Some quick thoughts on the McCourt divorce

I’ve been traveling and I haven’t had much time for blogging or updating this site. As a lot of you know I spent much of May and June in LA reporting this story. Some friends were very supportive and I even did a follow-up interview here.

And now we’re ten days away from the date Frank and Jamie are set to square off in court and I am writing this, strangely enough, from Kleinfeld Bridal in New York while my friend Natalie tries on wedding dresses. I honestly didn’t think it would get to this point. My money was on the McCourts settling when July turned into August, but here we sit. Yesterday was the deadline to reserve a seat in the court room and I would have forgotten to do so had the ineffable Bill Shaikin not emailed to remind me. 

The lawyers on both sides have been busy deposing everyone who ever came into contact with their clients. This, we can be sure, is costing a lot of money. From my conversations with those lawyers and other reporters, it seems that both sides would like to settle. But as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water…

I like Steve Susman (Frank’s head counsel) and David Boies (Jamie’s) a lot. I am selfishly hoping this will go to trial so I can watch them go nose to nose. It’s probably better for Dodger fans that these two settle and this whole mess is resolved, but I guess at this point the damage is already done. If Frank McCourt doesn’t want to lose control of the Dodgers he must settle with his wife—give her the homes plus a chunk of the team and be done with it. It’s always been his way to litigate and fight to the finish—it’s how he’s built an incredible empire—but here it seems he’s only fighting himself. The ball is definitely in his court. Is he ready to play? 

228 hours until we know. Tick tock.