DODGERS TO GET KID-GLOVES TREATMENT; MOGUL'S SPOKESMAN REASSURES NERVOUS FANS.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

Dodgers fans who have grown comfortable with the stately operation of the club and the gentle rhythms of the Dodger Stadium experience await with trepidation the impending stewardship of Rupert Murdoch.

If Murdoch succeeds in his bid to purchase the Dodgers this year, there are certain to be changes. But Murdoch's executives have anticipated the concern among Los Angeles' baseball fans and are scurrying to dispel it.

``How would it change? It won't,'' Fox Sports Vice President Vince Wladika, Murdoch's chief spokesman on the purchase, said. ``You don't buy something and fix what doesn't need fixing.

``The way the Dodgers are going to be operated . . . it's not going to be brash, it's not going to be irreverent. It's going to be operated with class and intelligence and dignity, the same way the Dodgers have been operated in the past.''

This should come as welcome news to longtime Dodgers fans, but there still is wariness in their words on the prospect of life under Murdoch.

``Of course we're concerned. We wonder what's going to become of everything,'' said Joy Warden, vice president of the Go Go Dodgers Fan Club. ``The conservative atmosphere still prevails (at Dodger Stadium). You see the same faces. The Dodgers are very family oriented.

``You look at San Diego and San Francisco, you see all these advertisements (in the outfield). We don't want to see those changes here. But commercially, it may not be advantageous for them (Murdoch and his News Corp.) to continue (operating) in the manner that the Dodgers are.'' Murdoch - whose bid for the Dodgers, the stadium and various holdings is expected to be in the $350 million to $400 million range - is expected to take steps to maximize that investment.

So look for the construction of luxury boxes at the 36-year-old stadium, Wladika said, ``to bring in more revenue that obviously helps pay salaries.''

The upgrade probably could be accomplished unobtrusively on the stadium's club level.

Also, the marketing of the team, which already attracts 3 million fans each season and draws strong television ratings, likely will be more creative and aggressive, particularly for the team's broadcasts on cable outlet Fox Sports West 2, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp.

Murdoch has demonstrated that he does not apply a universal management philosophy to his ventures in his worldwide communications empire. Although he has micromanaged such operations as The Sun and the News of the World tabloids in London, he has gotten out of the way of such well-established enterprises as 20th Century Fox television and movie production and The Sunday Times of London.

``It was a matter of course that what Rupert wanted to happen anywhere in his global empire usually did happen,'' Andrew Neil, former Sunday Times editor, wrote recently in Vanity Fair. ``But not at (20th Century) Fox. It seemed to resist his domination, even after he moved to L.A. to be more hands-on.

``I always got the impression that the Fox people worked for the Hollywood entertainment industry rather than for Rupert. They were creative folk who could easily find other lucrative employment in the industry should Rupert ride them too hard - and he could not afford to lose too many.''

The Dodgers have been a family operation for nearly half a century, and President Peter O'Malley, in his understated management of the club, has not seized upon such popular revenue streams as stadium signage, luxury boxes and major broadcast packages.

``When Murdoch takes over, I don't think the changes will be immediate. That would not serve him well in the community,'' said David M. Carter, who teaches on sports business issues at the University of Southern California. ``He will have to blend his financial needs with savvy marketing because a lot of people in L.A. will be distrustful of him at first. He's going to have to kind of earn their respect, and the way he'll do it is by demonstrating that he's not going to ruin the Dodgers as a brand.

``At the same time, he has to communicate to us: Hey, it's his team now; he wants to make money.''

Murdoch is also expected to infuse the Dodgers with the money necessary to increase their competitiveness. The club has rarely been a big player on the free-agent market, preferring to rely almost entirely on its strong farm system, but the result finds the Dodgers, while viable, one tier beneath the major leagues' elite teams.

The team has not won a World Series - or a playoff game, for that matter - since 1988.

The Dodgers' Opening Day payroll was $43.4 million, which ranked 11th in baseball. The top five in the game featured the reigning World Series-champion New York Yankees ($58.5 million) and the runner-up Atlanta Braves ($50.5 million).

Wladika said Murdoch would not attempt to climb into that salary league.

``People have said we're going to turn around and start paying hundreds of millions of dollars for players,'' he said. ``We're not going to do that. You're going to buy the Dodgers and your goal is that they've worked that way (at the current payroll rank).

``The whole point that we're going to stress is going to be continuity, consistency. That's what we're going to bring to the Dodgers.

``What's our first goal? It's real simple: Win a World Series.''