Santa Barbaran Bidding for Dodgers
Will They Train at Neverland?
Barrack Now Batting:Part-time Santa Barbaran Tom Barrack, billionaire owner of Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch, is reportedly one of the top bidders for the L.A. Dodgers.
Who knows, maybe they’ll train there instead of going all the way to Phoenix?
Shaved-head Barrack’s Colony Capital has a $25 billion portfolio, including the 1,200-acre ranch Jackson sold after being acquitted of child molestation and leaving Santa Barbara County for good.
A 1969 USC graduate, Barrack has his fingers in many real estate pies and reportedly owned Japanese baseball teams. There are enough billionaires bidding to buy the Dodgers to make up their own baseball team. Barrack is considered a front-runner even though he’s not a marquee name in sports like some of the other suitors, like ex-manager Joe Torre and former Dodger star Steve Garvey. But he has powerful connections and is not a man to count out.
But he and other bidders have to survive a thorny process, with the final okay up to present owner Frank McCourt. Bids were due Monday, January 23. Major League Baseball has agreed to okay up to 10 bidders, subject to an investigation of their assets and structure of the bid.
Other MLB owners can then put the kibosh on any of the hopefuls. Sound odd? That’s baseball. McCourt will pick the lucky winner by April 1. The price figures to be well over $1 billion, and McCourt needs it.
