Josh Macciello wants the Dodgers
Is this underdog in the Dodgers bidding process for real? Could be
 By Ramona Shelburne ESPNLosAngeles.com
January 12, 2012
STUDIO CITY, Calif. -- Josh Macciello lives about where you would expect a guy who says he wants to buy the Dodgers would live.
In other towns, with other social graces, someone who has hit it as big as Macciello claims he has might show off a little more. Something sprawling with a big fountain out front. But in Los Angeles, those that have the most to spend generally tend to stay out of view.
Macciello and his wife Anna and their three children have a 4,600-square-foot home in a celebrity-studded section of Studio City, and the house is impressive, if understated. Family portraits hang over the fireplace. Sports memorabilia from Michael Jordan and fine china are on display. I'm looking closely at the house, tucked up in the hills on one of those narrow streets that tend to flood after heavy rains, because Macciello says he controls billions of dollars in assets and he just doesn't look the part. Could a 36-year-old guy wearing a black "Rocky Balboa" T-shirt, sporting Clark Kent glasses, tattoos on his biceps, a Cartier on his wrist and a pointed, graying beard on his chin really be in position to make a $1 billion-plus offer to buy the Dodgers? I'm skeptical. But curious. Everything seems like a clue, and a riddle. The furniture, the way he dresses. Is it nice enough? Is it too nice? Is he trying to impress me? Would a guy with as much money as he claims to have need to?
As we approach the large oak dining room table, I get another clue. It is set beautifully … with paper plates and plastic forks and knives.
"My wife asked if she should put out the china for this," Macciello says in a thick, Brooklyn accent. "But I was in the mood for Zankou chicken. You've had it before, right? They have take-out places all over here. The garlic sauce is the best."
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The prospective Dodgers owner you won't believe
Josh Macciello's Hollywood script is being written.
A man who started stacking his billions of dollars by backing and financing movie and television projects is now hoping his own Tinseltown dream comes true.
Who is he?
Unless you had a keen eye for a fine timepiece or some other subtle indication of wealth, you might not know Macciello is a man of nearly infinite means.
He shaves his head with clippers. He has the shadow of a full beard and a goatee that hangs well below his chin. Sometimes he wears thick black prescription glasses like Clark Kent. He owns suits, but he is far more likely to be seen in a T-shirt that barely exposes an arm tattoo, jeans and Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers.
Basically, he is the polar opposite of Frank McCourt, the man Macciello hopes to purchase the Dodgers from, and not just opposite in appearance. McCourt bought the Dodgers mostly on credit, but Macciello claims to have cold, hard cash, and it is pretty much all his own.
The Brooklyn native—he moved to the Los Angeles area more than a decade ago—was a washed up junior college baseball player stopped by an injury. He later worked on Wall Street before moving West and struggling for years producing feature film and TV scripts.
But things were going badly. Six years ago, on Valentine's Day, the Macciellos—his wife, Anna, daughter and twin sons—saw the front door of their apartment in North Hollywood, Calif. decorated by an eviction notice. Around that same time, Macciello spent Christmas bawling his eyes out in his tiny kitchen after his daughter asked, "That's all, Daddy?" after opening some modest gifts.
Those incidents provided extra motivation, and soon after some of Macciello's projects and some real estate investments started to pay off. That was about five years ago, and he made his first million shortly thereafter. Then his big break came last year when he took over a bunch of gold and platinum mines that have been appraised in the tens of billions of dollars, and Macciello is more than happy to provide the paperwork to prove that.
His current title is CEO of Armital Entertainment LLC, a company with interests in motion pictures, plays, resorts and restaurants among other endeavors.
Macciello doesn't boast about his wealth in normal conversation, but he does when talking about buying the Dodgers. That's because he believes having his own money and not relying on a huge group or hedge funds or any other outside source is what separates his bid from all the others.
"I'm not going to show up with gold bricks to pay for the team," Macciello said during a phone interview last week. "I hope (MLB) knows I'm more intelligent than that. I'm not Jed Clampett. I have cash."
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He Wants to Buy the Dodgers! Why Isn't He Being Taken More Seriously?
A Studio City father of three is seeking to make the biggest purchase of a sports franchise in history. He's facing 'Rocky' odds, even with an estimated $2.2 billion bid.
Josh Macciello says he always had big dreams.
At the moment, his dreams are the same as those of Magic Johnson, Joe Torre, Mark Cuban, Larry King and guys like that. He wants to buy the Dodgers.
What makes Macciello's dream even more amazing is that he's an admitted underdog in this fierce bidding war, and if he were to succeed, he would—at 36—be the youngest sports franchise owner in history after making the biggest purchase of a sports team in history.
Sources close to the deal confirm that the bid he laid out recently is about $2.2 billion for the Dodgers and the stadium. Macciello would only confirm that, "with the money I'm bidding, I could buy three sport teams."
Macciello is our neighbor—a seeingly average guy who eats well-done over-easy eggs, well-done turkey bacon and well-done wheat toast every morning at Jinky's Studio Café, often with a co-worker or his nephew. He coaches his daughter's softball team at Studio City's Beeman Park and loves cramming his family into $5 photo booths for goofy family pictures.
His neighbors in the Fryman Canyon area include Studio City notables like George Clooney, Miley Cyrus and Julie Bowen, the mom in Modern Family. He came into money over the past five years through gold mines in the Pacific Northwest, and through his entertainment company Armital Entertainment. ESPN and other journalists have poked and pried into his history and personal life for months trying to find out if he is for real. They could find no hoax.
"I'm not a joke, I'm out to do this, I just need to be taken seriously," he said, having his characteristic breakfast at Jerry's Famous Deli near PINZ Bowling Alley. He has taken the steps of proving that he has the money, and submitting a bid. Now, he is hoping for a meeting with Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.
Read the full story on the Studio City Patch website by following this link
TOO LEGIT TO QUIT? Studio City resident Macciello says he has 2.2 billion reasons why he should be the next Dodgers owner.
The next owner of the Dodgers slid some of the caprese salad appetizer next to the spicy fried calamari, careful not to interfere with the integrity of Sisley Italian Kitchen's famous Italian quesadilla that was in front him.
It might seem as if Josh Macciello has a lot on his plate at the moment in the Sherman Oaks restaurant. But don't doubt he'll have plenty of appetite left for the main course.
"I want everyone to know that I want the whole enchilada," said Macciello, not afraid to mix his culinary metaphors.
Specifically, that would be the Dodgers' franchise, the stadium and the land that surrounds it.
He's willing to pay $2.2 billion for it. An all-cash deal. And all of it to make Frank McCourt disappear.
"Why would I over-bid?" Macciello continued as he grabbed a fork. "We need closure to start the healing process. No fan wants to hand over $20 to park and think they're giving him any more of their money.
"So I want to give him an offer he can't refuse."
Don't worry. The Brooklyn native and Studio City resident with the pointed black beard and elaborately tattooed right shoulder was just getting warmed up.
Media reports change almost daily in an attempt to nail down who has met certain "deadlines" and "qualified" to move "to the next round" in this unusual process. Magic Johnson, Peter O'Malley, Stan Kroenke and Michael Heisley apparently are in.
Few, if anyone, bother to include the 36-year-old Macciello.
When he made his intentions known with an introductory mini-media blitz last month, some polarizing reaction was predictable. One started up a fansite, JoshForDodgers.com, to monitor his progress, but others stayed skeptical of his net worth and labeled him a publicity seeker.
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