Monday May 28, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

BASEBALL

Chinese investors back record Dodgers bid: LA Times

Sports Sep. 02, 2011 - 01:53PM JST ( 13 )

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13 Comments

1

some14someSep. 02, 2011 - 02:56PM JST

Beginning of downfall of Chinese economy.
-1

warnerbroSep. 02, 2011 - 03:07PM JST

Americans will sell anything to anybody. The whole country's in hock to China already. Can you imagine JPB allowing the sale of a team to China?
0

smithinjapanSep. 02, 2011 - 03:21PM JST

A good part of the US is already owned by China and Saudi Arabia, and this will be especially hard for some.
0

some14someSep. 02, 2011 - 03:25PM JST

Can you imagine JPB allowing the sale of a team to China?

yeah they can. If they can export JPB players why can't sell the team? BUT, China will not buy JPB team that had fared so poorly at Beijing Olympics.
0

TorafusuTorasanSep. 02, 2011 - 03:45PM JST

A couple of months ago during the McCourt bankruptcy proceedings, it wasn't clear that the players were going to get paid from month to month. Here's betting that the players are willing to play for anyone who guarantees their paycheck. English soccer clubs are regularly bought by less than pristine Russian billionaires, so why not.
-2

mrsynikSep. 02, 2011 - 06:41PM JST

How is this headline relevant to Japan Today?

Moderator: Bizarre question. There probably isn't one news site in the world that only carries stories about its host country. I think you'll also find that the Dodgers have a Japanese player.
1

oberstSep. 02, 2011 - 07:11PM JST

With the STRONG yen, Japan should step in to save the team from the " evil " Chinese investors.
1

lostrune2Sep. 02, 2011 - 07:20PM JST

Any deal would have to be approved by the MLB owners - the Old Boys Club. They don't just invite anybody to their little club, even if you have the money. Otherwise, NBA Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner Mark Cuban would've been there already - he had the highest bid for the MLB Chicago Cubs, but the Old Boys Club deemed him too..... um.... maverick, loud-mouth, rock-the-boat, too-like-one-of-the-fans to be one of them. MLB owners are very traditionalist. Any prospective owner will not be allowed to just do whatever he/she wants.
0

BurakuminDesSep. 03, 2011 - 12:47AM JST

How is this headline relevant to Japan Today?

Gee whiz - what a boring yawn-fest any news site would be it if only concerned stories about Japan! Almost everyone who reads this is foreign - and the Japanese are also very interested in foreign news.
-1

MASSWIPESep. 03, 2011 - 09:29AM JST

"How is this headline relevant to Japan Today?"

If you know how deeply Japan is connected to baseball and the city of Los Angeles, quite a lot. Hideo Nomo, who made a huge splash when he bolted from Japan and became the first Japanese citizen to play in the US major leagues in 30 years, started off his major league career in 1995 with the Dodgers. Los Angeles has a huge ethnic Japanese population, to the point where it practically qualifies as one of Japan's own cities. The Dodgers are among US baseball's crown jewel organizations, right up there with the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Cubs.

The prospect of the Dodgers being owned by Chinese could create a very interesting situation. The Dodgers, along with all other West Coast US teams, have been a preferred destination for Japanese baseball players since 1995 (including pitcher Kuroda right now, who made it clear before the 7/31 trading deadline that he really wanted to stay in LA). Who knows how potential Chinese ownership of the Dodgers will affect the feelings of Japanese ballplayers who until now have always found playing in LA most attractive.
1

paulinusaSep. 03, 2011 - 11:30AM JST

MLB will have no problem with this. Why? They've been actively been promoting baseball in China for years and it's one of the most promising countries to expand into. Japan is a mature market.
0

warnerbroSep. 03, 2011 - 06:36PM JST

I suppose it could be said that the Lotte team is owned by a foreign entity. There's nothing wrong with a foreign company buying a sports team, in my opinion, but I would have reservations about a "state owned" entity from China doing so. And I think some Americans might oppose this deal.
0

John BeckerSep. 03, 2011 - 09:35PM JST

The other MLB owners might not like the idea of heavy Chinese investment, but that's an awful lot of money to pay for a team. They could go either way... "We don't want China owning a MLB team" or "This will increase the value of my team."