Friday, June 14, 2013

Report: LA Dodgers Get To Keep $6B From New TV Deal

Todd Boehly
The Dodgers would retain more than $6 billion from their new television contract under a tentative agreement with Major League Baseball, according to two people familiar with the agreement.

The settlement would avert a showdown between the Dodgers and MLB in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and would effectively end the court's jurisdiction over the Dodgers' affairs. The LA Times reports people providing the information about the settlement spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations have not concluded.

MLB officials declined to comment. Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly said he could not discuss ongoing negotiations but said the team could maintain its record player payroll under the settlement.   Boehly is the president of Guggenheim Partners and a partner in Guggenheim Baseball Management, the entity that owns the Dodgers.

The settlement between the Dodgers and MLB indicates the overall value of the Dodgers' 25-year contract with Time Warner Cable at about $8.5 billion.

The Dodgers' current contract with Fox Sports expires after this season. Fox pays the Dodgers $39 million this season, with the team forwarding $13 million to an MLB revenue-sharing pool.

Under the tentative settlement, the league would agree that about $130 million represents fair-market value for the first year of the deal; the Dodgers would pay 34% — about $44 million — into the revenue-sharing pool. Those figures would rise every year.

The Dodgers ultimately would pay close to $2 billion for revenue sharing over the life of the TV contract.

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