The entire city of Los Angeles has been in celebration mode since the Dodgers won their second consecutive World Series Championship. So many around the world were locked in to an epic Game 7 and Los Angeles Lakers legend and Dodgers minority owner Magic Johnson was able to add to his already impressive championship count.
Of course, many were rooting against the Dodgers as they felt the money spent by owner Mark Walter, who is now also the Lakers’ owner, was ruining the sport of baseball. But Magic pushed back on that point in an interview with Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times:
“They said we ruined baseball,” Johnson said. “Well, I guess we didn’t.”
Johnson would go into more detail on why the Dodgers have been good for baseball, comparing them to the Showtime Lakers and other legendary NBA franchises who helped to greatly increase popularity and viewership in the sport:
“What the Celtics and Lakers were able to do, and Michael Jordan’s Bulls, was to bring in new fans — fans that were, ‘Oh, I don’t know about the NBA,’” Johnson said, “but the play was so good, and the Celtics and Lakers and Bulls were so dominant, people said, ‘Oh man, I want to watch them.’
“It’s the same thing happening here.”
Magic would continue on, noting that his phone was getting blown up by a ton of people watching the World Series who hadn’t watched baseball in years, and that is ultimately good for the sport:
“My phone was blowing up with people who hadn’t watched baseball for a long time,” Johnson said. “They were watching this series.
“This was good for baseball around the world.”
There is always the argument about parity in sports and that dynasties and big-money teams hurt the sport. But oftentimes that just isn’t the case and those teams greatly benefit the league overall by increasing popularity, bringing in new fans and increasing viewership. Game 7 of the World Series was the most watched World Series game since 1991 and the Dodgers are obviously a major reason for that.
Johnson pointed out many examples in basketball and didn’t even mention the Kobe-Shaq Lakers and, most recently, the Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors. There is also the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s and the New England Patriots of the 2000s in the NFL. And the Dodgers could be this generation’s version of that in baseball.
Lakers’ Rob Pelinka has been consulting with Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman
With Dodgers owner Mark Walter now officially the owner of the Lakers as well, the synergy between the two franchises will only continue to grow and it has already begun as Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has been consulting with Dodgers executive Andrew Friedman since the summer.
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