Dodger owner divorce gets messy, in court and in the clubhouse
Dodger owner divorce gets messy, in court and in the clubhouse
TEXT OF STORY
STEVE CHIOTAKIS: The Los Angeles Dodgers are co-owned, for now. The divorce battle between owners The Los Angeles Dodgers are co-owned, for now. The divorce battle between owners Frank and Jamie McCourt has taken yet another dramatic turn. The judge in the case invalidated the post-marriage agreement that stated Mister McCourt was the sole owner of the major league baseball team.
Josh Fisher runs the website DodgerDivorce.com. Yes there is such a site. He’s with us to talk about the latest turn of events. Good morning Josh.
JOSH FISHER: Good morning.
CHIOTAKIS: What happens next in this drama?
FISHER: Unless they find a way to settle this thing, the next step will be another trial where we characterize all the assets and the marriage. So we determine whether they are marital property or community property or separate property, and we’ll go from there.
CHIOTAKIS: And we’re talking about the Dodgers team, specifically right?
FISHER: That’ll be one of the assets that will need to be characterized, yes.
CHIOTAKIS: How does this affect the baseball team while this is still sort of in limbo?
FISHER: I think that the biggest impact is that over the last several years, there’s been a decrease in spending that’s hurt the team from an organizational perspective as far young talent. And so the biggest impact there’s been is that the players just don’t have good enough teammates.
CHIOTAKIS: The players don’t have good enough teammates which means they’re not winning as many games as they should, which means they’re not going to the playoffs. But you think it’s hurt the team?
FISHER: I think on a macro level, yes. Do I think that the divorce affected day-to-day operations in the clubhouse this season — no they don’t. But the team has slid down the hill. There’s not a lot of talent in the pipeline, and it seems the entire 2010 baseball season was secondary in the public’s eye to this ugly divorce going on. So I think fans at this point are pretty war-weary about it.
CHIOTAKIS: Do we see the team being sold at some point? Is that the relief here do you think?
FISHER: It could be, and I’d say that most fans would want that. The trouble is there’s very little that could absolutely compel the McCourts to sell the team. And my guess is that they’re going to work as hard as they possibly can to find a way to resolve this in such a way that the team stays with the family.
CHIOTAKIS: Josh Fisher with DodgerDivorce.com joining us from St. Paul. Josh thanks.
FISHER: Yeah, not a problem, have a good one.
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