LOS ANGELES (AP) - Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt spoke out Friday about his divorce and Major League Baseball’s seizure of the team, saying his sons have released him from a vow he made in 2009 to keep family issues private.
In the first of several interviews with media outlets scheduled for Friday, McCourt told KCAL-TV that he would openly defend himself and his plans to pull the team out of financial trouble.
“I sat with my four boys and they asked me and their mom to do one thing and that was to keep our divorce out of the media,” McCourt said. “I had made a promise to my boys that I wouldn’t make it public. And I was true to my word. Recently my boys have told me it’s OK with them now if I defend myself.”
McCourt said a proposed $30 million loan from the team’s television partner, Fox, would solve the Dodgers’ financial problems, but baseball has been too slow to approve it, despite other franchises getting approval for similar arrangements.
He said MLB Commissioner Bud Selig would not talk to him, but McCourt did not elaborate.
McCourt said the deal did not need approval from his ex-wife and former Dodgers CEO Jamie McCourt _ with whom he has been embroiled in a nasty and costly divorce battle.
“I’m allowed here to run this business,” Frank McCourt said. “The judge has made that, he made that clear, and this deal is a great deal for the Dodgers. It’s ready to be signed. It’s ready to go and any questions about the Dodgers’ financial stability are solved simply by these documents.”
Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president of labor relations, said in a statement Wednesday that Selig has not vetoed the deal but was waiting for a full investigation into the club and its finances before making a decision.
MLB sent Tom Schieffer to Los Angeles this week to oversee the Dodgers’ daily operations. Schieffer said Selig didn’t want to take the team away from McCourt, but it was not clear what his exact duties will be.
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