Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter is One of America’s Richest Team Owners

Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter is one of America’s richest sports team owners according to Forbes. An individual must own more than half of their team to qualify for the annual list.

I would guess that, he being a member of the financially well-to-do club, Dodgers owner Mark Walter will see his bottom line benefit big time from Trump’s reform this tax season. Forbes came out with their richest sports owners recently and there are quite a few owners of baseball teams on this list including Mr. Chairman himself.

Mark Walter of the Dodgers is ranked Number 36 on the Forbes list with a reported net worth of $2.5 Billion. As CEO of Guggenheim Partners, Walter captained the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012 for around $2 Billion. Then after a bidding war had driven the price up to record heights, Guggenheim Baseball Management subsequently sold local TV rights to air Dodger games to Time Warner Cable for somewhere around $8 Billion. Even though TWC has since been bought by Charter Communications, launching their own Dodgers cable network hasn’t proved particularly profitable for the new broadcaster. Nor has it created a bond with Los Angeles area consumers who have for the most part been kept in the dark in terms or viable viewing options. Only subscribers to the Charter’s Spectrum service who have also upgraded to the SportsNet LA package can view the games. All other fans are blacked out of their own market.

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On the verge of resignation last fall according to reports, Mr. Walter looks to have weathered the scandal storm for the moment. The scare arose when he was alleged to have, you know, “bought a California mansion for a younger female executive at the company”. Apparently Mark’s got 99 problems, but not being rich ain’t one.

At least the Dodgers have Mark Walter now. The previous villain Frank McCourt is gone but not forgotten. McCourt still gains $14 million a year from renting the Dodgers parking lots back to the team.

LA used to have a parking lot mogul in over his head as the owner. Now the city should be much better that they have Mark Walter, a man who’s empire may or may not be built on hedge funds and insurance bonds. The Yankees have the house that Ruth built and the Dodgers have been living, since the days of the O’Malley family, in a shaky house of financial cards.

I have rationalized and even sympathized with billionaire owners in the past – making the case that the Dodgers needed to be considerate of the tax penalty. I no longer feel obliged to believe in, let alone preach, such nonsense. The numbers we discuss regarding wealth here are in the billions, not even millions. Ultimately it is difficult for me to continue to condone what is happening in terms of the Dodgers not investing in team improvement this offseason.

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Relative to the average fan such as myself these owners are perceived, and in some cases reported, to have unlimited resources. As an average income fan, spending my hard earned pay on an overpriced ticket to the ballgame, I want to see a return on investment of mine and of all of the millions of us at the games every single year.