David Lauterbach

Contributing Writer

As I sat in front of my computer considering who to take in the third round of my annual fantasy baseball draft with my classmates, I casually checked Facebook. Little did I know that what I saw on Facebook would be the one thing I have been waiting to see for a year now: “Magic Johnson is the new owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.”

Since October of 2009, Frank McCourt has been struggling to retain ownership of the Dodgers. Fans have had to hide their Dodgers gear in their closets because of the shame and grief that McCourt brought to the team.

Despite the fact that Frank McCourt was the owner during the Dodgers’ only back-to-back National Championship League Series run since the 1970’s, Frank McCourt never truly followed through on his promise of bringing family ownership back to Los Angeles.

“I’m so happy someone who has a desire to win bought them. Not someone who wants to milk them for every dollar they are worth at the fans’ expense,” Jason Welsh ’13 said.

In recent years, McCourt has become notorious for raising ticket prices, food prices and parking prices. Despite the increase in income and cash flow for the Dodgers, McCourt only followed through once by using that money to benefit the team on the field. That one deal ended up as a huge mistake that ended up creating more and more turmoil for the Dodgers, eventually causing McCourt to sell the team.

McCourt came close in 2011 to being able to keep the team. The Dodgers and Fox agreed to a 17-year, two billion dollar television rights agreement in June, only to have it denied by the commissioner of the MLB, Bud Selig. Selig denied the deal because it was reported that even though all the money the Dodgers received from Fox would have been required to be used for the team, McCourt intended to use most of it to fund his divorce from his ex-wife.

The MLB owners had recently approved three different groups to be submitted to a team-controlled auction where, unlike any other sale of a sports team, McCourt would pick the winning bidder. Even though McCourt did not have to approve anyone until April 1, it was widely expected that a new owner would be picked within the next 24 hours.

Ultimately, Los Angeles Lakers legend, icon and hero Magic Johnson, along with his business partner, Stan Kasten, who is known as one of the most successful baseball minds alive, purchased the Dodgers for a record two billion dollars. The sale will be made officially in front of a judge on April 13.

Dodgers fans, you are now free to move around the country while proudly rooting for the boys in blue.