Dodgers File For Bankruptcy

The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy, tweets Richard Sandomir of the New York Times.  Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times reports that owner Frank McCourt loses the franchise upon filing under MLB rules, but bankruptcy court generally overrides that.  This is McCourt's next move as he fights to keep the Dodgers.

McCourt's goal appears to be to have his MLB-rejected Fox deal approved in bankruptcy court, based on this Shaikin tweet.  If the team's creditors sign off on the Fox deal, Shaikin says MLB would then have to explain to the bankruptcy court why the deal should be vetoed (Twitter link).  Shaikin notes that McCourt says he has $150MM in interim financing to cover the costs of operating the team until then.  He'll need almost $30MM to meet the Dodgers' payroll on Thursday.  Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the union has informed the Dodgers players that they will be paid on time. 

Shaikin lists McCourt's largest creditors per the bankruptcy petition: Manny Ramirez ($21MM), Andruw Jones ($11MM), Hiroki Kuroda ($4.5MM), and Rafael Furcal ($3.7MM).  Click here to enjoy the full list, on which Kaz Ishii makes an appearance.