Frank McCourt v. Baseball

[Sect122Mike]

Let me first go on record saying I hate everything that Frank McCourt has done in baseball.  It was a HUGE mistake to sell him the Dodgers and I hope he sells them to a responsible owner. 

But removing my fan aspect and person prejudices against McCourt, man baseball better be careful.  It is walking on a VERY fine line.  If it tries to take the team from McCourt and sell it, it may wind up losing the thing its holds dearest, its tradition anti-trust exemption. 

The way I see it, if McCourt finally caves and agrees to sell the team, either Mark Cuban or Mikhail Prokhorov are going to make him some overwhelming offer that values the Dodgers at close to the Yankees.  No one else will come close.  But if MLB says we don;t want to sell to the highest bidder, we want this guy who is good for the game, well, the McCourts and their divroce judge may have something to say about it. 

We know that the Dodgers are the biggest asset in the divorce and both sides will be compelled by teh court to get the highest value for that asset so the court can divide it.  Frank McCourt can not sell it to his buddy for a discount, and neither can Bud Selig.  If MLB tries to illegally restrain free trade in the public market, it could be screwed.  The so-called anti-trust exemption would not apply to a team sale because baseball would be hard pressed to argue a legitimate business basis for excluding a certain person without libeling that person. 

Usually its not a problem because the "seller" of the team only agrees to sell to someone baseball wants, but here we can have a situation where the court orders the McCourts to sell to the highest bidder and Mark Cuban or Mikhail Prokhorov are happy to fill that role. 

Anyway, I'm not sure that Cuban would be any better than McCourt but I think Mikhail Prokhorov would be fine.