Though Blackstone and sources close to McCourt have remained tightlipped throughout the process, ESPNLosAngeles.com has identified, through conversations with various sources, five groups which are known to have advanced:
• The group headed by Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson and largely funded by Guggenheim Partners chief executive officer Mark Walter.
• The group headed by Steve Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of SAC Capital Advisors in Stamford, Conn.
• The group headed by Los Angeles real estate developer Rick Caruso, a group that also includes former Dodgers manager Joe Torre.
• The group headed by Stanley Gold, the chief executive officer of Shamrock Holdings, a private investment company founded by the late Roy E. Disney, with several of Disney’s surviving family members also involved in that group.
• The group headed by former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, which reportedly has discussed joining the Gold/Disney group but thus far hasn’t done so.
