The Dodgers’ owners are "interested in selling a small share of the team and have retained an investment banker to solicit bids," according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. Galatioto Sports Partners President Sal Galatioto, whose firm was retained by the Dodgers, said that there is "no timetable for a possible sale." He added that Dodgers Chair Mark Walter would "remain the Dodgers’ controlling owner, with his partners from Guggenheim Baseball Management." Galatioto also represented the owners of the Cubs last year when they "sold minority shares" for a total of about $300M. It is "unclear what the Dodgers’ owners would do with their sale proceeds." Guggenheim’s five-year exemption from MLB’s debt service rules "expires this year." But Galatioto said that he "did not believe debt reduction was the purpose of the sale." The Dodgers previously have "considered selling a small ownership share to strategic partners with interests in Mexico and South Korea, without reaching a deal" (L.A. TIMES, 2/9). Dodgers President & CEO Stan Kasten confirmed the arrangement with GSP but "would not discuss the financial issues involved other than calling [L.A.] 'a good point in the market' for sports franchises." In California, Bill Plunkett notes the Dodgers’ valuation has "no doubt increased" since the '12 sale of the franchise, ballpark and half-interest in the surrounding parking lots, "perhaps to as much" as $3B. The Cubs' sale of minority shares a year ago produced "an infusion of cash that was then used to fund the massive renovation project underway at Wrigley Field and in the surrounding neighborhood." The Dodgers have "no such projects in the works having already spent" about $200M on Dodger Stadium in the past few years and a renovated Campo Las Palmas in the Dominican Republic (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 2/9).
