The Breeze Volume 1 No 1 A baseball bailout The Dodgers are not GM

This is the first edition of a twice weekly Colum called  The Breeze.  This is an opinion segment and I will feautue  my views on issues in Sports. It came to light this week that the Los Angeles Dodgers were turned down  by MLB in there attempt to get a 200 million  dollar loan by using the current broadcasting rights as collateral to maintain operating expenses for a team that is owned by Frank Mcourt. He is embroiled in a dispute with his wife Jamie regarding who owns the Dodgers thus by law the Dodgers become community property. This has hampered the Dodgers in there effort to put a quality team on the field. I am in no way a fan of Bud Selig for his poor handling of the 1994 baseball strike shortened season. Nor am I a fan of his acquisition of the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and moving them to Milwaukee. I will give him credit for telling Frank NO. Frank has been overleveraged and in debt to the tune of over 430 million dollars and because of his Ex-wifes lavish lifestyle and the ongoing court case a distinct cloud will hang over the team for the rest of 2011. Rupert Murdoch media mogul sold the team  to Mcourt in 2004 with the stipulation that Fox hold the broadcast rights the curent contract runs through 2013 and would have been extended for a few more years. The Ironic thing is  The Mets were given a 25 million Dollar loan to continue operating. What Gives ? The Mets just built a new stadium right in time for an economic downturn. NYM fans who are employed can choose to pay  what they want to watch a middle of the  pack team. The Dodgers a storied franchise attracts millions of fans to Chavez Ravine each year since April of 1962. Should I expect players to start recieving Checks that  cannot be covered by the respective owners? In a declining economy with attendance at about a 7 percent decline I do not want the MLB to have to ask The Obama administration for a bailout of MLB
Sports does not need a failed bailout like the 787 Billion dollar boondogle that passed for Govt stimulus.It might be time for the Dodgers to be sold to MLB  and search for a buyer. That would be similar to the Texas Rangers ownership group taking over the team and thus becoming  World Champions. It is good to know that GM has begun to recover and turn a profit in recent fiscal quarters. The problem is that Bailing out MLB
is no guarantee of victory for The economy of baseball or that of the fragile American economy

Here is a related link to the  Mets situation by  Ken  Rosenthall http://msn.foxsports.com/video/MLB

You can Contact me by E-mail maj@live.com Mark A. Janisch