(CBS) – The Los Angeles Dodgers have re-signed OF Tony Gwynn Jr. to a $2 million, two-year contract, the team has announced.

Gwynn Jr. appeared in a 136 games with the Dodgers last year in his first season with the club.

The 29-year-old ranked among the league leaders with a .993 fielding percentage.

The team had until 9pm Monday night to offer Gwynn a contract or risk losing him to free-agency.

Los Angeles is expected to tender CY Young winner Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Ethier as well. James Loney and Hong-Chih Kuo are also waiting to hear from the team.

Reuters is reporting that the judge overseeing the court-supervised sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers in bankruptcy court ruled yesterday that owner Frank McCourt can sell the team’s media rights.

McCourt wants to sell the future local television deal that would begin with the 2014 season because it would increase the value of the sale of the team, Dodger Stadium and lease to the surrounding parking lots. The Dodgers are the most indebted team in baseball history and McCourt has already extracted a small fortune from future revenues by securitizing ticket sales and getting an advance on his cable deal with Fox.

Fox Sports, owned by Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp., sued the Dodgers in September to prevent the sale saying it would financially harm the channel. Last month the Dodgers counter-punched, suing Fox, claiming it was interfering with the Dodgers ability to sell its television rights.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that even if McCourt wins the right to sell the television rights Fox rivals Time Warner, Comcast and Walt Disney-owned ESPN cannot take equity in a new regional sports channel that would feature the Dodgers.

We valued that Dodgers and the revenue from its related assets at $800 million in March, and I wrote earlier that the main benefit of bidders for the Dodgers, like Mark Cuban and Magic Johnson, would get from the judge siding with McCourt on the sale of future tv rights would be to use some of the proceeds from a deal, which could be worth $120 million annually over 17 years, to help finance the purchase.

The ruling on the media rights may not mean a quick sale of the team, however. Blackstone, the investment bank handling the sale of the team for McCourt has yet to provide a sale book to potential bidders, meaning they have no official financial figures to appraise the Dodgers. On Wednesday, the judge granted a six-month extension for McCourt, giving the Dodgers until April 25 to file a reorganization plan and until June 25 to solicit votes on the plan from creditors, which means McCourt could still be running the team through the 2012 All-Star game.

 

 

Reuters is reporting that the judge overseeing the court-supervised sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers in bankruptcy court ruled yesterday that owner Frank McCourt can sell the team’s media rights.

McCourt wants to sell the future local television deal that would begin with the 2014 season because it would increase the value of the sale of the team, Dodger Stadium and lease to the surrounding parking lots. The Dodgers are the most indebted team in baseball history and McCourt has already extracted a small fortune from future revenues by securitizing ticket sales and getting an advance on his cable deal with Fox.

Fox Sports, owned by Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corp., sued the Dodgers in September to prevent the sale saying it would financially harm the channel. Last month the Dodgers counter-punched, suing Fox, claiming it was interfering with the Dodgers ability to sell its television rights.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that even if McCourt wins the right to sell the television rights Fox rivals Time Warner, Comcast and Walt Disney-owned ESPN cannot take equity in a new regional sports channel that would feature the Dodgers.

We valued that Dodgers and the revenue from its related assets at $800 million in March, and I wrote earlier that the main benefit of bidders for the Dodgers, like Mark Cuban and Magic Johnson, would get from the judge siding with McCourt on the sale of future tv rights would be to use some of the proceeds from a deal, which could be worth $120 million annually over 17 years, to help finance the purchase.

The ruling on the media rights may not mean a quick sale of the team, however. Blackstone, the investment bank handling the sale of the team for McCourt has yet to provide a sale book to potential bidders, meaning they have no official financial figures to appraise the Dodgers. On Wednesday, the judge granted a six-month extension for McCourt, giving the Dodgers until April 25 to file a reorganization plan and until June 25 to solicit votes on the plan from creditors, which means McCourt could still be running the team through the 2012 All-Star game.

 

 

It looks like Los Angeles Dodgers fans will have to put up with Frank McCourt for most of next season.

According to reports, a federal bankruptcy judge has given the Dodgers until April 25 to file a plan and until June 25 to solicit votes on the plan from creditors. That means the embattled owner could be running the Dodgers through the All-Star game.

McCourt, saddled with a crushing pile of debt,  is selling the team, its television rights, Dodger Stadium and the lease to the stadium’s parking lots in a bankruptcy-supervised auction for what should be at least $1 billion.

The Dodgers average home attendance was 36,236 last season, 11 out the the league’s 30 teams and down 17.6% from 2010. The team’s fsns have been rooting for a quick sale of the team and during the summer thousands of them boycotted the Dodgers, refsusing to support them in any way. Prolonging the sale could result in hurting ticket sales and revenue for the upcoming season.

Among those who have said they are interested in bidding for the team are Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson, hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, and talk show host Larry King.

By RANDALL CHASE
AP Business Writer

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – The Los Angeles Dodgers and Fox Sports are squaring off over the team’s plan to sell the media rights to future games.

A bankruptcy judge began hearing arguments and testimony Wednesday on the Dodgers’ request to approve a sale process for the media rights to games starting in 2014.

Fox, whose Prime Ticket subsidiary owns the current television contract with the Dodgers, argues that the proposed media rights sale would violate its exclusive negotiating rights.

But a financial adviser for the Dodgers testified that Fox would retain many of its rights under the existing contract, although on a shortened timetable.

The Dodgers’ bankruptcy plan is based on a settlement with Major League Baseball that calls for a sale of the team, Dodger Stadium, and the future television rights.

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