"McCourt bought the team in 2004 when Fox couldn't give the team away. Fox had the team on the selling block for what seemed to be an eternity, which is partly why Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig hastily approved McCourt's purchase. It was a highly leveraged deal that came back to haunt MLB, the Dodgers, the McCourts and mostly fans.

If all of these star players were in the mix eight years ago, there was no way McCourt - a non-baseball businessman who owned parking lots in Boston - would have been approved.

There are so many good options this time around - assuming MLB is able to verify the potential new owners have got the money to back up these proposed bid - and the team is in bankruptcy.

So why are the Dodgers such a coveted commodity?

"I think two things going on this time around are that these groups realize the dramatic financial upside available and secondarily, they appreciate the role the team has for the rest of their interests in business, philanthropy, the community and throughout California," said David Carter, a professor on sports business at USC and an expert in sports marketing. " The civic play is secondary to business play. There's so much upside."

The upside is a billion-dollar television rights deal - projected up to a staggering $3 billion - in the immediate future. Former Dodgers general manager Dan Evans weathered the sale storm during his tenure from 2001-04. It was a cloud that wouldn't go away since Fox had trouble selling the team.

"We were aware the team was for sale and a lot of people were kicking their tires," Evans said. "Maybe it was because the economy started to turn and the housing market started to change. The economy was taking a hit and that might have had something to do with it. It's a difficult thing when the franchise is being sold, having gone through it. It's a trying time."

It was even more trying this time around, with the McCourts divorce and salacious details of inexcusable spending and greed making headlines. "