As an owner of a sports team, one would expect the owner to have millions of dollars sitting in an account and having no issues with making payroll, unless your name is Frank McCourt and you own the Dodgers. Over the last few months, with pay the man/ pay days at the 15th and 30th (or 31st) it has been a guessing game as to if Frank McCourt would be able to make payroll.

McCourt was able to secure funds to help make May 31st payroll by taking cash advances on payments that he was not scheduled to receive until later this season.

According to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times, McCourt expects to make payroll tomorrow which totals about $10mm, but has “no chance” of making the 30th payroll as the amount triples to $30mm. The amount triples thanks to our favorite steroid user Manny Ramirez and his $8mm deferred payment. If McCourt misses payroll, MLB would seize control of the team and would eventually sell the team.

Frank and his ex-wife/ half owner of the Dodgers, Jamie McCourt, held settlement talks for over nine hours on Monday. It appears the sides may be working towards a deal but the details are unknown. When Shaikin caught up with Jamie’s attorney Dennis Wasser, he said “Negotiations continuing. Stay tuned.”

If the two sides do not reach a deal, then on June 22nd both sides will be in court where Frank filed paperwork asking the judge to rule that Jamie has no say in a TV deal agreement, while Jamie wants the court to force Frank to sell the team.

Image by brendan-c under the Creative Commons License.