By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek
December 28, 2012
The most interesting team rivalry in 2013 maybe the MLB I-5 Arms Race between the he Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels. The Dodgers last year sold for $2.15 billion, but that was just the beginning of the SoCal baseball money dance. Agreements with pitchers Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu will send the Dodgers’ 2013 payroll north of $230 million, a MLB record.
Not to be outdone, the neighboring Angels signed slugger Josh Hamilton to a five-year, $125 million deal, bringing their 2013 payroll to $114 million, with $500 million in salary commitments through 2021.
The locally-farmed golden goose, of course, is TV money. The Dodgers may receive up to $6 billion over 25 years in a new regional deal with Fox—potentially raising cries of preferential treatment from other teams if only a portion of the funds are subject to MLB revenue-sharing. The Angels are negotiating a lucrative TV deal of their own.