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Three years ago, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt outlined a $500 million project around the stadium that would include parking structures, a Dodgers museum and a plaza behind center field with year-round shops and restaurants. Such a sweeping project could add more revenue streams for the future owners and potentially raise the price of the team. "As a comparison, the Chicago Cubs went for $845 million two years ago, and I think most people looking at the revenue streams between the Dodgers and Cubs would have them being pretty comparable," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist and an associate professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. "It's probably more in favor of the Dodgers because they have such a huge area that could also be redeveloped. The Cubs' deal includes Wrigley Field, but that's tied into the city grid there so there's only so much you can do. The Dodgers really do have space there for other projects." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

Comcast SportsNet Sixers sideline reporter Meredith Marakovits has been named the New York Yankees’ clubhouse reporter for the YES Network. She will be part of Yankees’ telecasts, pregame and postgame shows, and the “Yankees Batting Practice Today” show. Marakovits will also appear on additional Yankees programming and will contribute to YESNetwork.com. Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia 76ers, Media, MLB, Meredith Marakovits 

Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and Los Angeles investor Tony Ressler have joined forces and reentered the bidding for the Dodgers, a person familiar with the sale process said Monday. Ressler, a minority investor in the Milwaukee Brewers, is believed to be the only remaining bidder currently involved in MLB. The Heisley-Ressler bid would be the eighth submitted to Major League Baseball for consideration. MLB has agreed to approve up to 10 bidders, after which outgoing owner Frank McCourt will select the winner. Los Angeles Times

Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Heisley, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

Michael Heisley and Tony Ressler were eliminated from the Dodgers bidding on Monday, leaving seven parties in contention to buy the team, according to multiple people familiar with the sale process but not authorized to discuss it. St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, Beverly Hills-based real estate developer Alan Casden and a group led by Stanley Gold and the family of the late Roy Disney remain in the bidding. The other four: Magic Johnson and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten; Connecticut investor Steven Cohen and longtime Los Angeles agent Arn Tellem; New York media executive Leo Hindery in partnership with Tom Barrack, chairman of Santa Monica-based Colony Capital; and Jared Kushner, owner and publisher of the New York Observer and son-in-law of Donald Trump. Los Angeles Times

Michael Heisley, Magic Johnson, Stan Kroenke, Arn Tellem, MLB 

Chicago businessman and Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley remains in the running to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers. A source familiar with Heisley's group and Major League Baseball said Monday night that his group hasn't been eliminated from consideration, contrary to an earlier report. Although some groups, such as one headed by Chicago White Sox senior advisor Dennis Gilbert, have been eliminated, the source said talks with Heisley's group and MLB are still on-going. Chicago Tribune

Michael Heisley, Magic Johnson, Stan Kroenke, MLB 

Michael Heisley, the billionaire owner of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, has emerged as one of the remaining bidders for the Dodgers. If Heisley were to buy the Dodgers, Lakers legend and former Grizzlies executive Jerry West probably would join the team in some capacity, according to a person familiar with the sale process. Los Angeles Times

Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Heisley, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

Heisley leads one of 11 bids that survived the initial cut in the Dodgers' ownership derby. His bid, which had not previously surfaced publicly, was confirmed Wednesday by three people familiar with the sale process but not authorized to discuss it. The remaining bidders can merge, and late entrants can emerge, but for now the field appears set, according to one of those people. Los Angeles Times

Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Heisley, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

Ronald Tillery: A source confirms LA Times report that Heisley is bidding to buy LA Dodgers. It's a long shot. story coming at http://www.commercialappeal.com Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Heisley, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

Kobe Bryant confirms he recently directed Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez to an experimental treatment on his right knee in Germany. Bryant credits the therapy with dramatic improvement in his own troublesome knee and an injured ankle in recent months. Bryant gave Rodriguez the phone number of the German doctor who developed the treatment, the Lakers guard said Thursday night before Los Angeles hosted the New York Knicks. SI.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, MLB, New York Yankees, Alex Rodriguez 

Magic Johnson wants to buy the Dodgers, putting one of Los Angeles' most beloved sports figures in pursuit of the city's cherished baseball team. Johnson announced his bid in an interview Friday with Times columnist Bill Plaschke. "I love baseball," Johnson told Plaschke. "I've been a Dodgers fan and gone to the park many, many times." Los Angeles Times

Magic Johnson, MLB, Los Angeles Dogders 

Mark Cuban, the owner of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, said Thursday that he plans to participate in the bidding process for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

The process could begin next week, when the investment bank handling the sale of the Dodgers is expected to provide prospective buyers with confidential financial data in a bid book. He "will see a book," Cuban wrote in an email. Cuban told the Los Angeles Times last month that he had inquired about buying the Dodgers but "wasn't interested" at an asking price of at least $1 billion. Dallas Morning News

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers 

The N.B.A. — like the N.F.L. and M.L.B. — files league office personnel data to Lapchick at his Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. In the latest round of grading, baseball received an A in racial hiring and a B-minus in gender. The N.F.L. scored an A-plus and a C, while the N.B.A. earned an A-plus and an A-minus. The report cards have chided colleges for their record in hiring people of color and women to run athletic departments and given poor grades to newspaper sports sections in the United States. Lapchick also releases annual graduation rates of college football teams bound for the bowl games and men’s basketball teams in the N.C.A.A. tournament. New York Times

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To that end, Lapchick recalled a meeting he attended while serving with Bill Bradley, among others, on a commission to study culture and community in 1996. A female commissioner initiated a discussion on how the rap star Tupac Shakur and the industry he represented were in part responsible for a decline in social enlightenment among American youth based on music that objectified women and promoted violence and offensive language. “I was slightly aware of the genre, so it all made some sense to me,” Lapchick said. “But it later struck me that this was the week after Tupac was murdered and she might not even have heard of him until then. The next week, I was going to speak to the N.B.A.’s rookie transition program in Northern Virginia, and I was on a bus from the airport with five African-American rookies. They were talking about Tupac and one was saying, ‘What are we going to do without him?’ “They were all devastated by his death, and I realized that he was their musical wizard, their sage, their storyteller. I was about 50 at the time, and it just dawned on me that here was the same cultural phenomenon being viewed by two different generations as polar opposites. I just decided I was going to start talking about these things, and when I told my daughter what I was going to do, she said, ‘Oh, I love Tupac.’ Then I knew it wasn’t about race but class and culture, about what people have and what they don’t have.” New York Times

NBA, NFL, MLB 

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is interested in buying the Dodgers, but only for the right amount. "It all comes down to price," Cuban wrote Wednesday morning in an email to ESPNLosAngeles.com. "It's important to have more than enough money to pay players and invest in the organization." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, MLB 

Dirk Nowitzki had a blast throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series. He got on the mound, steadied into the stretch, hung his long, right arm, gripped the baseball and took the sign. He shook it off. "I looked him off twice, spat, spat; I had to spit," Nowitzki said, smiling, when watching a replay of himself on the television broadcast. ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, MLB 

Not long after, the Rangers heard from commissioner Bud Selig, telling them to invite Nowitzki. "It was unbelievable, the response I got," Nowitzki said. "My Twitter blew up that day and it was just a crazy day. One time it was a no-go, then it was on again. Really excited the feedback from the fans and the whole Metroplex kind of tweeted somebody at Major League Baseball to get on it. So I'm really proud of obviously representing the Metroplex, and hopefully I did OK with the pitch." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, MLB 

Nowitzki said he never received a plausible explanation for being excluded. "Yeah, it was kind of wishy-washy. Nothing really. Nothing really that really made sense," Nowitzki said. "No, I'm glad it worked out and I got to represent. ... It was on, then I got the 'it was off,' and I was like, that's fine. I wasn't really hurt or anything. I just wanted to be here and watch the game. Even if they wouldn't have let me pitch today I probably would be here and support the boys." ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, MLB 

Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki will be throwing out a World Series first pitch after all. After it emerged earlier Wednesday that the Rangers' desire to have Nowitzki throw out the first pitch before one of their home games against the St. Louis Cardinals had been rejected by Major League Baseball, league officials reversed course and announced hours later that Nowitzki would be invited to throw the ceremonial pitch before Saturday's Game 3. MLB spokesman Pat Courtney, after earlier in the day confirming that the Rangers' request to bestow first-pitch honors on Nowitzki had been denied, said commissioner Bud Selig was not involved in the original veto and ordered the reversal. ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, MLB 

The Texas Rangers nominated Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki to throw out a first pitch before one of their home games in the World Series, but sources with knowledge of the team's plans say that the recommendation has been nixed by Major League Baseball. Unlike regular-season games, all first-pitch assignments in the World Series have to be approved from a list of candidates by the league office. ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, MLB