Why is it every time that it seems like the league is about to clean up the mess the McCourts made of the Dodgers a new hurdle emerges? The answer to that question is surprisingly simple. in fact, it is just one word: FOX.
After weeks of a circling in a holding pattern, Major League Baseball finally delivered what should have been the death blow to the McCourt ownership of the Dodgers by vetoing their front-loaded TV contract with FOX Sports. That move will eventually lead to the McCourts losing control of the Dodger franchise, but it now appears that won’t happen until after a fair amount of nastly legal wrestling with the McCourts’ lawyers.
It didn’t have to be this way though, not if FOX never threw the Dodgers a life preserver in the first place. And it certainly never would have happened if Bud Selig had shown a little bit of backbone and forced FOX, the league’s national broadcast partner, to withdraw that life preserver so he could finally be rid of the McCourts, especially after FOX handed the team to McCourt in the first place. No, FOX would much rather continue spitting in the eye of Major League Baseball for the sake of keeping their precious regional sports network alive and kicking.
The Dodgers have always been nothing more than a pawn in FOX’s grand scheme. When they first bought the Dodgers, they quickly showed that they were far less concerned about building a winner and far more concerned about using their ownership stake in one of the crown jewel baseball franchises to launch FOX Sports Net. The team floundered throughout much of FOX’s reign while FOX Sports Net grew and grew until it could survive on its own, so FOX cut bait and handed the Dodgers over to whoever would take them.
Now, FOX Sports Net is once again in peril in the massive LA market since they will soon lose the rights to Laker broadcasts to a rival sports network that Comcast is launching, thus the life preserver offer to McCourt that would give him the immediate infusion of cash he needs while simultaneously locking up the Dodgers’ broadcast rights for years to come. Sure, Frank McCourt’s history shows that he would burn right through that cash and be stuck without sufficient funds to keep the Dodgers competitive, but FOX won’t care by then because they’ll still be getting TV ratings.
Despite this being such an obviously bad plan for the long-term prospects of MLB’s elite West Coast franchise, MLB has not once made any public show of reprimanding FOX for blatantly undermining the good of the league, a league that they just so happen to have national broadcast rights for.
For most leagues, a lucrative TV contract is all the leverage a commissioner would need to bend a network to their will. Remember when ESPN launched the controversial Playmakers series? The NFL didn’t care much for that and had ESPN kill it, which they did without making a peep. What about the NBA? If any network tried to pull stunt like this, David Stern would have that TV executive fixing broadcast antennas in Alaska before he even finished formualting the thought of making the NBA-version of the McCourts an offer.
Bud Selig? Not a word. In his statement to announce the rejection of the FOX deal, Selig didn’t even offer one shred of reprimand towards the network for meddling in league affairs so blatantly.
Maybe Selig is too scared to punish FOX for any dealings related to the McCourts since Selig was complicit in orchestrating FOX transferring ownership to the McCourts several years ago. Whatever the reason, the damage is long since done and FOX looks like they will forever be given a pardon for their role in this ongoing tragedy.
Isn’t it bad enough that FOX continues to antagonize baseball fans with their refusal to replace the maligned broadcasting duo of Buck and McCarver or to lift their fascist blackout policies, now they’re screwing directly with legendary franchises too. Thanks a lot, FOX. And thanks a lot, Commissioner Selig, for doing absolutely nothing about it.
