From a press release:
The Los Angeles Dodgers (“LAD” or “the Dodgers”) today stated that the Dodgers and Blackstone have evaluated the bids submitted on February 23rd and have notified the parties that have been selected to advance to the next round. The identities of these parties are being provided to Major League Baseball and they will be meeting with the MLB Ownership Committee, consistent with the agreement between the Dodgers and MLB regarding the sales process.
Update: , “Bidders advancing in Dodgers sale: Cohen, Magic/Kasten, Hindery/Barrack, Kushner … and at least two more.” Bill Shaikin tweets.
Update 2: “Bidders still in running: Magic/Kasten, Cohen, Hindery/Barrack, Kushner, Kroenke, Disney/Gold, Casden,” Shaikin tweets.
Update 3: A blog post from Shaikin with more details.
Jon Weisman
From Bill Shakin:
Bidders advancing in sale: Cohen, Magic/Kasten, Hindery/Barrack, Kushner … and at least two more.
Jon Weisman
NPUT
Anonymous
As a lifelong Dodger fan, when they announced that Frank McCourt had agreed to sell the franchise, I couldn’t be happier. But I knew that there would be some details that would come out that would bring some uneasiness. The first one was that in the end, Frank would have the final decision. The second one was that he would maintain the parking lots? I am just at a loss with that one. What perspective owner that had a decent understanding of how this guy nearly demolished this historic franchise would allow that? Of course Torre/Caruso pulled their bid out, of course Mr. O’mally pulled his bid out… Why would they accept that? If they’re going to dump 1.5-2.0 billion dollars into this, why wouldn’t they be allowed to have some gains from the parking lot! My goodness.. The fact that MLB and Bud Sellig would allow this…??? I am seriously flabbergasted. Come on Bud…. Get it right for once!
Dariush
Congrats on the new site, Jon! I think you made the right move. You were kinda lost on the whole ESPNLA site especially with Tony Jackson there too. I’ve followed you from site to site and will continue to do so. Best of luck.
As far as the sale process goes, I think that the whole parking lot situation is blown out of proportion and unnecessarily riling up Dodger fans. I have a hard time believing that the Torre and O’Malley groups pulled out simply because of the lots. My guess is that they didn’t have the money anyway to make a competitive bid. I have an even harder time believing all 5 of the continuing bidders will accept not having the lots. Merely negotiating strategy for a scumbag like McCourt to squeeze some more money out of the process. MLB will select 2 finalists that want the parking lots included so McCourt will have to give it up and end his tumultuous reign once and for all. If not, there will be a serious backlash. People in LA will find a way to avoid those parking lots. Trust me.