Major League Baseball is willing to boot the Los Angeles Dodgers from its ranks if the league can’t come to terms with the team’s embattled owner Frank McCourt in bankruptcy court.

Attorneys for MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said the league would consider revoking the Dodgers’ membership before it would allow the team to sell off its future broadcast rights without league approval in a deal that would allow McCourt to settle his personal financial woes, including his pending divorce settlement.

“A sale of the Dodgers’ media rights without Major League Baseball approval would subject the [team] to potentially severe discipline, including possible termination from the league,” MLB attorneys said in court papers filed Friday.

The league points out that if the Dodgers can’t play other Major League teams, those media rights—valued at more than $2.7 billion—wouldn’t be worth much at all.

4:24 pm  •  26 September 2011  •  20 notes