Sunday, January 22 was the deadline to submit opening bids for the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that the Dodgers received over 10 opening bids.
That list of bidders included Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, a group including the family of the late Roy Disney, a group including former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Magic Johnson and a group including former Dodgers manager Joe Torre.
Shaikin reported on Friday that eight of those groups had advanced to the second round of bidding. A follow-up Twitter message on Friday revealed that two of the suitors who did not advance were Cuban and former sports agent Dennis Gilbert.
The franchise is projected to be sold at anywhere between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. If the groups including Disney, Torre and Johnson are among those that still remain in the mix, that makes three very strong, very deep ties to the area attempting to take over the Southern California institution. At this point, it is likely that Dodgers fans are of the opinion that any new owner would be a vast improvement over the Frank McCourt era.
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