COUNCIL CALLS FOR DODGERS TO GO PUBLIC.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Hoping to preserve the fan-friendly character of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the City Council voted Wednesday to ask owner Peter O'Malley to explore allowing fans to buy an ownership interest in the baseball team.

Forty-seven years after his father bought the team, O'Malley announced Jan. 6 that he was putting the Dodgers' up for sale, sparking concern among city officials that outside investors might take over and move the team out of Los Angeles.

In a motion approved by a unanimous vote, the City Council encouraged O'Malley to ensure that future owners maintain the team's ``community involvement'' in Los Angeles.

The motion urges O'Malley to work with city officials to ``explore mechanisms under which, without taxpayer involvement, Dodger fans might participate in the future ownership of the team.''

One obstacle to fan ownership is a Major League Baseball rule against public ownership of teams. But city officials said the rule was set by the owners and O'Malley could use his considerable clout to lobby for a change if he supported the idea.

Councilwoman Laura Chick authored the resolution, saying fan ownership is one way to make sure the team continues its fan-friendly tradition in Los Angeles.

``Critics will point out all the reasons why this won't work and we can't do it,'' Chick told her colleagues. ``The National League's rules can be changed. There can be a groundswell of support on the part of the public. There already has been. This is a friendly gesture to Mr. O'Malley. Hopefully, he will look at it positively.''

O'Malley and other Dodgers executives were attending baseball meetings in Arizona and not available for immediate comment, according to Derrick Hall, a team spokesman.

Hall said the management has not yet begun putting together the process for selling the team so it is too early to say what buyers will be taken seriously.

``They will probably take everything under consideration,'' Hall said, but added it is a problem that public ownership is not allowed by baseball rules.

Council members Mike Hernandez and Nate Holden said the idea of fans owning part of a team is not new. They cited the public ownership of the Super Bowl-bound Green Bay Packers football team as a precedent.

``There is an example for that,'' Hernandez said. ``All we're saying here is that we look at it.''

The Packers are a nonprofit corporation formed in 1922 and owned by 1,915 investors, many of them fans.

Since O'Malley's announcement, several names of potential bidders for the team have emerged, including Lakers' owner Jerry Buss, former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, Time Warner executive Robert Daly and DreamWorks movie studio owner Steven Spielberg.

Experts say the franchise, Dodgers Stadium and other property tied to the team could bring more than $200 million from buyers.

Chick's ideal would be for fans to buy a majority interest in the team. If each share went for $100, about 1 million investors would be needed to acquire a majority interest.

Because that may not be likely, Chick said fans might have to settle for a lesser ownership interest that still gives them some say in how the team is operated.

Chick's aide Ken Bernstein cited the model of the Boston Celtics basketball team, which he said is 40 percent owned by the public through stock holdings.