The Dodgers have spent "more than a billion dollars on player payroll in the first four seasons" under the ownership of Guggenheim Baseball Management, but the team faces a "mandate to reduce debt in order to conform" to MLB rules, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. The club is "expected to reduce payroll for a second consecutive season," with the goal of cutting a figure that was around $300M in '15 to closer to $200M in '18. The team said that the reductions are "unrelated" to MLB's rules about debt, which "demand clubs be in compliance within five years of an ownership change." MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said that he did "not believe fans should worry that ownership would diminish the Dodgers’ ability to win in order to satisfy the debt rule." Manfred: "The Dodgers will be in a position that they can comply with our expectations in terms of the debt service rule, without any dramatic alteration in the kind of product they have been putting on the field." The rule "generally limits debt to no more than 12 times annual revenue, minus expenses." Dodgers co-Owner Todd Boehly last year said that the club was "not profitable in any of the first three full seasons under new ownership." Shaikin noted the Dodgers' debt is "believed to be in the hundreds of millions." Guggenheim's spending has also "raised eyebrows throughout the industry." Dodgers CFO Tucker Kain "declined to say if the team last season had turned its first profit under Guggenheim ownership." Kain: "The business is as healthy as it’s ever been." Kain also "declined to discuss the Dodgers’ debt level or how they would reduce it, but he emphasized the team would comply with the debt service rule." He said, "We understand all of our obligations and work closely with baseball. We’ll be in great shape with baseball" (L.A. TIMES, 11/27).
