Earvin “Magic” Johnson helped transform the Los Angeles Lakers as a basketball player in the 1980s, and he’s part of a group of investors who are poised to do the same thing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Guggenheim Baseball Management LLC agreed on March 28 to pay $2 billion to buy the major league baseball team out of bankruptcy in the largest deal ever for an American professional sports franchise. Guggenheim will pay $1.6 billion in cash and assume $400 million in debt for the Dodgers, who filed for Chapter 11 in June 2011. The new owners will also team up with their predecessor Frank McCourt to buy the parking lots around Dodger Stadium for $150 million.
Johnson is Guggenheim’s most famous member, but the acquisition vehicle takes its name from New York financial services firm Guggenheim Partners LLC, whose CEO, Mark Walter, and president, Todd Boehly, are the money men in the group. Stan Kasten, a former president of the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals, is providing the baseball expertise, with Mandalay Entertainment Group CEO Peter Guber and oil and gas investor Bobby Patton rounding out the partnership.
