Kangaroo McCourt: Los Angeles Dodgers' Worst Scenarios Under Despised Owner

Frank McCourt successfully steered a once-prized franchise into the depths of mediocrity and negative press.

Although he had helped the team make a few runs in a couple seasons, he could never find a way to do it consistently for multiple years.  He has made some questionable decisions and it seems as if his expertise in running a baseball club is fairly limited.

Dodgers Stadium is on a prime location perched on top of a hill with spectacular views from many of the seats, however McCourt has managed to even ruin that experience.  

It was seen to Dodger fans that McCourt was a personality who enjoyed spending to the extreme and therefore required massive amounts of money.  His lackadaisical demeanor with money gave him bad press especially following his announcement of separation from his wife of 30 years.  

McCourt managed to change the storied franchise from good to bad in a matter of his seven-year tenure.

The Debts

This one is simple. 

The concept of money and living within one’s means is an idea that even a child can understand.  If we only have $20, then we cannot buy something worth $50.  Multiply that concept by a couple million dollars and we now have the mess Frank McCourt has created.

McCourt truly fell into the role of an LA spender.  He spent past his means and ended up in huge amounts of debt—so much debt, in fact, that the franchise is still in the process of owing millions of dollars to players who are not even with the franchise anymore. 

The Dodgers still owe Manny Ramirez roughly $21 million and even their famed voice Vincent E. Scully is owed a number in the low six figures. 

Frank McCourt truly took the idea of buying now and worrying later to the extreme.  Now the franchise is looking at starting from negative numbers rather than zero. 

Hopefully the new owner is someone who understands how to win without borrowing millions and failing to manage it correctly.

Andruw Jones

Arguably one of McCourt’s biggest flops would be the signing and overpaying of center fielder Andruw Jones. 

On December 5, 2007, Jones agreed to a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, worth $36.2 million.  During 2008 he sat much of the season on the DL and was not a vital part of the team's success. 

After showing up out of shape and over 20 pounds overweight, he continued to struggle, hitting well below .200 for most of the season.  Due to his lack of production, Jones was dropped to the bottom of the batting lineup. 

In his one-season tenure with the Dodgers, his batting average settled at .158 while only having three home runs and 14 RBI.  These were abysmal stats for the over $35 million Jones was being paid.

However in 2009, he asked to be released and in return he gave up a substantial amount of his contract money.  The downside is that the Dodgers are still in the process of paying Jones off of his contract.

Thank you, Frank McCourt.

Winning Inconsistencies

Understandably, it is difficult to consistently have a 90-win season every new baseball year.  It is not something that just happens without talent, coaching and money. 

However, with all the resources that McCourt had at his disposal, how could he justify only having two seasons with over 90 wins?  In 2004 the Dodgers ended up with 93 wins and in 2009 finished with the best record in the McCourt era (95-67). 

This is all good but LA even went as low as only 71 wins in 2005. 

The only real consistent seasons were the first two that Joe Torre was manager in which the ballclub went 84-78 in 2008 then 95-67 in 2009.  Every other year went from a positive swing to a negative swing in terms of wins and losses. 

It was difficult for every Dodger fan to try and support a team that was so close to elite-hood yet found a way to falter every following year.  With a great 2009 season in which the Dodgers lost in the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies, the franchise has yet to see a postseason after. 

Coaching Inconsistency

It hurts that McCourt chooses to fire his managers after one bad season. 

This relates back to his lack of consistency with both his coaching staff and players.  Luckily the Dodgers still have Mattingly who has done an excellent job this past season with the drama surrounding the team.

However during the tenure of McCourt, whenever there was negative following season, the manager was fired. 

In 2005, Jim Tracy (Dodgers manager) had a minus-22 change in wins season following his 2004 93-69 record.  This resulted in his firing for Grady Little.  Little then had a 88-74 season in 2006 followed by a 82-80 2007 season in which he was fired for manager Joe Torre. 

With managers leaving after only a couple years, McCourt sent a message that he was only looking for short-term gains rather than developing a lasting franchise.

Rocketing Prices

Over the past few years, the Dodgers have started to see a decline in attendance.  Who is to blame the fans for not wanting to pay $20 to park, $50 for tickets and another $35 on food?

If we total that up for a family of four in fairly average seats, the total cost would be a little over $100 per game, not even mentioning the gas it takes to get to the stadium. 

McCourt needed some way to pay for the over-inflated salaries of his players and one way was to charge the fans an absurd amount of money. 

In this economy, it is difficult to see families coming to the ballpark anymore with how much the total cost ends up being.

Dodgers Stadium Security

Nobody wants to go to a ballpark where security is an issue.  It is just the truth of the matter.

The No. 1 way for a team to lose attendance is lack of security.

As mentioned earlier, not as many families are coming to the stadium due to financial instability in the household.  The types of fans that are now starting to show up are not the typical parent and child families.  In fact, it looks like violence is starting to increase at the park (i.e. Giants fan incident). 

The experience has shifted from a good time at the park to expensive food, chaotic parking and overpriced tickets.

Chaotic Parking

With how much money is being spent by Mr. McCourt, it would seem the least he could is spend it on a better way to get in and out of the stadium.

As anybody who has ever attended a Dodgers game can attest to, the parking is horrendous.

There seems to be no organization and leaving is atrocious.  If a parent wants to get their children in bed by a reasonable time, it is necessary to leave before the game actually finishes due to the time it takes to actually leave the park.

While the stadium is beautiful and the location is priceless, getting a better structure and organizational planning is necessary for the ballpark to attract more fans.

Negative Public Relations

Due to Frank McCourt’s recent transgressions, most of the news following the Dodgers organization is not for Matt Kemp winning the Silver Slugger Award and Gold Glove Award but for violence at the stadium and the ugly McCourt divorce proceedings. 

The Dodgers franchise, once storied in its winning traditions, has now become a tabloid regular in Los Angeles.

McCourt managed to be an impediment to the Dodgers organization in acquiring players either through trade or free agency.  This makes sense because who would want to play for a guy who has no idea what he is doing. 

He also managed to take money from the organization well into the high millions.  His lavish lifestyle required him to take money from the organization he was trying to build.  Once the public found out, it only made him look worse.

Somehow McCourt managed to make more headlines than the team's actual success did.

Poor Business Practice

As mentioned earlier McCourt managed to steal from his own organization.  Obviously the concept of stealing is a bit skewed due to the different connotations it has.  However, what is certain is that he was taking money from funds that should have gone to the development of the organization and not his multiple houses and cars.

Starting from the beginning with the purchase of the Dodgers, McCourt managed to spend over $400 million on essentially a credit card.  The instant he took management, he was in debt. 

Most business professionals know the importance of spending within one’s means and if borrowing, having a plan to pay it back in a reasonable amount of time.

Not for Frank McCourt.

He bought the franchise with credit and managed to use the organization as his personal checking account.

If McCourt wonders why the franchise has faltered, the first place he should look is his unnecessarily extravagant lifestyle and lack of financial management with the team's earnings. 

Drop in Attendance

In the 2011 season, the Dodgers franchise amidst McCourt’s divorce proceedings saw a $27 million drop in ticket sales, concession and parking revenue. 

Based on the Dodgers' $286 million of total revenue in 2009, 2011 season's attendance-related declines would amount to at least a 9.4 percent drop in the Dodgers' total annual revenue.

However, the drop in attendance does most of its damage to those in the concession stands or those who have clean-up duties.  Although McCourt has managed to lose millions, the overall hurt of his poor decisions will probably hurt the little people the most. 

Hopefully the new owner can change this and boost the revenue for all Dodgers-related industries in the near future.