As they reached the dais in center field, Dodgers greats Don Newcombe, Tommy Lasorda, Maury Wills, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Tommy Davis, on hand and wearing Dodgers jerseys, were greeted warmly by Johnson before legendary broadcaster Vin Scully and mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke.
"It's time to meet the group that will bring the Dodgers higher than the Sistine Chapel," Scully said.
After brief comments by Walter, who will be the controlling partner, Johnson took the stage and entertained in a pep-rally style and repeatedly praised Peter O'Malley, whose family owned the Dodgers for 48 years. Guggenheim Baseball Management is the third owner of the team since O'Malley, who was in attendance, sold it in 1998.
"We don't have to reinvent the wheel, we just have to go back to where you had it before," Johnson said, promising that the new bosses will work "tirelessly" to improve the franchise.
"We committed, the three of us, to build a championship organization, a winning team from top to bottom," said Kasten, a former executive of the Braves, Nationals and the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. "Player development. It was pioneered by the Dodgers, going back to Brooklyn. That's the tradition we're going to continue."
The sale of the team, the stadium and land surrounding it became official on Tuesday as the group closed its $2 billion purchase, ending the eight-year ownership of Frank McCourt.
In addition to Walter, CEO of Guggenheim Partners; Kasten, who will be team president and CEO; and Johnson, a part-owner who will have a public role, the investor group includes Mandalay Entertainment chairman Peter Guber, Guggenheim Partners president Todd Boehly and Texas energy investor Bobby Patton.
Walter, Kasten and Johnson repeatedly mentioned "Dodger pride."
"We envy and admire it," Kasten said.
"As much as this is a big day for us, [and] we're very, very happy to be here, this is not about us," Walter said. "This is about the Dodgers. one of the most honored and storied franchises in history ... we are passionate about making this organization the best that it can be from every respect, from winning, from its relationship with the community, from all the philanthropic and other things that it can be a platform to help with.
"We know this is going to be hard work. And we also know it's going to take time ... but I promise you this commitment to work will be a labor of love."
Guggenheim paid an additional $150 million for a 50-percent interest in the property surrounding Chavez Ravine and the stadium parking lots, in a joint venture with McCourt.
The purchase, announced March 27, was the key element in the Dodgers' emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. McCourt filed for bankruptcy last June when he couldn't meet player payroll or pay bills after MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declined to approve a $3 billion agreement between FOX and the Dodgers to extend their television broadcast rights.
The Guggenheim group was one of three final bidders in an auction run by Blackstone Advisory Partners on behalf of McCourt -- the winning group of Guggenheim, Johnson and Kasten; one that included billionaires Steven Cohen and Patrick Soon-Shiong and agent Arn Tellem; and Stan Kroenke, owner of the St. Louis Rams.
The McCourts bought the Dodgers in 2004 from News Corp. for a net purchase price of $371 million. With the $2 billion for the team and stadium, plus $300 million for the surrounding land and parking lots, including the $150 million worth of land contributed by McCourt, the selling price is a total of $2.3 billion, just shy of $2 billion in appreciation in eight years.
Under McCourt's ownership, the Dodgers reached the postseason four times in eight seasons; he invested, according to the club, $150 million in improvements of 50-year-old Dodger Stadium; and he moved Spring Training from venerable Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., to Camelback Ranch-Glendale in Arizona. He also established the Dodgers Dream Foundation that refurbished dozens of youth baseball fields and established ThinkCure in partnership with City of Hope and Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles to raise money for a cancer cure.
However, McCourt's tenure also saw missteps, including alienating the fan base by what MLB estimated in court documents to be a $190 million "looting" of Dodgers equity to fund an extravagant lifestyle. He and Jamie McCourt also became entangled in one of the most costly and publicized divorces in California history.
