Deal Closes Book on Dodgers’ ‘Next 50’ Project

Believe it or not, there was a time when the Los Angeles Dodgers organization thought it could sell fans the idea that coming to Dodger Stadium for the next 50 years could be as great as the first 50.

The 2009 season marked the 50th anniversary of the Dodgers’ 1959 World Series championship and nearly 50 years since the stadium’s opening brought baseball to the West in 1962. Los Angeles fans had watched Sandy Koufax’s perfect game, Kirk Gibson’s home run and “Fernandomania” in the Chavez Ravine stadium’s seats.

Those moments were distant memories, even then, but in 2009 the team was coming off a division championship and looking good for another. The McCourts were still married, sports writers—not the Bankruptcy Beat shop—were writing about the Dodgers, and no one had left the stadium in a coma after being brutally attacked.

Ah, yes, the good old days.

Vin Scully announced what was to be the $500 million stadium improvement:

“Few stadiums last even 50 years, and the truth is we can’t dream of this one lasting another 50 without a lot of love, care and, yes, investment. Without that care and capital Dodger stadium might fade away in disrepair.

“But that idea just doesn’t fly with Frank McCourt. He knows that Dodger Stadium is not only the heart of the Dodgers but the heart of Los Angeles.

“Frank McCourt and his family love Dodger stadium. Jamie McCourt calls it the most romantic venue in baseball.”

So in April 2009, the Dodgers hired Geoffrey Wharton, a real-estate developer who’d worked on the World Trade Center site’s master plan and the redevelopment of Rockefeller Center, to give Dodger Stadium a facelift for the “Next 50.”

But, as Bankruptcy Beat readers well know, things haven’t gone exactly as planned for the Dodgers since then. The “Next 50” project dissipated as quickly as Manny Ramirez’s career.

“Due to the recession and other economic factors, work on the ‘Next 50’ project slowed in mid-2009, and ceased completely by the end of 2009,” the Los Angeles Dodgers said in court papers filed with the U.S . Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday.

After that, the Dodgers were left with a $1 million per year real-estate developer, but instead of terminating Wharton with the project, the team decided to make him its chief operating officer and continued paying him the salary plus bonuses.

But when the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in June 2011, the team and Wharton mutually decided to terminate his employment, according to court documents. But the Dodgers still owe him $7.5 million on his contract and $250,000 in salary for the second half of 2011, Wharton claims.

So the team has settled the case for $1 million,  and it requested court permission Tuesday to pay him the sum.

Meantime, the “Next 50” upgrades, which were to be unveiled during opening day 2012, look to be just another part of Dodgers history. Think Blue.