Deal unveiled to sell Los Angeles Dodgers for $2 billion

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers and owner Frank McCourt announced a deal on Tuesday to sell the team for $2 billion to Guggenheim Baseball Management LLC, a group that includes former basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson as one of its partners.

As part of the deal, which could help the club emerge from bankruptcy, McCourt and certain affiliates of the buyers also plan to form a joint venture to acquire Dodger Stadium and the surrounding Chavez Ravine property for $150 million, the team and Guggenheim Baseball said in a statement.

The announcement came hours after Major League Baseball owners, according to sources, had approved three bidders for an auction of the team that was expected to start Wednesday morning in New York and produce a record bid of around $1.5 billion for the famed franchise.

One of those three finalists, the sources said, was the Guggenheim collective.

In addition to "Magic" Johnson, the purchasing group includes Mark Walter as its controlling partner, Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly, the Dodgers said.

"This agreement with Guggenheim reflects both the strength and future potential of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and assures that the Dodgers will have new ownership with deep local roots, which bodes well for the Dodgers, its fans and the Los Angeles community," McCourt said.

The sale process began in November, when Major League Baseball and McCourt ended litigation and agreed to a sale of the team supervised by the bankruptcy court that has overseen it since June.

The sale was being conducted by Blackstone Group and McCourt. Major League Baseball was vetting bidders during the process.

The Dodgers landed on the auction block after McCourt was forced to place the team under bankruptcy protection last year.

McCourt had been expected to choose from three bidders, with the final bid seen around $1.5 billion, two sources with knowledge of the bidding said on Monday.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Sakthi Prasad; Editing by Kim Coghill and Anthony Boadle)