LOS ANGELES (AP) – Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball agree to ‘court supervised process to sell team’

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Los Angeles Dodgers have hired Sue Falsone as head athletic trainer, making her the first female to hold that job in major professional sports.

General manager Ned Colletti announced Falsone’s hiring Monday
and said Stan Conte has been promoted to senior director of medical
services.

Falsone (fal-SONY) became the first female physical therapist in the major leagues when she was hired by the Dodgers in 2007. She worked in that role through the 2010 season. The 37-year-old trainer will continue to work for Athletes’ Performance in Phoenix.

Falsone has also worked with players in the NFL, NBA and NHL.

She and current assistant athletic trainer Nancy Patterson give the Dodgers the first pair of female trainers on one staff in the history of the major leagues.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers have hired the first female head athletic trainer in major professional sports.

Sue Falsone was also the first female physical therapist in Major League Baseball when she was hired by the Dodgers in 2007. She held the position through the 2010 season.

“This is a very special day not just for Sue, but for the Dodgers and Major League Baseball,” general manager Ned Colletti said. “The Dodgers have always been an organization of firsts and this promotion for Sue continues in that tradition.”

Falsone, 37, said in a statement that it was “a true honour” to work with a progressive and historic organization.

“My work with the Dodgers over the past few years as well as my time with [Athletes' Performance] will serve me well in taking this next step,” she said. “I look forward to helping develop innovative and creative programs to reduce injuries and keep our players on the field so that they can achieve their potential.”

Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play in the major leagues when he debuted for the Dodgers in 1947. The Dodgers were also the first team to have a Korean-born player and a Taiwanese player on their big league roster.

Their signing of Hideo Nomo in 1995 paved the way for Japanese players to compete in the majors.

Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) – The Los Angeles Dodgers have hired the
first female head athletic trainer in major professional sports.

Sue Falsone was also the first female physical therapist in Major League
Baseball when she was hired by the Dodgers in 2007. She held the position
through the 2010 season.

“This is a very special day not just for Sue, but for the Dodgers and Major
League Baseball,” general manager Ned Colletti said. “The Dodgers have always
been an organization of firsts and this promotion for Sue continues in that
tradition.”

Falsone, 37, said in a statement that it was “a true honor” to work with a
progressive and historic organization.

“My work with the Dodgers over the past few years as well as my time with
[Athletes' Performance] will serve me well in taking this next step,” she
said. “I look forward to helping develop innovative and creative programs to
reduce injuries and keep our players on the field so that they can achieve
their potential.”

Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play in the major leagues
when he debuted for the Dodgers in 1947. The Dodgers were also the first team
to have a Korean-born player and a Taiwanese player on their big league
roster.

Their signing of Hideo Nomo in 1995 paved the way for Japanese players to
compete in the majors.

The Sports Network

News Corp. (NWSA)’s Fox Sports sued the
Los Angeles Dodgers to prevent a possible sale of future media
rights as part of the Major League Baseball team’s bankruptcy.

By preparing to sell the television rights to future games,
the Dodgers’ violated its contract with Fox Sports Net West 2
LLC, which does business as Prime Ticket, Fox said in a
complaint filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Wilmington, Delaware. The contract requires the team to only
negotiate with Fox until October 2012 and gives the company
matching rights to any deal cut after that date, Fox said.

Fox also accused team owner Frank McCourt of using
bankruptcy to keep control of the team, not improve the Dodgers’
financial position.

The Dodgers’ “purported liquidity crisis has been resolved
and the only crisis facing the debtors pertains to the control
of the baseball club by present ownership,” Fox said in court
papers.

“The Los Angeles Dodgers have fully complied with all of
their obligations under the existing contract with Fox,”
Stefanie Goodsell, a spokeswoman for the team, said today in an
e-mailed statement. “The Dodgers look forward to the
opportunity to obtain court approval of its marketing process,
which will enable the Dodgers to emerge from bankruptcy on a
solid financial footing.”

The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in June after Major League
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig named a monitor to oversee the
team’s day-to-day operations and rejected a proposed television-
rights deal with Fox Sports. The team said it faced a temporary
cash crisis that would be resolved once it sold the future
television rights.

The Dodgers engaged in talks with unidentified parties
before filing for bankruptcy, violating Fox’s rights under the
telecast agreement, Fox said in its filing.

Major League Baseball said in court papers last week that
it won’t approve a new television contract reached by McCourt
before the current Fox negotiating period ends in 2012. Selig
asked the judge overseeing the bankruptcy case, Kevin Gross, to
strip McCourt of his exclusive right to reorganize the Dodgers
so MLB can try to sell the team.

The bankruptcy case is In re Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, 11-
12010, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To contact the reporters on this story:
Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at
epettersson@bloomberg.net;
Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at
schurch3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net.