MLB pressures Dodgers with sweetened loan terms

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - Major League Baseball has ratcheted up its fight for control of the Los Angeles Dodgers' finances by sweetening terms of a proposed $150 million loan needed to keep the team operating.

The team is battling for court approval to borrow the money from the Highbridge unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co rather than the league, which has made no bones about wanting to rid the team of owner Frank McCourt.

McCourt, who is simultaneously fighting for control of the Dodgers with ex-wife Jamie McCourt in divorce court, blames the league for sending the team into bankruptcy last month by rejecting a $3 billion cable television deal.

The $150 million loan has become the first major battle of the bankruptcy. The league said in court papers filed late on Thursday it would offer the money more cheaply, on unsecured terms and extend maturity beyond a deadline for a new TV deal.

The team continues to believe the Highbridge loan remains in the Dodgers' best interests, according to a team statement Friday. The team will file its reply papers Monday.

"This is all about control," said Thomas Salerno, a partner with Squire Sanders & Dempsey. "It's all about MLB wanting to have as much control as humanly possible."

Such lenders can often control spending by a bankrupt company, and the Dodgers' lender may have a say over whether the team is sold during the bankruptcy.

Salerno, who handled the bankruptcy of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team, said McCourt will need a very convincing reason to get Judge Kevin Gross to approve the Highbridge loan next week.

It is rare for companies ask a judge to reject an arguably cheaper loan -- a situation Salerno called "completely bizarre."

The bankruptcy case is In re: Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-12010.

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Ted Kerr)