Frank McCourt agrees to sell Dodgers

Los Angeles, CA – Frank McCourt has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers less than a month after being awarded sole ownership of the club in a divorce settlement.

In a joint statement with Major League Baseball, the Dodgers "agreed to a court supervised process to sell the team and its attendant media rights in a manner designed to realize maximum value for the Dodgers and their owner, Frank McCourt."

The statement also said the Blackstone Group LP will manage the sale process.

Jamie McCourt relinquished her ownership in the settlement with her ex-husband last month, ending a tumultuous divorce that is reported to be the costliest in California history.

The McCourts previously reached a divorce settlement in June that included a judge's authorization to complete a TV rights deal with Fox Sports, which was later rejected by Major League Baseball.

MLB then filed a motion in bankruptcy court arguing that the Dodgers should be sold to provide a clear path toward settling the team's considerable financial woes.

Frank McCourt was seeking to auction the team's TV rights to the highest bidder without league approval, a move MLB argued was motivated by McCourt's unrealistic hope of generating enough proceeds to help meet his own personal financial liabilities.

The McCourts had owned the Dodgers since 2004, but a messy two-year divorce included Frank's claim that he should have sole possession of the team and Jamie's belief that the Dodgers should be a shared property.

A marital property agreement between the two that would have made Frank the sole owner was invalidated by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.