Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hasn't acted in good faith by rejecting a proposed television deal involving the Los Angeles Dodgers and appeared determined to run Frank McCourt out of the sport, an attorney representing the embattled owner said Tuesday.
A day after Selig announced he wouldn't approve a Dodgers TV deal with Fox Sports — reportedly worth up to $3 billion — lawyer Robert Sacks questioned the commissioner's intentions and warned that any potential takeover of the team by Major League Baseball would be met with resistance.
"There seems to be a predetermined result to drive Frank out of baseball without a good faith basis," Sacks said. "This isn't going to go away quietly."
McCourt hoped Selig would sign off on the transaction that would have provided him with $385 million up front and was vital to a binding settlement reached between him and his ex-wife and former Dodger CEO Jamie McCourt last week. McCourt now faces the potential of missing a June 30 team payroll without the TV funds and that could lead to a MLB takeover.
Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president of labor relations, wouldn't say what Selig's next move would be, but noted the league has treated McCourt fairly and wasn't interested in seeing him take on further debt or pull future revenues to be used for non-baseball expenses.
