*Shocker! Dodgers taken over by Major League Baseball

*updates at the bottom

Wowser -- Commissioner Bud Selig has seized the club from Frank McCourt, announcing that MLB will oversee all aspects of the business and the day-to-day operations of the team. "I have taken this action," Selig said in a statement, "because of my deep concerns regarding the finances and operations of the Dodgers and to protect the best interests of the Club, its great fans and all of Major League Baseball."

Selig went on to say that his office "will continue its thorough investigation into the operations and finances of the Dodgers and related entities during the period of Mr. McCourt's ownership. I will announce the name of my representative in the next several days."

Guess we'll find out in short order what the tipping point was. You might recall that McCourt received a $30 million loan from Fox in order to make team payroll, clearly suggesting that his finances were shaky.

*Before the announcement, Forbes writer Mike Ozanian reported that McCourt had borrowed an additional $30 million from Fox, primarily to cover the Dodgers revenue-sharing contribution to low-revenue teams.

We calculated the Dodgers enterprise value at $800 million in our recent appraisal of MLB franchises. But there is only about $300 million of equity in the franchise now. This makes selling the team more difficult and could potentially lower the transaction value because the buyer would need to borrow more money.

From the NYT:

Two people with knowledge of the situation said that [Selig] was also strongly considering forcing the sale of the team by invoking his "bests interests of baseball" powers to wrest the team from Frank McCourt, the owner since 2004, who he believes has mismanaged the franchise while enriching himself.

A forced sale would require the support of three-quarters of the sport's 30 owners, the NYT reports. Selig believes, according to sources quoted by the paper, that McCourt has badly damaged the value and reputation of the Dodgers while concerned only with his own profits and perks.

*LAT reports that season ticket sales have fallen from 27,000 in 2007 to just more than 17,000 this year, citing court documents and baseball sources. There's been speculation in recent days about a drop-off in Dodger attendance, although the team has denied any problem and it's hard to tell by the announced attendance figures (indicating tickets sold rather than people in the stands). LAT's Dodgers Blog points out that on some nights the crowd appeared to be 25 percent less than the announced figure. If McCourt had been relying so much on the cash flow from tickets and other stadium revenues, and if those numbers were dropping, it's possible that he faced a cash crunch in dealing with his many debt obligations. But that's just a guess at this stage. As for the McCourt backlash, the Dodger blog notes:

A growing number of people are fed up with the McCourt ownership and are trying to make it known with closed wallets.

*LAT's Bill Shaikin tweets that MLB informed McCourt last night about the takeover.

edited post