The Los Angeles Dodgers may finally be out of their bankruptcy troubles, but the money is coming from a very unlikely source. Last Thursday, it was reported that a $1.2 billion offer was made to owner Frank McCourt from an Los Angeles businessman named Bill Burke. A large percentage of that money will be coming from a state-owned investment institution of the People’s Republic of China. This means that the Dodgers would be essentially owned by the Chinese government.
This purchase price would be the most ever paid for a baseball franchise by a substantial amount. The most ever spent on a baseball team was $800 million for the Chicago Cubs in 2009, which is about one-third less than the $1.2 billion in cash that was offered for the Dodgers.
This has brought up a lot of questions about whether or not Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig should allow the deal to go through. On one hand, the Dodgers need help and the Chinese investors have enough money to get them back on their feet. On the other hand, this may be a sign of the decline of capitalism in America.
Do we really want one of the most historic franchises of our national past-time to be owned by a corrupt Communist government that mistreats its citizens? Is it really much worse than Frank McCourt, a man who has almost run the team into the ground in the past few years?
Foreign investment in baseball is nothing new. Japan owns part of the Seattle Mariners. However, America’s relationship with Japan is different than our relationship with China. China is one of the largest economies in the world, and holds billions of American dollars. Approving this sale would seem like a symbol that America has sold out to China after all.
It is doubtful that the Chinese will actually have much involvement in the Dodgers other than their investment. Most likely, Bill Burke will be in charge of actually running the business end of things. It is still unsettling, however, that the Chinese are the only people who have the money to bail the Dodgers out.
Attendance to Dodgers games are extremely low. Last week’s game against the Padres had about 8,000 people in attendance. They are currently being partially funded by Major League Baseball itself because Bud Selig refuses to let such a historic franchise fail. Without some kind of deal being made, the Dodgers will be unable run day-to-day operations or even stay in business.
It may be necessary for the Dodgers to take the deal and hope that Bill Burke can use China’s money to fix the failing company and return it to the quality that it is known for. It makes sense that China would buy a baseball team seeing as it is unlikely that it will decline in value considering the fact that there is such a large built-in fan-base.
The deal has yet to be approved and would need to be accepted by both a bankruptcy judge and McCourt’s wife, who owns half of the Dodgers. Most likely, the deal will not go through. However, if China is becoming interested in buying our sports teams, we have to wonder what else they are interested in taking over in the future.
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