The fact that Sports can be turned into a business is nothing new to the world. However, the fact that the competitiveness of Sports themselves translates into business, can be a news piece for some people. The fact is that teams get bought and sold, but they’re far from a commodity. Having ownership of a team doesn’t mean that you’re just there for the dividends, it actually entails that you take an active part in developing it.
What’s going on?
Our news today is concerning the same topic. According to reports from InsideTrade, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners has pledged more than $20 billion, with some of his associates in order to prevent the complete buyout of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The event itself was documented by the Wall Street Journal, even giving out some names of the people behind the LA Dodgers. The baseball team was bought back in 2012, which had different laws and regulations, so it means that nothing can be done legal wise as everything has been pretty much confirmed. The purchase was made by Mark Walter and a few co-investors with around $2 billion, which was record-breaking for the time.
Some familiar faces
At first, it seems that it’s not that big of a deal right? Just someone investing into a team that is quite popular. The big deal part comes when you hear about the co-investors. They turned out to be quite the celebrities themselves. One of them was the Los Angeles Lakers prodigy Magic Johnson and Guggenheim’s ex-president Todd Boehly. Both of them now own a share of the LA Dodgers.
What’s an even deal is the supply source of the funds that were used to buy the team. An S&P Global Ratings senior analyst, Deep Banerjee said that the group used some place called Safe Harbor, where they had allegedly stored the funds. Even though nothing concrete was found to confirm that this was indeed the case, many news leaks occurred to give it more credibility.
What’s already disclosed
Dan K. Webb has clarified the fact that there will not be any references to the state law as there was nothing indicating the case towards it. He has indicated that the insurers affiliating themselves with Guggenheim are the most trustworthy ones out there. Although the Safe Harbor file was never found, the contents of it are well known as they have been publicized. According to that information, the Safe Harbor file should include all of the dealings about stakes in the Dodgers and not only. It’s confirmed there’s information about a firm having a stake in Wendy’s, a popular burger joint and a place called Carvana, and online car dealer.
Not only that, but the purpose of Safe Harbor has also been disclosed by Walter himself, telling the WSJ that it was a backup plan in case the credit market didn’t go as planned.
Sources:
https://insidetrade.co/la-dodgers-stake/
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