LA mayor on Dodgers: ‘Entire city wants out of this purgatory’

Fun fact: Attendance for the Dodgers is down nearly 9,000 fans per game this season, from 43,489 to 35,787, according to ESPN. That’s the largest downturn in the majors, and doesn’t even take into account the obviously-large number of season ticket holders who aren’t showing up.

From the New York Times:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sighed when asked about the team he grew up with, attending the first games at Dodger Stadium and seeing players like Sandy Koufax pitch. “I think the entire city wants to get out of this purgatory,” he said. “I think everyone is frustrated.”

You could make the argument that he was doomed anyway, but wouldn’t it be ironic if McCourt was finally driven out by a couple of guys who beat up a Giants fan in the parking lot?

“I think the damage is so severe that it will take many years to get past this,” said David Carter, the executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California. “They didn’t create the damage and ill will overnight. You have to go back and look at how amazing the Dodger brand once was. It will bounce back.”

“But it won’t bounce back overnight,” he added. “I think fans are interested in just getting past this era and to the point where you can go to a Dodger game and just think about and talk about baseball.”

One also has to wonder what amount of crime is slipping through the cracks as a result of the increased police presence at Dodger Stadium. As any Civil War buff can tell you, you don’t reinforce one spot on the battlefield without taking resources from another.

More than two months after Bryan Stow was assaulted and left in a coma, the main suspect, Giovanni Ramirez, has still not been charged. The case today was transferred to LA’s central robbery-homicide unit.

Police said the demands of the case have become more complex and prolonged, and that robbery-homicide detectives are better equipped to handle it. The unit handles most of the city’s celebrity and prolonged cases, such as the death of Michael Jackson.

Time for CSI: Dodger Stadium. I’m seeing Jon Lovitz in the starring role.

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After beating, Dodgers fans see blue all over [New York Times]