It's good news for Magic Johnson and the rest of the Dodger owners. But is it good news for MLB? (US Presswire)

As previously noted in this very space, the Dodgers are reportedly on the verge of finalizing a new local-television contract that will pay them $6-7 billion over the next 25 years.

That's jaw-dropping enough as it is, but let's not forget that the team's Frank McCourt-induced bankruptcy proceedings will make that windfall even more lucrative. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes:

The Dodgers’ deal, proposed for 25 years, would average $240 million per year at $6 billion, or $280 million per year at $7 billion.

In addition, because of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court settlement between McCourt and Major League Baseball, the portion of the Dodgers’ television revenues contributed to MLB revenue sharing would be about $1 billion rather than about $2 billion. (MLB disputes that interpretation of the settlement, but the court rather than the league has the final say.)

That's because -- as Shaikin himself originally reported -- the Dodgers will pay the standard 34% rate in revenue sharing on just the first $84 million in local-television monies each year. Why? McCourt had previously negotiated such a deal with FOX prior to being litigated out of sight and mind by MLB. According to MLB's own rules and a court ruling, $84 million per annum is "fair market value" for such a media contract, and anything over and above that the new ownership group will be able to shelter from revenue sharing. 

In other words, as outrageous as a $6-7-billion TV pact sounds, that lofty sum means more to the Dodgers than it would to other teams because of their unique circumstances.

While the new Dodger ownership group is no doubt pleased about all of that, MLB surely is not. After all, such an unequal application of revenue-sharing rules could threaten to split up the usual large-market/small-market coalitions. Low-revenue clubs will be miffed that the Dodgers are holding out on them, while monied franchises will wonder -- both aloud and loudly -- why the Dodgers aren't paying as much as they are.

Quite understandably, this could get ugly.

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