When Guggenheim Partners purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers from Frank McCourt in 2012 for a record $2.15 billion, the investment firm found the former crown jewel of Major League Baseball to be totally tarnished, said Molly Knight, author of The Best Team Money Can Buy. ‘McCourt used the team as his own personal ATM,’ said Knight, who previously wrote for ESPN The Magazine for eight years. ‘He built multi-million dollar mansions all over the country. He even transported a kitchen across the country from Boston to Los Angeles. Private jet on standby. Paying a Russian physicist to sit in his house in Boston and ‘think blue’ to help the team win. It was just wasteful spending.’ Knight said the Dodgers resurrection started with Guggenheim’s ability to identify the inherent value of a franchise that had been driven into disrepair. More precisely, they spotted the value in a future television deal. ‘I think Forbes said they were worth $900 million and said the Dallas Cowboys were the most valuable, but the Dallas Cowboys can’t launch their own regional television network can charge advertisers and hold those games exclusively.’ The Cowboys have to split their TV revenue with 31 other NFL teams. The Dodgers, on the other hand, started their own network and the Guggenheim group received over $8 billion for it within 18 months of taking over the team. But that’s not all they spent money on. Dodger brass also signed Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw to a $215 million contract in 2014, a record for a pitcher.
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