Magic Johnson, Mark Cuban, Joe Torre Among More Than 10 Initial Bidders for LA Dodgers

NEW YORK - The LA Dodgers received "more than 10" opening bids for the baseball team by a late Monday deadline, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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The Wall Street Journal said that several of the non-binding bids exceeded $1 billion. Outgoing owner Frank McCourt expects the Dodgers to sell for at least $1.5 billion, it said.

Among the first-round bidders are a group that includes Magic Johnson and longtime baseball executive Stan Kasten, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley, former Dodgers and New York Yankees manager Joe Torre in a joint bid with developer Rick Caruso, LA investor Stanley Gold along with the family of the late Roy Disney and former agent Dennis Gilbert.

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has also explored a bid, the Times said, while the Journal reported that New York investors Leo Hindery, the former chairman and CEO of the regional sports channel YES Network, and Marc Utay submitted a joint bid after unsuccessfully trying to buy the Chicago Cubs.

Reports previously also said that News Corp.'s Fox would be part of the bidding process as it wants to retain its broadcast rights to Dodgers games.

The reports said that the auction for now wouldn't exclude qualified bidders who emerged later.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai