News Corp. May Bring in Dodger Partner

News Corp. sought Monday to assure Major League Baseball that it would be the sole purchaser of the Dodgers, even as the company acknowledged for the first time that the entertainment conglomerate may want to bring in a partner after the sale is completed.

In a development Friday that could complicate Rupert Murdoch’s proposed $350-million purchase of the Dodgers, Liberty Media Corp., Murdoch’s major partner in the sports business, claimed it has an option to participate in the deal.

Baseball’s owners were taken aback Monday by the prospect that Murdoch hadn’t fully disclosed his plans to finance the purchase and in effect has a partner waiting in the wings. Two sources said Monday that Murdoch and John Malone, the cable mogul who controls Liberty Media, already have an understanding that they will own the team as a partnership.

A top-ranking official in the baseball commissioner’s office said: “You’re damn right we’re concerned and want to know more about it. This is not what they were talking about.”

Baseball’s executive committee currently is reviewing News Corp.’s application, which makes no mention of Liberty’s contention that it would have a right to buy into the team.

“The Fox Group is the sole entity acquiring the Dodgers . . . [but] may explore the possibility of inviting partners to participate in the Dodgers after the conclusion of the purchase,” according to a statement jointly released late Monday by News Corp.’s Fox Group and Tele-Communications Inc., the parent of Liberty Media.

The statement also emphasized that Fox was under no obligation to sell a stake to Liberty Media.

On Friday, Liberty Media executives said the company has an option to participate in any sports venture pursued by News Corp. through Fox/Liberty Sports, a 50-50 partnership between the two companies. Sources close to the joint venture said it intends to exercise the option once the team is purchased.

A spokesperson for Liberty Media could not be reached for comment Monday.

Vince Wladika, a spokesman for Fox Sports, a unit of News Corp., said, “A partner would have to go through the same approval process with Major League Baseball.”

A source close to News Corp. said Murdoch is eager to have Liberty as a partner to help finance the deal--whose price tag is the biggest ever for a baseball team. He said Murdoch calculated that getting approval for the Dodgers purchase would be more difficult if both he and Malone were jointly applying to baseball’s ownership committee.

For one thing, league rules prevent multiple team ownership and Malone has an interest in Time Warner Inc., which owns the Atlanta Braves, though he is in the process of liquidating those shares.

“It’s easier to negotiate with one party than with two,” said one Wall Street analyst, who noted that Murdoch’s investments often are financed by partners who remain in the background.

Fox sources pointed out Monday that sports teams are commonly owned in partnerships because of the high costs of player salaries and the low profitability.

Fox denied Monday that it has intended all along to bring in Liberty as a partner, reiterating that News Corp. alone is the buyer. “We have been very complete and detailed to Major League Baseball that we are the sole purchaser,” Wladika said.

Some investors aren’t convinced that it makes sense for Liberty to invest in the Dodgers. “Half of $350 million for no cash flow is a steep price,” said one Wall Street source.

Some analysts say Fox/Liberty Sports is only interested in securing long-term rights to the Dodgers games for its regional cable channel. The Los Angeles-based Fox Sports West 2 service, one of more than a dozen such channels owned by the partnership, now airs Dodger games.

But sources close to Malone see an international value in owning the Dodgers. Because its players represent the ethnic mix of Los Angeles and of the world--arguably more than any other professional sports team in the U.S.--the Dodgers could play to a world audience.

Selling Dodger games worldwide could help the cable company drive up subscriptions to its pay television services in other parts of the world. For instance, in Japan, where Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo has a wide following, TCI has a joint television venture with Sumitomo.