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Frank McCourt said not to respond to $1.2-billion Dodgers bid

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Dodgers owner Frank McCourt did not respond to a $1.2-billion offer to buy the team, according to Bill Burke, the leader of the bid group.

The offer expired Tuesday. Burke said Wednesday that his group has offered an extension.

‘I don’t have any expectations at this point,’ he said. ‘We’re just waiting to see how everything plays out.’

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Burke, the founder of the Los Angeles Marathon, said his group would be interested in bidding on the Dodgers should the team be put up for sale in a Bankruptcy Court auction.

Steve Sugerman, the spokesman for McCourt, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an Aug. 30 letter, McCourt was offered $1.2 billion to sell the Dodgers to a group led by Burke and financed in part by ‘state-owned investment institutions of the People’s Republic of China.’ Burke has declined to elaborate on the offer. The letter specified that the offer would expire in 21 days.

An attorney for McCourt dismissed the offer as a ‘publicity stunt.’ Burke has denied that allegation. McCourt has said he has no intention of selling the team. He has asked the Bankruptcy Court to let him sell the Dodgers’ television rights, a crucial step toward retaining ownership, amid the objections of Fox Sports and Major League Baseball.

Neither Fox nor MLB has filed its formal objection, but Fox said in a court filing Tuesday that it would oppose ‘any action by any party that interferes with, impairs or undermines’ its current television contract with the Dodgers, which extends through 2013.

In a July 28 filing, MLB said that McCourt could try to use the Bankruptcy Court to ‘circumvent Major League Baseball’s approval rights with respect to any proposed media rights transaction, subjecting him and the [Dodgers] to discipline under the Major League Constitution.’

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Commissioner Bud Selig has vetoed three proposed transactions between the Dodgers and Fox, actions McCourt claims forced the team into bankruptcy. The Dodgers have offered to work with Selig on the prospective sale of television rights but have asked the court to approve a high bid if Selig does not.

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-- Bill Shaikin

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