The Priciest Team in Sports History Is Now...

The Los Angeles Dodgers spend record-breaking bucks
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2012 4:15 PM CST
The Priciest Team in Sports History Is Now...
In this Nov. 15, 2012, file photo, pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin, of South Korea, pauses during a baseball news conference in Newport Beach, Calif.   (AP Photo/Christine Cotter, File)

Move over, New York Yankees. The LA Dodgers are on a mind-numbing spending spree that makes the club the most expensive in sports history, with 2013 payroll clocking in at $210 million, Yahoo Sports reports. Fueled by a local-television contract that will rake in $6 billion to $7 billion over 25 years, the team spent $147 million Saturday to buy Zack Greinke in a six-year deal, the biggest-ever contract for a right-handed pitcher. And that was before the team signed South Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin to a six-year, $36 million deal, reports the AP.

"If the Yankees are the evil empire, the Dodgers are the Death Star," quips Yahoo. But the team's newfound "Death Star" status comes with pressures, like having to win the World Series. And new owner Guggenheim Partners may have overstepped in using money from insurance companies to buy the team for a record-breaking $2 billion, reports the New York Times. It "seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen," says the Times, which notes that insurance money is usually invested in safe and simple assets—not a baseball team, which is "the ultimate toy for the ultrarich." (More Los Angeles Dodgers stories.)

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