Kroenke in final three for Dodgers bid

Stan Kroenke, who entered the game late, has been cleared by Major League Baseball as one of the three finalists in the bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to Bloomberg Business Week. Kroenke's purchase of the Dodgers would unquestionably be seen in St. Louis as the latest, and most massive, reason to believe he has no interest in keeping the Rams here past 2014. There are some hurdles in the way of Kroenke becoming the owner of the once and future Los Angeles Rams, though:

1-He doesn't have the highest bid for the Dodgers. At $1.6 billion, that honor currently belongs to the group headed by Lakers Hall-of-Famer and entrepreneur Magic Johnson. Johnson's group also has the strongest Los Angeles representation, largely because of him. However, Johnson's bid is believed to include the lowest amount of actual cash.

2-He's not the richest dog in the hunt. That belongs to the group led by billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, which also includes billionaire biotech CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong, the richest man in L.A. Their combined wealth is $15 billion. They are believed to have bid $1.4 billion, 900 million of it in cash, the most of any of the three finalists.

3-Not everything about the Dodgers is for sale, yet. The team, Dodger Stadium, and the Dodgers' broadcast rights, which come up in 2013, yes. However, current owner Frank McCourt currently intends to continue to own the land around the stadium, and to lease the parking lots to the new owner. The biggest appeal of the Dodgers to Kroenke, though the TV contract will hardly be chicken feed, comes if he could build a new stadium close to Dodger Stadium.

The final three bidders are expected to be put to an approval vote of MLB owners on Tuesday, at which point the bidding will begin in earnest. McCourt has until April 30th to sell the team.

RamView wishes Magic Johnson's and Steve Cohen's groups the best of luck in buying the Dodgers. I'll even kick in 50 bucks if it'll help keep the team away from Kroenke. Let me know.

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