Dodgers might sell for a record-setting $1 billion. Really.

Forget about the current scumbag owner - just concentrate on the value of the Dodger brand, the nation's second-largest TV market, and Vin Scully as your play-by-play guy. Also remember that a franchise like this doesn't become available all that often. Actually, it's still not available, but the financial folks who value sports teams are definitely having a look, just in case Frank McCourt or Major League Baseball winds up selling the team. From Bloomberg:

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was $1 billion," said Gordon Saint-Denis, president of Katonah, New York-based Major League Sports Consulting LLC, adding that a sale probably would attract six to eight serious bidders. "It is the Dodgers. It is L.A., where they could put together some serious consortiums of wealthy people in the entertainment industry."

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Charles Baker, a partner with DLA Piper's Global Sports Media and Entertainment Practice, said he's been approached by two parties interested in buying the Dodgers. He declined further comment. Former Dodgers All-Star Orel Hershiser and his ex-teammate Steve Garvey said they would be interested in forming an investment group if the team were for sale; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who bid on the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, told TMZ.com that he might not be interested because it may take too long to untangle the franchise's finances.

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Even with the legal entanglements, former Madison Square Garden President Bob Gutkowski said the Dodgers would attract the interest of anyone wishing to own a professional sports franchise. "It's beachfront property," said Gutkowski, a partner in the New York-based sports consulting firm Innovative Strategic Management.

Earlier this year, Forbes valued the club at $800 million, right behind the Yankees and Red Sox. Frankly, $1 billion sounds like an unlikely price tag, especially since any sale could become entangled in all kinds of litigation that would probably devalue the organization.