Originally Posted by
verminaard
Druff, I listen to sports talk radio, and even taking a new Fox TV contract into account, it seems everyone agrees the Magic Johnson group WAY overpaid for the Dodgers, especially considering they will need to spend several hundred million renovating the stadium in the very near future.
But everyone also says the groups that put up the real money behind the scenes are not dumb so they must know something we dont.
Do you have any knowledge/opinion on the matter.
Yes, he did overpay.
Well, actually his investors did. Most of the money didn't come from Magic himself.
The stadium itself gets a bad rap. Sure, it looks a bit 1960s in places, but it's a classic stadium and I personally love the place. A lot of the reason people talk about hating Dodger Stadium, especially in the last decade, is because of the clientele there. I usually avoid the criminal element at the stadium by simply purchasing the more expensive seats, which tend to be occupied by people much less inclined to disruption/violence.
I will say that, about 20 years ago, one of my friends won free bleacher seats to a game, and invited me. While there, a drunk gangbanger said he was going to stab me because I was supposedly looking at him the wrong way, and while in the food line, an 8-year-old was actually threatening to kick my ass. (How do you even respond to that last one??) Needless to say, I made a decision never to sit in the bleachers ever again, free tickets or not.
They need to spend some money on some good security and enact a zero-tolerance policy for the troublemakers at the stadium. That's more of a policy change than something that would cost a lot of money.
But yeah, no chance the team is worth $2 billion. That's crazy. At least it's indicative that the group has deep pockets and probably won't be cheap. The Dodgers are currently wasting the best pitcher and best hitter in the league, putting such lousy players around them that the team is still only around .500 caliber.
Keep in mind that it's tough to even get that good of a cash flow in baseball these days, due to the crazy high player contracts. This isn't like the old days (or even 25 years ago) when players made peanuts and the owners reaped huge benefits.