Frank McCourt's mad scramble to conjure up some much-needed cash continued on Tuesday afternoon.
According to a report from ESPN's Molly Knight, the Los Angeles Dodgers owner has taken cash advances from team sponsors in order to successfully meet the team's payroll for the month of May. The news comes just one month after McCourt had to take a personal $30 million loan to pay his April bills.
What's next, Frank?
Diving through the couch cushions for dimes and nickels to put toward June's obligations, which include a "huge chunk" of deferred money due to the long-gone Manny Ramirez?
From ESPN:
Since McCourt has been unable to secure traditional loans to fund the cash-strapped Dodgers, front office executives in charge of revenue were charged with finding more creative ways to help float the troubled franchise for two more weeks.
Current team sponsors were contacted and offered discounts on their annual bills and luxury box stadium seats in exchange for cash up front, according to two sources. It is not known which sponsors took the offer, or the depth of discount they were given.
As Knight so cleverly remarked on Twitter herself, it probably won't be long before the Dodgers take the field wearing Chico's Bail Bonds jerseys.
In all seriousness, though, you have to wonder how Bud Selig and the operative he placed in the Dodgers' office allowed such a thing to happen. If the Dodgers are to remain an attractive piece for potential buyers, the team's valuable assets can't be sold off at cut-rate prices because the current owner is cash-poor.
And considering that Selig reportedly blocked an earlier loan because it would have put the team's valuable TV rights in jeopardy, you have to wonder if he'll use his "best interests of baseball" clause to hook McCourt to an even shorter leash — or take control of the team entirely.
Selig's reluctance to do this is probably due to the expensive legal proceedings it would provoke and the big bills that would then become the responsibility of Major League Baseball. But while Selig's original plan may have been to let McCourt bleed himself, it may not be much longer before Selig is forced to take action earlier than he would have liked.
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