Glazer eyes owning two L.A. franchises

TAMPA -- Malcolm Glazer's attempt to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers might seem like it came out of leftfield.

But the Bucs owner would like to gain a sports stranglehold on the No. 2 television market in the nation.

He knows NFL rules regarding cross-ownership would force him to sell the Bucs. But their value might never be higher than after winning a Super Bowl, with a new stadium and more than 40,000 on a waiting list to buy season tickets.

Glazer plans to return the NFL to Los Angeles, by relocating another team or through expansion.

With 25 years left on their lease with the Tampa Sports Authority, the Bucs are not a team Glazer could relocate.

But Glazer has been telling people that Los Angeles "is a $1-billion market for the NFL," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Certainly, no one is more familiar with its worth than Glazer, who sits on the NFL's finance committee and had an offer to move the Bucs to Hollywood Park in 1995.

If he is successful in buying the Dodgers and their stadium, he could build a football stadium on their 300-acre Chavez Ravine site.

"If a new owner of the Dodgers wants to build a privately financed, state-of-the-art facility on the Dodger stadium property, he would have my total support," former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley told the Los Angeles Times, "because I still believe it's the best site for a football stadium."

Because Los Angeles has been considered the leading candidate for an NFL franchise since the Rams and Raiders left in '95, by selling the Bucs, Glazer would be in compliance with the policy that allows him to own two franchises in the same city.

Glazer has a house in Beverly Hills, Calif., and his son Ed lives in Los Angeles.

Though he took the Bucs from laughingstocks to world champions, Glazer never has been emotionally attached to the team or Tampa Bay. He still lives in West Palm Beach, and only one of his sons, Joel, lives in Tampa.

As distractions go, Glazer's bid to buy the Dodgers and put the Bucs up for sale makes the Jon Gruden-Rich McKay feud a hiccup.

But no one should be surprised. Glazer made his fortune buying financially distressed companies and selling them for profit.

The Bucs are his property, not his passion. Besides, what could be better than winning a Super Bowl? How about winning a World Series?

The best thing Bucs fans can hope for is News Corp., the entertainment giant that owns the Dodgers, makes a quick decision on one of four bids for the team.

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch already is business partners with Glazer, who paid $14-million for 2.9 percent of Manchester United, an English Premier League soccer club. Murdoch is the primary owner of the $1.58-billion club.

No matter the outcome, how are Bucs fans, or players and coaches, for that matter, expected to feel secure about the team's ownership after this attempted venture?