Its Magic and a mindboggling 2 billion for the Dodgers

For Los Angeles sports fans, you can't get farther apart on the love-hate scale than Magic Johnson and Frank McCourt. Magic was the face of Showtime, great years for the Los Angeles Lakers. McCourt is the man who took the Dodgers into bankruptcy because of an embarrassing and well-publicized divorce case.

And it will be hard to take a smile off fans' faces as they learn that Johnson is a big part of the group that is buying the Dodgers from McCourt, agreeing to an almost absurd $2 billion price tag at auction for the venerable franchise that was the city's first major sports team.

"I am thrilled to be part of the historic Dodger franchise and intend to build on the fantastic foundation laid by Frank McCourt as we drive the Dodgers back to the front page of the sports section in our wonderful community of Los Angeles," Johnson said in a statement.

The cost is a record for a North American sports franchise. The previous record was the $1.1 billion that Steve Ross paid for the Miami Dolphins three years ago. The previous record for a baseball franchise was the $845 million for the Chicago Cubs in 2009 by the Ricketts family.

The bid was actually $2.15 billion, including the surrounding land. McCourt will buy back that land around the stadium for $150 million. If there's a sour part of this for fans, it's the fact that McCourt is walking away with the parking lots and a ton of profit, even with the bankruptcy and the divorce. He bought the Dodgers for a net purchase price of $271 million in 2004. That means that the Dodgers appreciated by roughly $1.8 billion in eight years, despite a depressed economy and the fact that the Dodgers haven't won a pennant, let alone a World Series, in that span.

The controlling partner will be Mark Walter. Others include former Washington Nationals president Stan Casten and businessmen Peter Guber, Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly as part of the Guggenheim Partners group. It was a 100 percent cash offer, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Timeline: Frank McCourt's ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers