PPD-Presspassdaily- L.A. wants to know: Is Magic Johnson interested in buying Dodgers?

Around the time Magic Johnson sold his stock in the Los Angeles Lakers and Starbucks last fall, both the Los Angeles Times' Steve Dilbeck and ESPN's J.A. Adande suggested he should buy the Dodgers. Johnson said he didn't have plans to do so.
But that was before this week's bombshell. Major League Baseball has stripped Dodgers owner Frank McCourt of his power and is taking over the ownership of the team. It didn't take long for another publication, The Hollywood Reporter, to drop Johnson's name into a list of potential buyers of L.A.'s National League baseball team.
The Reporter's Daniel Miller put together a top 10 list that also includes Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who made a run at the Rangers last year.
Miller writes about Johnson:

The Lakers legend already is involved in another L.A. sports team shuffle: Johnson has teamed up with developer AEG and sports business executive Casey Wasserman in an effort to bring an NFL team back to the city. The local hero, who last year sold his minority ownership stake in the Lakers in a move widely believed to be a harbinger of his investment in another sports franchise, would be a good fit for the Dodgers. That's according to ESPN senior writer J.A. Adande, who advocated for Johnson to buy the team in a column last year. Johnson could not immediately be reached for comment.

MLB acted upon concerns over McCourt's financial situation. According to Dilbeck, that wouldn't be a problem with Johnson.

"Magic not only has cash, he has stinking wealthy friends," he wrote. "If it takes $800 million or a billion, he could get it done."

The $800 million amount is what Forbes valued the Dodgers at last month in its annual list of franchise values. When this year's franchise rankings came out, Forbes reported the Dodgers' debt load was an eye-popping 54% of their overall worth.

Attendance this season has been stagnant by Dodgers' standards. Even before MLB intervened with McCourt, the Dodgers' image had gone from a traditional, family-owned team to one controlled by East Coast transplants caught up in a lavish L.A. lifestyle. In Johnson, Selig would be putting one city's favorite sons and sports legends in charge.

And there would be an enormous historical impact, as Adande noted in October.
"Think of the cultural significance: Johnson could become the first black owner in Major League Baseball of the team that had the first black player," he wrote.

But is Johnson interested? L.A. is wondering.