MLB, as expected, contacted the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware this morning seeking a protective order precluding FSN from seeking depositions of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB Exec VP/Labor Relations & HR Rob Manfred as part of its media rights battle with the Dodgers. FSN late Friday filed deposition notices seeking to question the league executives, along with three officials from the Dodgers, including Owner Frank McCourt. But MLB, through outside legal counsel White & Case, told the court today it is "no longer a party to any motion currently before this Court and Fox should not be permitted to drag Major League Baseball back into the very litigation morass from which it extracted itself through the settlement." The bankruptcy court tomorrow will begin a key two-day hearing in Wilmington, Del., to hear arguments on the media rights issue. McCourt, as part of ongoing efforts to sell the Dodgers, wants an accelerated auction of the cable TV rights. FSN, conversely, wants to protect its existing contract that calls for an exclusive negotiating period beginning late next year (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
BARREN WINTER? In L.A., Dylan Hernandez wrote it “looks as though the Dodgers will have to endure another barren winter.” With McCourt “preparing to sell, they have even less cash than usual to spend on players.” The combined ‘12 salaries of the players on their opening-day roster “are expected to be less than $90 million.” Dodgers GM Ned Colletti is “figuratively down to his last pocketful of nickels” despite limiting his free-agent expenditures “to modestly priced role players” (L.A. TIMES, 12/5). Also in L.A., Bill Shaikin writes the “unsettling truth is that a new owner might not be able to turn the Dodgers around in a hurry.” McCourt's “sign-now, pay-later approach could haunt a new owner.” So could next winter's “uninspiring class of free agents” (L.A. TIMES, 12/6).
