Dodger Blue Indeed: Frank McCourt Files for Bankruptcy in Effort to Retain Team

The latest salvo in the battle between Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has been fired, and it’s not pretty.

On Monday morning, McCourt and the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection, with McCourt stating that Selig’s rejection of the proposed television rights deal between McCourt and FOX Sports was the primary reason for filing.

While operating under Chapter 11 protection, the Dodgers and McCourt will receive $150 million in what is known as Debtor-in-Possession financing in order to continue meeting its expenses and for day-to-day operations.

The bankruptcy filing was made in a Delaware court on Monday morning, and also helps to buy additional time for the Dodgers to continue seeking a long-term business deal.

In a news release issued after the filing by the team, McCourt said:

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“The Dodgers have delivered time and again since I became owner, and that’s been good for baseball. We turned the team around financially after years of annual losses before I purchased the team.

We invested $150 million in the stadium. We’ve had excellent on-field performance, including playoff appearances four times in seven years. And we brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago, when his leadership team called us a ‘model franchise.’

Yet he’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today. I simply cannot allow the Commissioner to knowingly and intentionally be in a position to expose the Dodgers to financial risk any longer.

It is my hope that the Chapter 11 process will create a fair and constructive environment to get done what we couldn’t achieve with the Commissioner directly.”

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The bankruptcy document also states that there will be no disruption of any of the normal daily operations for the Dodgers, and that the club can still seek deals to sign and acquire players.

Also in the news release, Bruce Bennett, McCourt's bankruptcy counsel from Dewey & LeBoeuf, stated that the Dodgers can come out of bankruptcy protection well capitalized for the future.

"The deal with Fox demonstrates that the Dodgers have enormous value, which substantially exceeds the team's current and future liabilities,” Bennett said. "The team is entering the bankruptcy case with enough committed financing to meet all of its short term expenses and to successfully reorganize. The media rights will, one way or another, generate enough value to facilitate a reorganization.”

Commissioner Selig has yet to respond to the latest round in their ongoing battle, although the move should not come as any big surprise. Selig has said in the past that MLB is prepared for any legal fight, and bankruptcy protection is presumed to be one of those situations.

It’s a dark day in Los Angeles Dodgers history, nonetheless.

Doug Mead is a featured columnist with Bleacher Report. His work has been featured on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, SF Gate, CBS Sports, the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle. Follow Doug on Twitter, @Sports_A_Holic.