parking lots, for $150 million. ''If they invested that much money, I'm sure they'll invest to get us a win- ner,'' said Tommy Lasorda, the Dodgers' retired Hall of Fame manag- er. ''I wish them all the luck, and I admire them. I know both of them. I know Magic from the day he came into Los Angeles as a basketball play- er for the Lakers.'' The acquiring group, called Guggenheim Baseball Management, has several other investors, among them Mandalay Entertainment chief executive Peter Guber, Guggenheim Partners president Todd Boehly and Bobby Patton, who operates oil and gas properties among his investments. Kasten is the former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals. ''I am truly honored to have part- nered with such talented individuals and to be associated with the Dodgers organization,'' said Walter. ''We look forward to building upon the legacy of the Dodgers and providing long-term stability to one of the most revered franchises in baseball.'' The 52-year-old Johnson played 13 seasons for the Los Angeles Lak- ers, winning five NBA championships and three MVP awards in a Hall of Fame career. He retired from the NBA in 1991 after being diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. He briefly came out of retirement during the 1995-96 season and had a short stint coaching the Lakers. Since leaving basketball, he has been very success- ful in business, investing in movie the- aters, a production company and restaurants. He has also been an activist in the fight against HIV. ''I'm upset he didn't cut me in,'' current Lakers star Kobe Bryant said. ''I'm going to have to talk to him about that.'' McCourt paid $430 million in 2004 to buy the team, Dodger Stadi- um and 250 acres of land that include the parking lots, from the Fox division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., a sale that left the team with about $50 million in cash at the time. The team's debt stood at $579 million as of Janu- ary, according to a court filing, so McCourt stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars even after a $131 million divorce payment to former wife Jamie, taxes and legal and bank- ing fees. Kasten is expected to wind up as the team's top day-to-day executive. The other two finalists were: — Stan Kroenke, whose family owns the NFL's St. Louis Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids. He also is majority shareholder of Arse- nal in the English Premier League. — Steven Cohen, founder of the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors and a new limited partner of the New York Mets; biotechnology entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong; and agent Arn Tellem of Wasserman Media Group. It remains to be seen whether Major League Baseball will challenge the deal in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, where the case is before Judge Kevin Gross. Under an agreement reached by MLB and McCourt in November, a private auction was to be held among the finalists and McCourt was to select the winner by Sunday. The sales agreement is to be submitted to the bankruptcy court by April 6, ahead of a hearing seven days later, and the sale completed by April 30, the day McCourt is to make a divorce settle- ment payment. ''This agreement with Guggen- heim reflects both the strength and future potential of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and assures that the Dodgers will have new ownership with deep local roots, which bodes well for the Dodgers, its fans and the Los Angeles community,'' McCourt said in a state- ment. The acquiring group would gain the ability to sell the Dodgers' local broadcasting rights starting with games in 2014. The Guggenheim group likely would use money gained from the rights sale — or from the team's own network with outside investment — and use those funds to pay down the acquisition debt. ''The amount of leverage is a big question,'' said Marc Ganis, president of the Chicago-based consulting firm Sportscorp, which is not involved. ''The likely scenario is that they have a broadcasting deal in mind so that they pay up now and pay themselves down from a big broadcasting upfront payment. ''The problem with this strategy is that the more paid upfront by the broadcast deal, the less money is available for team operations. The more debt they take on, the more debt service is required, the less money that's available for team operations. With the only beneficiary being the man walking out the door. A chal- lenging result that baseball tried to avoid.'' The current record for a baseball franchise is the $845 million paid by the Ricketts family for the Chicago Cubs in 2009. The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection in late June, just days before the team was expected to miss payroll. The filing came after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig refused to approve a 17-year agreement between the Dodgers and Fox's Prime Ticket subsidiary that would have been worth $2 billion or more. MLB feared McCourt would use about half of an intended $385 million cash advance to fund his divorce. Los Angeles finished third in the NL West last season at 82-79, had just three sellouts and fell short of 3 mil- lion in home attendance in a full sea- son for the first time since 1992. There was some concern among MLB offi- cials about the financing of the Walter bid because some of the money was coming from insurance companies that are owned by Guggenheim. A person familiar with the baseball own- ers' teleconference Tuesday said sev- eral team owners voiced that during the call. The person spoke on condi- tion of anonymity because MLB did not make any announcements. ''The problem there is a fundamen- tal problem as you go into an auction, and that is the absolute reliance on other people's money,'' said Ganis. ''It means a lot of regulators. It means either shareholders or, depending on which insurance companies it's com- ing from, the insured themselves.'' Kasten was hired as legal counsel of the Braves and the NBA's Hawks in 1976, and three years later became the NBA's youngest general manager at 27. He was promoted to president of the Braves and Hawks in 1986 and also became president of the NHL's Thrashers in 1999. After leaving the Atlanta teams in 2003, he became president of the Washington Nationals from 2006-10. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti recently had dinner with Kas- ten in Glendale, Ariz., the team's spring training home. ''He's very successful, very driven, relentless in his pursuit of excel- lence,'' Colletti said. ''He's seen a lot and he's won a lot.'' The Dodgers have won six World Series titles but none since 1988, when they were still owned by the O'Malley family that moved the team from Brooklyn to California after the 1957 season. Fox bought the team in 1998, then sold it to McCourt. Colletti, whose baseball moves appear to have been constricted because of the team's financial prob- lems, says the sale announcement brings ''clarity.'' ''It's time to turn the page and move toward a new chapter in the his- tory of the Los Angeles Dodgers,'' he said. Earnhardt off to strong start Earnhardt led 17 laps CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Dale Earnhardt Jr. won a career-high six races in 2004 and mounted a decent chal- lenge for the champi- onship. He's not had a year like that since, not even close. But five races into the season, he feels as good as he did eight years ago. ''I feel the best I've felt, personally, confi- dence-wise, as I have in a long time. Probably since 2004, when I was winning all them races,'' Earnhardt said Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Earnhardt goes into Sunday's race at Mar- tinsville Speedway mired in a 134-race los- ing streak that dates back to 2008, his first season with Hendrick Motorsports. He had a solid shot at getting back to Victory Lane a year ago at Mar- tinsville, but wound up second to Kevin Har- vick that left Earn- hardt's fans feeling a little flat. and was out front when Harvick passed him four laps from the fin- ish. Earnhardt resisted any urge to try to knock Harvick out of his way in an attempt to reclaim the win. With Kyle Busch right behind him, Earnhardt instead just held on for the second- place finish. Although his fans wish he'd gotten more aggressive, Earnhardt remains convinced a year later he did all he could. ''I don't know what I could have done other than try to probably get myself blocked wreck- ing him, or probably get wrecked by somebody behind me,'' Earnhardt said. ''I don't think I could have done any- thing different that would have made a bet- ter outcome for me. If I did anything different, the outcome would have probably been worse for me.'' As he looks back, though, Earnhardt believes it was a monu- mental moment for his No. 88 race team in what ultimately became a comeback season for NASCAR's most popu- lar driver. Although he didn't win a race, he made it back into NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup champi- onship and wound up seventh in the final standings. It was his best finish since he ended the 2005 season ranked fifth. ''It was a good expe- rience, even though we did lose, and that was really hard to deal with, being so close,'' Earn- hardt said. ''But I took a lot of positives from it and that weekend helped us instead of hurting my resolve. Being so close, it helped us as a team and as a driver.'' But Earnhardt said he's feeling even better about his situation now, five weeks into a new season. He opened the year with a second- place finish in the Day- tona 500, has three top- 10 finishes and is com- ing off a third-place fin- ish in Sunday's rain- shortened race at Cali- fornia. His numbers would potentially look better if not for a late speeding penalty that led to his 15th-place finish. He goes into Martinsville ranked third in the standings, and has not been ranked lower than sixth this year. ''I just want the good fortune to keep going. In the big span of things, you are not here for a very long time, and I feel like I've got a lot of career left and I know how difficult it is to right the ship, and how difficult it is to be competitive and com- pete in this series,'' he said. ''But I ain't taking it for granted. I just want to have a solid year, win some races, get back to Victory Lane.'' Sunday might be the day. Earnhardt has seven top-10 finishes in his last 10 starts at Mar- tinsville, and, over his last 20 starts, he has nine top-five finishes. ''It's a pretty fun track,'' Earnhardt Jr. said. ''We've had some good success there. I'm hoping to have a good race like we did last year and maybe have an opportunity to try to be in the battle for the win.'' Giants beat Dodgers 4-1 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A pair of big swings by Brandon Crawford and Nate Schierholtz put the San Fran- cisco Giants in a better mood on Wednesday. Crawford and Schierholtz homered to lead San Francisco to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. ''It's time for all of us to start swinging the bat better,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. ''We've been struggling the past week. Today was better.'' Crawford connected in the second inning, driving a 2-0 pitch from Nathan Eovaldi over the wall in right. Crawford also reached on an infield single in the fifth and scored on Angel Pagan's second double in as many days. ''For me, it's not about results right now,'' said Pagan, who is hitting .189 in 59 spring at-bats. ''It's about how you feel. I'm feeling better at the right time. I just want to feel comfortable. You want to feel like your hands are going through the point where you want them to go. ''After studying video, I made some adjustments. My hands weren't going in the direction they have to. But now they are. That's the important thing. I'm seeing the ball bet- ter.'' Eovaldi gave up two runs and three hits in five innings. He struck out none and walked two. James Loney hit an RBI double in the sixth for Los Angeles. Schierholtz belted a two-run shot to left in the eighth. A's (Continued from page 1B) pion St. Louis Cardinals. ''It was very special to open in Japan,'' said Ichiro Suzuki, who spent nine sea- sons in Osaka with the Orix Blue Wave. ''I wanted to have fun and give the fans something at this special time and wanted to share a special moment with them.'' Ackley homered in the fourth off Brandon McCarthy, putting the Mariners ahead. ''It was a really bad fast- ball,'' McCarthy said. ''It was supposed to be a cutter up and in, and it turned out to be a cutter in the middle, and I asked him to hit it out.'' Kurt Suzuki doubled in a run in the bottom half off Hernandez, who allowed five hits in eight innings. ''He's a great pitcher,'' Kurt Suzuki said. ''He got into some tough situations tonight, but he made the pitches when he had to.'' Hernandez struck out six and walked none. ''I didn't think he was throwing as hard as he nor- mally throws,'' Cliff Pen- nington said. ''But he was still Felix, and was still pitch- ing. It's always a battle when you're facing him.'' The score remained 1-1 until the 11th, when Brendan Ryan doubled against Andrew Carignan (0-1), Chone Figgins sacrificed and Ackley singled to center. Jerry Blevins relieved, Ack- ley stole second and Ichiro Suzuki singled for a two-run lead. Brandon League closed it out for the save. Tom Wilhelmsen (1-0) got the win with two hitless innings. NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 39 27 10 88 210 196 Dallas 41 30 5 87 202 203 Phoenix 37 27 13 87 200 202 Kings 37 27 12 86 175 165 Ducks 32 33 11 75 191 212 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA x-St. Louis 48 20 9 105 199 147 x-Detroit 46 26 5 97 239 191 Nashville 44 25 8 96 219 202 Chicago 42 26 9 93 231 222 Columbus 25 45 7 57 181 252 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA y-Vancouver46 21 9 101 230 187 Colorado 40 32 6 86 201 207 Calgary 35 27 15 85 191 212 Minnesota 31 35 10 72 161 210 Edmonton 31 36 9 71 206 223 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA x-Rangers 49 21 7 105 213 172 x-Pittsburgh 47 23 6 100 256 200 x-Philadelphia44 24 8 96 241 213 New Jersey 43 28 6 92 208 201 N.Y. Islanders32 33 11 75 185 227 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Boston 45 28 3 93 249 186 Ottawa 39 28 10 88 236 227 Buffalo 38 29 10 86 202 210 Toronto 33 35 9 75 217 242 Montreal 29 34 14 72 199 214 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA Florida 37 24 15 89 189 208 Washington 38 31 8 84 206 219 Winnipeg 35 34 8 78 207 227 Tampa Bay 35 34 7 77 216 260 Carolina 31 31 15 77 205 228 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division —————————————————— Wednesday's results San Jose at Anaheim, late Columbus 4, Detroit 2 N.Y. Rangers 4, Winnipeg 2 Colorado at Vancouver, late Dallas at Edmonton, late Los Angeles at Calgary, late Today's games San Jose at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Philadelphia at Toronto, 4 p.m. Pittsburgh at N.Y. Islanders, 4 p.m. Tampa Bay at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Washington at Boston, 4 p.m. Florida at Minnesota, 5 p.m. St. Louis at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Friday's games Florida at Columbus, 4 p.m. Winnipeg at Carolina, 4 p.m. Montreal at N.Y. Rangers, 4:30 p.m. Nashville at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. Colorado at Calgary, 6 p.m. Los Angeles at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. Dallas at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes, who signed a $36 million, four-year contract with Oakland, was 1 for 3 with a seventh-inning double and two strikeouts in his major league debut. McCarthy gave up one run and six hits in seven innings with three strikeouts and no walks. NOTES:The eight straight losses in openers is an A's record, one shy of the major league mark shared by the New York Giants (1893- 1901) and Atlanta (1972- 80). ... It was 3:09 a.m.PDT when the game began. It was not televised live in the U.S. outside the markets of the teams involved, and was shown on a delayed basis by the MLB Network. ... Bartolo Colon starts Thursday the A's, opposed by Jason Vargas. ... The New York Mets and Chicago Cubs opened in Tokyo in 2000, followed by the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay (2004), and Boston and Oakland (2008). Seattle and Oakland had been scheduled to play at the Tokyo Dome in March 2003, but the series was scrapped because of the threat of war in Iraq. ... A pregame video presentation honored victims and survivors of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.The video was narrated by Derek Jeter, Bobby Valentine and Cal Ripken Jr. ... MLB and the players' association are using the series to assist rebuilding in Japan following last year's earthquake and tsunami. A group of players and coaches traveled to the disaster zone on Tuesday to conduct a baseball clinic. NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division Lakers Clippers Phoenix WL Pct GB 31 19 .620 — 28 21 .571 2.5 25 25 .500 6 WARRIORS 20 28 .417 10 KINGS San Antonio 34 14 .708 — Dallas Memphis Houston 17 32 .347 13.5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB 29 22 .569 6.5 27 21 .563 7 27 24 .529 8.5 New Orleans 12 37 .245 22.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB Oklahoma City 38 12 .760 — Utah Denver 27 24 .529 11.5 27 24 .529 11.5 Minnesota 25 27 .481 14 Portland 23 27 .460 15 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Philadelphia 28 22 .560 — Boston New York Toronto Miami WL Pct GB 28 22 .560 — 26 25 .510 2.5 17 34 .333 11.5 New Jersey 17 35 .327 12 Southeast Division WL Pct GB 35 13 .729 — 32 19 .627 4.5 30 22 .577 7 Orlando Atlanta Washington 11 38 .224 24.5 Charlotte Central Division x-Chicago 41 11 .788 — Indiana Milwaukee 23 27 .460 17 Detroit 7 41 .146 28 WL Pct GB 29 20 .592 10.5 18 32 .360 22 Cleveland 17 31 .354 22 x-clinched playoff spot —————————————————— Wednesday's results San Antonio at Sacramento, late New Orleans at Golden State, late Boston 94, Utah 82 Chicago 98, Atlanta 77 Detroit 87, Cleveland 75 Minnesota 88, Charlotte 83 New Jersey 100, Indiana 84 New York 108, Orlando 86 Toronto 105, Denver 96 Phoenix at L.A. Clippers, late Today's games Washington at Indiana, 4 p.m. Dallas at Miami, 5 p.m. New Orleans at Portland, 7 p.m. Oklahoma City at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Friday's games Sacramento at Utah, 6 p.m. New Jersey at Golden State, 7:30 p.m. Denver at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Miami at Toronto, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at Washington, 4 p.m. Milwaukee at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m. New York at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Boston at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Dallas at Orlando, 5 p.m. Detroit at Chicago, 5 p.m. Memphis at Houston, 5 p.m. Portland at L.A. Clippers, 7:30 p.m.