LA Dodgers: Bad Business Decisions Beat Them Down

How can the LA Dodgers ever become a legitimate baseball franchise again with all that has been happening there just since opening day?

Apparently, the San Francisco fan who remains in a coma after being assaulted in the parking lot was the victim of very bad ownership decision making and probably has quite a bit to do with the Selig decision to supervise the team and its finances from the MLB front office.

MLB has to protect a game that has gone way out of control in Los Angeles, where the need for cash has resulted not only in spurious business deals for advance TV revenues, along with lawsuit entanglements over a divorce gone bad, but policies that have promoted rowdy, drunken crowds at the games and the resultant carnage of an Innocent fan on opening day.

Here, according to an LA City-Watch article by Jack Humphreville  is how that worked;

"The need for cash to service the increasing mountain of debt and fund the family’s over the top life style resulted in business decisions that led to the increase in sales of beer and booze and the cut back in the presence of uniformed LA-PD officers and overall security, creating an attractive venue for gang-bangers and abusive, foul-mouthed drunks. 

This alcohol and drug-infested environment finally resulted in the highly publicized unprovoked assault on Opening Day of Byran Stow, a 42 year old Giants fan from Santa Cruz, in the parking lot after the game.  The resultant adverse publicity has caused a 27% decrease in paid attendance for the last seven home games, resulting in a loss of about $3.4 million in highly profitable, incremental admission, parking, and concession revenue."

Those who decry MLB's taking over of the Dodgers should show up for a game there sometime...only don't forget to wear a flak jacket and a bullet-proof vest.