Dodgers rumors: Mark Walter’s bid to buy franchise would’ve been rejected if subjected to ‘typical process’

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been the subject of speculation regarding whether or not team owner Mark Walter might choose to sell the squad, just as he did the Los Angeles Lakers a couple of weeks ago. Few saw the shocking Lakers’ sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger coming, despite the FBI’s ongoing probe into Walter’s business dealings.

Now, Melody Gutierrez, Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic have reported on why some were skeptical of how Walter was able to buy the Dodgers to begin with.

“When he bought the Dodgers, some powerful figures in MLB ownership circles had questions about how Walter, CEO of Guggenheim Partners, planned to fund the purchase… Some MLB owners privately questioned Walter’s use of insurance money in financing the team’s purchase, according to contemporaneous news reports and recent interviews conducted by The Athletic,” they reported.

In fact, Marc Ganis of SportsCorp went as far as to say that, “If left to their own devices, I think it would have been very unlikely that Major League Baseball would have approved this source of capital. But, because it happened through a bankruptcy process, baseball’s hands were tied.”

Regardless, Walter was able to purchase the team one way or another and ended up ushering in a new era of prosperity in Los Angeles, culminating in two straight World Series championships and three in six years, with Walter frequently outspending the competition and taking full advantage of the MLB’s lack of a salary cap.

At this point, there is no indication that Walter plans to sell the Dodgers, but fans will certainly be keeping a close eye on the FBI probe and how that might affect the owner’s view of things moving forward.

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