As the deadline nears for the Los Angeles Dodgers to be sold, USA Today is reporting that the ownership group of hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen and sports agent extraordinaire Arn Tellum have the strongest bid in on the team, and would like to hire Tony LaRussa to a major front office position.
Cohen's bid is said to be upwards of $1.6 billion with at least half of the sum to be paid in cash, which is likely a very large deal-sweetener along with having guys like La Russa and Tellum along for the ride. There now are four finalist left for the sale, including Magic Johnson's group, St. Louis Rams and Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke's group, Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley's group and Ares Capital co-founder Tony Ressler's group, who is also a minority investor with the Milwaukee Brewers.
One of the recently eliminated groups consisted of former TV personality Larry King, who had this to say about Cohen and his chances:
"Hiring Tony La Russa would be a great start," King said. "After talking to Steve, my own hunch is that Tony La Russa would become club president..."I could see Steve (Cohen) starting his own network," King said. "Look at the (New York) Yankees. YES is worth more than the Yankees. He can do the same thing here with the Dodgers."
I'm sure Dodgers fans certainly wouldn't fight any of that.
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