Major League Baseball

McCourt in position to profit even more

Published Mar. 28, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

I’ve got an idea where Frank McCourt’s next billion might be coming from.

McCourt, bless his scheming heart, isn’t finished. Not when he still will own half the land surrounding Dodger Stadium, including its parking lots.

Maybe he’ll work with the new Dodgers’ owners to develop the land outside the ballpark into a shopping/entertainment complex similar to two well-known destinations in Los Angeles, L.A. Live and The Grove.

Or, maybe McCourt and the Dodgers’ new owners will aim for a potentially even bigger score — the NFL.

McCourt and the Dodgers could combine to sell some of the land for the construction of an adjoining NFL stadium at Chavez Ravine. Or, they could sell all of it, with the Dodgers then using their share of the proceeds to build a new ballpark downtown.

At the moment, the Dodgers’ new owners do not seem interested in either idea. The owners, after purchasing the team for $2.15 billion, sound committed to refurbishing Dodger Stadium, which turns 50 this season.

Incoming team president Stan Kasten, speaking Thursday on the Mad Dog Radio Show on SiriusXM, said there is “no plan” to tear down Dodger Stadium and build a new ballpark.

“The iconic stadium, the fantastic, famous view of the San Gabriel Mountains behind it, that’s all part of the mystique and that’s all part of what we bought,” Kasten said.

“It does need work. I had an army of engineers go in there in the last few weeks evaluating exactly what we need to do. I think we know what we need to do. We know what it will cost. We’re prepared to pay to get the stadium more modernized.”

Kasten, when asked by Chris Russo if such an effort would cost “a couple hundred million,” replied, “Maybe not,” pointing to the Red Sox’s renovations of Fenway Park as an example of what the Dodgers might accomplish.

But consider the alternative.

A new, tricked-out ballpark in downtown L.A. could produce even more revenue than a renovated Dodger Stadium, no small consideration after a $2.15 billion purchase. And the Dodgers would be in position to privately finance such a venture, given the immense value of the land they would be selling at Chavez Ravine.

How would such a deal work? It’s not entirely clear. One possibility would be for an existing NFL team to buy the land, then build the stadium with help from the league.

The investment might be worthwhile just to get the NFL back into L.A., which has not had a team since 1995. And it’s common knowledge that the NFL — the wealthiest, most powerful sports league on the planet — long has coveted Chavez Ravine.

If Warren Buffett wanted to buy your house, wouldn’t you at least listen?

“I have a close eye on the NFL because the word is they love Chavez Ravine,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said when discussing the Dodgers’ sale with the Los Angeles Times in November.

“With this transaction, the implications are huge … if a new owner has a dual-use scenario in his or her mind — we all know there’s a scramble to return football here — and the quest is what makes the most sense.”

Funny, it didn’t make sense to the city in ’96 when former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley wanted to construct a second, football-only stadium at Chavez Ravine. The city instead decided that an NFL team should play at the antiquated Los Angeles Coliseum, an idea it later abandoned.

Other stadium proposals now exist.

Edward P. Roski, a part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings, wants to build a stadium in the City of Industry, 22 miles east of L.A.

The Anschutz Entertainment Group wants to build one downtown next to Staples Center — and one of AEG’s partners in its quest to lure a team is none other than the most celebrated of the Dodgers’ new owners, Magic Johnson.

Roski already has an approved Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and AEG is awaiting its own. Both developers, then, would have a head start over any stadium project at Chavez Ravine. Neither Roski nor AEG, however, has secured a commitment from an NFL team.

Thus, an opening exists, and you can bet that McCourt at least wants to explore it. As Dodgers owner, he, too, dallied with the idea of building an NFL stadium at Chavez Ravine. At this point, it would be foolish to doubt his business acumen — he went from a laughingstock to a $2.15 billion man seemingly overnight.

I’m not saying the NFL is McCourt’s next play, especially when the Dodgers might resist joining with him on such a project.

All I’m saying is that McCourt has one big move left, and he could exploit that move to maximum advantage, making it work for the NFL and the Dodgers, too.

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