Can you feel the ripple effects of what is to come? With Mark Walter of Guggenheim Partners slated to become the next owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, this could be a sign of trouble on the horizon for the Los Angeles Dodgers. We are about to live in a world where The Buss Family does not own the Lakers. In the decade since Dr. Jerry Buss' passing, the Lakers have struggled to have good finances.
With the Dodgers being the epitome of a cash cow in baseball, the Lakers seemed ripe for the picking when it came to Walter and Guggenheim. You may think on the surface that it is great that the same ownership group who owns the Dodgers will soon own the Lakers, one that has Earvin "Magic" Johnson a part of it. All I can tell you is we have seen similar issues pop up with Fenway Sports Group.
Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Liverpool FC and 50 percent of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, is the same sports conglomerate that let star players like Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and most recently Rafael Devers leave grossly prematurely with years left to be had in one's prime. Okay, maybe not Bogaerts, but you do get the point here, right?
Guggenheim is now going to put more attention into the Lakers, as opposed to all-in on the Dodgers.
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Why Mark Walter buying the Lakers could be bad news for the Dodgers
Truth be told, Guggenheim may be better at what they do as a collective when compared to FSG. Every owner, and ownership group, is different. That being said, the Dodgers have been at the top of baseball for years because the people who own the team are solely focused on making The Boys in Blue spectacular. They could do that with the Lakers, but we may be looking at a 50-50 attention split.
Although ownership groups are not uncommon in professional sports, particularly when it comes to NBA and NHL teams who share the same venue, it gets more complicated when you have different teams playing different sports in different parts of a city, country or globe. There are dozens of owners who win big with one of their teams, but struggle to get it right with another one. It is what it is.
From a business owner standpoint, why would you not want to own the two biggest sports revenue drivers in Los Angeles at the same time if you can? From a player's perspective, how does it feel when you are not the center of attention when it comes to ownership? You can feel second-rate at times. Guggenheim can learn from FSG's embarrassing failures. Then again, people love repeating history...
While Guggenheim may be better equipped to pull this off, do not bite off more than you can chew.