Max Anthony

How do the Dodgers carry an unlimited payroll? Filings uncovered by @NickNemo17 show roughly $1.45 billion in debt for American Media Productions, the entity behind SportsNet LA and the Dodgers' 25-year, $8.35 billion Charter deal, sitting on the balance sheets of 5 life insurance companies tied to or controlled by the Dodgers' own ownership group. i.e. the Dodgers get a sweetheart deal on their TV rights from a media company their owners co-own, financed by insurance companies those same owners control. Because ownership sits on both sides, as borrower and lender, the setup functions as a closed loop: -When RSNs hit turbulence, banks enforce covenants or force restructuring. Here the lenders are insurers the owners manage, so the capital stays patient and cash flow to the team never gets choked. -MLB taxes net local revenue at 34% but allows deductions for debt service and interest tied to running the network. Carrying $1.45 billion in media debt on AMP's balance sheet generates interest expense that shrinks reportable net TV income and the resulting revenue-sharing bill. Then there's the payroll itself. Over $1 billion of it is deferred, owed to 9 players through 2047. Pushing that cash out frees up money today, some of which is going toward servicing that same debt, and kicks the actual bill to a stretch of decades many of today's owners won't be around for. LA built a (seemingly illegal) structure that captures its own interest yield, shelters TV income from league revenue sharing, and helps fund payroll dominance in the process.