IT says something about Dodgers fans' emotional involvement with their baseball team that many not only pay high prices to go to games and cloak themselves in bright blue, but feel it would be best if people like themselves actually owned and operated the club. A small movement has grown out of this emotion. A group called Own the Dodgers is pushing the idea that L.A. fans should pool their money and buy the club from debt-ridden owner Frank McCourt. The Los Angeles City Council gave a boost to the proposal last week, voting to ask Congress for legislation to let the public join the bidding if - more likely when - McCourt is forced to sell.
It's called the "Give Fans a Chance Act," and might be a nice fantasy to soothe fans during a season in purgatory, but it not a serious solution to the Dodgers' problems.
Under the public-ownership model, instead of the team being sold to another rich businessman, shares would be sold to thousands of individual fans and operated as a nonprofit organization. Investors would elect a board of directors. Directors would pick people to run the company.
This works in many walks of business life - and, supporters like to point out, it has worked for the National Football League champion Green Bay Packers, the only U.S. sports franchise above the minor-league level
to be community-operated.There are a few problems with applying this to the Dodgers.
For one thing, sports industry analysts say other Major League Baseball owners would never accept it. MLB prefers like-minded individuals to maintain the game's balance of on-field competition and boardroom collusion.
Also, for good or ill, Los Angeles is not Green Bay, Wis. Los Angeles County has a population of 9.8 million, and our loyalties and entertainment dollars are divided among eight professional franchises at the top levels of baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer. The city of Green Bay has about 100,000 people, and for professional sports there, the Pack is it.
If community ownership is a great idea for the Dodgers (whose fans are understandably disappointed with management after 22 seasons without a World Series championship), would backers recommend it for the Lakers (who have been wildly successful under Jerry Buss's ownership, winning 10 National Basketball Association championships in 32 years)?
Although the collective euphoria and anguish of stadium crowds create the illusion of public unity when it comes to hometown teams, in fact thousands of "owners" would be no more likely to agree on big decisions than, well, Frank and Jamie McCourt.
The couple announced a settlement in their divorce case, but it could blow up if baseball Commissioner Bud Selig rejects a television contract between the Dodgers and Fox that Frank McCourt says is vital to the club's financial repair.
It should not take public ownership to restore more of a Main Street feel to the Dodgers front office than the McCourts have delivered.
Nor is public ownership the best way to get Dodgers blue out of the financial red. What's needed is a new owner with deeper pockets and a better reputation. L.A. has such people, and they'll line up to bid if - when? - the team is for sale.
Meanwhile, in this season of angst, Dodgers fans can be sure they are exerting their influence. Ticket sales are way down, showing fans' displeasure with the state of the team and the ballpark. That's the kind of public involvement that the sports industry takes seriously.
A Los Angeles Daily News editorial. To read more editorials from the Daily News, go to www.dailynews.com/opinions.
Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18301942?source=rss
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