McCourt Divorce Reveals Dodgers Are Bleeding Red Ink
Dodgers carrying huge debt load
KNBC-TV
Divorce papers reveal the Dodgers are deeply in debt.
Frank McCourt spent a third day on the witness stand at his divorce trial in downtown Los Angeles but it is what was revealed out of court that has some Dodger fans concerned.
McCourt testified Thursday that his estranged wife wanted no part of the risk of owning the team that they bought six years ago.
He told the court that Jamie McCourt wanted her "nest egg" -- the group of luxury homes the couple had accumulated.
The big issue at stake here is a post-nuptial agreement that Frank McCourt claims gave him sole ownership of the baseball team, but that Jamie McCourt claims was modified to cheat her out of ownership rights.
The question now is what is the team really worth?
The Los Angeles Times commissioned an accounting firm to examine thousands of documents that have been filed in the divorce and the verdict is the boys in blue are some $433 million in debt.
The accountants claimed Frank McCourt has leveraged the team and has struggled to get added financing.
The team's net profit last year was only about $8.5 million. Most of the income from fans, sales of Dodger Dogs and paraphernalia ended up going straight to service this debt.
The documents showed McCourt was so desperate last year, he tried to get private investors to float him a $25 million loan.
Most of the financial information was kept from the public until the divorce.
A spokesman for McCourt told NBCLA that the Dodgers remain committed to fielding a team worthy of fan support.
