/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/3874611/20121003_ajl_al2_140.0.jpg)
According to Deadline's Nikki Finke, the Los Angeles Dodgers are close to inking the largest television deal in the history of professional sports.
FOX Sports is close to getting the exclusive rights to broadcasting Dodgers games at close to $6 to $7 billion dollars over the course of 25 years. That breaks down to a whopping $280 million per season. In comparison, the original deal was said to be a little over $150 million per season and the current deal FOX has with L.A. is only $40 million per.
The huge selling number will help offset the record-setting $2.15 billion price tag Guggenheim paid to purchase the Dodgers. It also adds to the growing trend of Major League Baseball teams going away from broadcast TV to cable networks, which adversely affects the ability of fans to watch games for free. And FOX Sports will broadcast less nationally-televised games each week next season.