6 Bids for Dodgers Expected; 1 Favored

News Corp., cool to the idea of selling the Los Angeles Dodgers to a group led by New York sports executive David Checketts, is leaning toward Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer, according to several sources close to the discussions.

The entertainment giant, which bought the Dodgers for $350 million in 1997, has asked that bids be submitted by today. As many as six groups are expected to step forward, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Glazer appears to be the leading contender for a number of reasons: The Florida sports owner and entrepreneur is well financed, experienced in sports ownership and, unlike Checketts, interested in buying the Dodgers alone, sources say.

Glazer could not be reached for comment Thursday. Checketts and News Corp. declined to comment.

It is not clear how much Glazer, who has a home in Beverly Hills and another near the Dodgers training camp in Vero Beach, Fla., is willing to pay for the team and its 300-acre stadium in Chavez Ravine. Sports experts believe the price would be about $350 million.

Checketts has offered to pay News Corp. $600 million for the team, but only if the company also sells him the profitable cable TV channel that airs Dodgers games. Cable channels are seen as a way to offset the game’s poor economics. The Dodgers say they lost $40 million last year.

But News Corp. is unwilling to sell Fox Sports Net 2, part of a nationwide constellation of regional sports networks that form a competitor to Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch bought the Dodgers partly to keep Disney from getting a foothold in the regional sports network business in Southern California.

News Corp. is selling the team to help finance its bid for DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics Corp. News Corp. is hammering out a deal with Hughes parent, General Motors Corp. and could announce an acquisition within the next week.

Another Dodger bidder with conditions attached is a group led by radio entrepreneur Jeffrey Smulyan, the former owner of baseball’s Seattle Mariners. Smulyan, the chairman and chief executive of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications, has been talking with News Corp. for the last two years about buying a group of six Fox TV stations.

Although News Corp. has been unwilling to sell the stations, Smulyan hopes to give the company a bigger incentive by including the Dodgers, which have been on the block for more than a year without many takers, sources say. Smulyan’s bid is expected to top $850 million: a $350-million value placed on the team plus more than $500 million for the stations.

Under the bid, Emmis would end up with only a minority interest in the Dodgers but control of the TV stations, according to sources close to the deal. The stations, in small markets such as Salt Lake City, Austin, Texas, and Birmingham, Ala., would double the size of Emmis’ television group, moving the company a step closer to its goal of splitting its radio and TV assets into two companies.

Smulyan has several connections to Los Angeles. His company owns Los Angeles magazine and two radio stations here, KPWR-FM and KZLA-FM. In addition, Smulyan is on the board of USC.

Smulyan wouldn’t comment, but sources said he was in town Thursday raising money for his bid. Cable mogul Marc Nathanson and former sports agent Dennis Gilbert have signed on as backers. Smulyan also has lined up several private equity funds to invest in the TV stations to reduce the burden on Emmis, which has one of the highest debt levels in the radio business.

Checketts’ bid was seen as gaining momentum a month ago, when Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad and global financier George Soros agreed to back his $600-million pitch. Checketts, who ran the New York Knicks basketball team and Madison Square Garden, later lost ground when other parties, including Glazer, emerged.

Times staff writers Ross Newhan and Sam Farmer contributed to this report.