Basketball legend Magic Johnson led a group that won an auction for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team Tuesday night, marking the final chapter of in a soap-opera style saga for the legendary franchise, according to people involved in the process. With a bid of $2 billion, Johnson and partners Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly beat out a group of some of the wealthiest businessmen in the country to land a team that is one of Major League Baseball’s flagship franchises. The sales figure shatters the previous record sales price for a U.S. sports franchise, Steve Ross’s purchase of the Miami Dolphins for $1.1 billion three years ago. But buying the Dodgers now comes with a unique opportunity to launch a potentially lucrative regional sports network in the country’s second largest market, or sign a new local broadcast deal with the current broadcaster, News Corp.’s NWSA +0.30% Fox unit, which has already offered the team a 17-year extension valued at nearly $3 billion. (News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal). Write to Matthew Futterman at matthew.futterman@wsj.com
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