Owner Frank McCourt’s recent sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers to a group of investors including Magic Johnson has made a lot of waves. Chief among the storylines seems to be the amount of money McCourt pockets in the deal. Some are saying that the profit on McCourt’s flip may be somewhere around $860 million, net of, amongst other things, over $150 million in costs associated with a divorce settlement. Yikes.
When I heard about this story, I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of the sale and the divorce. On the one hand, McCord made a ton of money. On the other, his marriage broke up. I don’t know anything about his marriage, why it failed, or if its failure had anything to do with the pressures of owning a sports team. I do know that I wouldn’t trade places with him. Would you?
Hearing about this situation has reinforced to me that one simply cannot put a dollar value on having a good marriage. I do hope that if we had to pick between $860 million dollars and a good marriage, we would choose the latter. Money is necessary for life, but the abundant life (John 10:10) comes through loving God and others (Matthew 22:36–40; John 13:34), particularly in covenant relationships like marriage (Ephesians 5:22–33).
I’d rather be broke than have a broken marriage. I hope you’re with me in that.
—Beau Stanley
Beau,
You are 100% right!