Stan Kasten, former president of the Braves, Hawks and Thrashers, was a man without a team when he met a reporter for a weekday lunch at a Dunwoody restaurant last summer.
Kasten was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. He planned to catch a movie after lunch. He admitted to having too much free time on his hands.
Those leisurely days are over. Once again, Kasten’s plate is full.
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced late Tuesday that a group led by Kasten, basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and Chicago-based financial services executive Mark Walter won the bidding to buy the storied franchise for a staggering $2 billion, by far the most ever paid for a sports team.
Kasten will run the Dodgers’ operation if the deal closes as expected.
“It’s all so cool,” Kasten said in an email Wednesday.
Kasten, 60, had a 27-year career in Atlanta sports management before resigning as president of the city’s baseball, basketball and hockey franchises –- all owned at the time by Time Warner –- in November 2003. He remains the only person to simultaneously preside over three major-league teams.
On the day he resigned his Atlanta positions, Kasten said: “I plan to do a lot more of what I’ve done, only bigger and better.”
He went on to serve as president of the Washington Nationals from 2006 through the 2010 season, after which he resigned, sold his small ownership stake and returned to his Sandy Springs home to plot his next move.
In December, Kasten, Johnson and Walter announced they would form a group to bid for the Dodgers, a marquee franchise that had filed for bankruptcy and been put up for sale amid owner Frank McCourt’s cash crisis and divorce case.
The group combined a Los Angeles legend (former Lakers great Johnson), a well-connected baseball executive (Kasten) and a financial heavyweight (Walter). On Tuesday afternoon, Major League Baseball approved the group and two other finalists as potential Dodgers owners. Several hours later, McCourt accepted the Johnson-Kasten-Walter group’s blockbuster bid.
“The endgame was so fast and furious,” Kasten said by email.
Walter, CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a firm with more than $125 billion in assets under management, will be the Dodgers' controlling owner. The bulk of the funding reportedly comes from him and Guggenheim Partners, but their plan is for Kasten to guide the organization.
The sale requires the approval of U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which has scheduled an April 13 hearing. If all goes as planned, the sale will close by April 30, when McCourt is due to pay his ex-wife $131 million.
John Schuerholz, hired by Kasten as the Braves’ general manager in 1990 and elevated to team president in 2007, cheered his former boss’ new venture.
“I’m happy for Stan, and I think it’s a good day for baseball,” Schuerholz said Wednesday. “With Stan’s involvement and his experience and expertise and ability to build and operate professional sports franchises, especially in baseball, I don’t think [the Dodgers] could have made a better choice.”
Schuerholz also praised the presence of the “beloved” Johnson in the group and said: “The Dodger organization is in the best position it’s been in for a long, long time. . . . It’s good for our sport that the Dodgers have a good franchise.”
The price dwarfs the previous sales records for an MLB franchise ($845 million for the Chicago Cubs in 2009), any U.S. sports franchise ($1.1 billion for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins in 2009) and any franchise worldwide ($1.47 billion for English soccer team Manchester United in 2005).
The Dodgers' price reflects the soaring value of local television rights for MLB teams, particularly in the nation’s second-largest TV market.
The Dodgers’ current rights holder, Fox Sports, last year reportedly offered a 17-year extension worth $3 billion. MLB blocked the Dodgers from accepting that offer.
In addition to the $2 billion for the team, the Dodgers buyers and McCourt agreed to form a joint venture that will pay $150 million for property surrounding Dodger Stadium.
Kasten and Johnson almost worked together in Atlanta. Kasten offered Johnson the Hawks' coaching job during the 1992-93 season. Johnson seriously considered it before declining.
Staff writer David O'Brien contributed to this article.
