Barstool has been all over this one, and it's easy to see why. Mark Walter, the guy who owns the Dodgers, sold the Lakers for a reported $12.5 billion earlier this month to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, just a year after buying the team at a then-record valuation. That's the kind of number that should've quieted things down for him. Instead it kicked off a full-blown spiral.
According to reporting cited by Eric Hubbs, Walter reportedly needs to raise close to $20 billion by the end of the year, and the Lakers sale only covers about a third of that. He's also reportedly been shopping his stake in Chelsea, the Premier League club he and Todd Boehly bought off sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich back in 2022. Two marquee franchises gone or going, and the number still isn't close to zero.
That's what makes the Dodgers piece of this so jarring. The Dodgers are Walter's flagship. Back-to-back title runs, the biggest payroll in the sport, Shohei Ohtani, the whole operation built into a genuine juggernaut over the last decade-plus. Nobody figured that team was on the sale block. But when the Lakers get moved a year after purchase and Chelsea's suddenly in play too, the Dodgers stop being untouchable and start looking like the next asset that could get liquidated to make a debt number disappear.
There's also a federal wrinkle here that's been reported alongside the debt figure — Walter has reportedly drawn scrutiny tied to how funds moved through companies he controls, which is part of why the timing of the Lakers sale raised eyebrows in the first place. None of that's confirmed as fact against the Dodgers specifically, but it's the backdrop everyone's reading these sales against.
Barstool's own account summed up the vibe with a simple question: what in the world is going on with Mark Walter.
What in the world is going on with Mark Walter? https://t.co/EpfUa4dln1
For now the Dodgers aren't officially for sale, and there's no reported timeline forcing Walter's hand on that front the way there apparently was with the Lakers. But the math is the math. If a $12.5 billion sale only covers a third of $20 billion, whatever's left has to come from somewhere, and Walter's remaining portfolio isn't exactly stacked with options. Dodgers fans should keep an eye on this one — it's moving fast, and it doesn't feel finished.