The news that Major League Baseball has taken over operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers from owners Frank and Jamie McCourt is reminiscent of a time nearly 10 years ago when baseball took over running another team — the Washington Nationals, back when they were the Montreal Expos.
Both deals have connective tissue to each other, if you can follow the bouncing ball that began with one of the most unique sports business deals of our lifetime in 2002.
In 1999, the Montreal Expos were already a franchise in turmoil, seemingly on the brink of being sold and moved even then to a group of Washington businessmen. But baseball sought out an owner to keep the franchise in Montreal — at least on a temporary basis — and came up with Jeffrey Loria, who in 1993 had nearly wound up as owner of the Baltimore Orioles, losing out to Peter Angelos in a bankruptcy auction.
Loria demanded a new ballpark in Montreal, which was unlikely, so the clock was ticking to see if baseball commissioner Bud Selig would let Loria move the franchise — the first such move since the team that left Washington, the Senators, moved to Arlington, Texas, after the 1971 season.
No one saw what was coming, though — an unprecedented three-way franchise swap.
John Henry was owner of the Florida Marlins, but he wanted to purchase the Boston Red Sox along with former Orioles president and Washington attorney Larry Lucchino and television executive Tom Werner.
So Henry sold the Marlins to Loria for $158 million, which set the stage for the purchase of the Red Sox. But instead of selling the Expos to out-of-town owners who were ready to move them to Washington in 2002, baseball stepped in and took over operation of the team, paying Loria $120 million, biding their time until they figured out what to do with the Expos.
Henry, Lucchino and Werner were the successful bidders for the Red Sox empire, at a price of $750 million. One of the losing bidders for the Red Sox? Frank McCourt, who might have wound up owning the Red Sox instead if baseball hadn’t put in motion its three-way franchise deal.
McCourt’s consolation prize two years later would be the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
As has been well-documented, the Expos were operated by Major League Baseball for five years, including through the move to Washington in 2005.
In 2006, the Nationals were sold to the Lerner family and the point man in the deal — Stan Kasten.
The Nationals sale was seen as the final act in this franchise-shuffling drama that baseball orchestrated. But the 2002 deal is still having far-reaching consequences.
Putting McCourt in position to buy the Dodgers was one of them. And now, perhaps creating the circumstances for the possible next owner of the Dodgers, is another one of those consequences — Stan Kasten, who parted ways with the Lerners last year and is actively looking for ownership opportunities.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
