Fox Will Pay $350 Million To Gain Control Of Dodgers

News Corp.’s Fox Sports said it agreed to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers for an estimated $350 million, a transaction that gives Rupert Murdoch control of one of baseball’s most prestigious franchises.

The sale is contingent on the Dodgers’ transfer to Fox being approved by at least 12 of 15 National League owners and a majority of American League owners.

“We are very excited with the potential opportunity of carrying on one of the greatest winning traditions in all of sports,” said Peter Chernin, chief executive of the Fox Group.

If the agreement goes through, it would give Murdoch a key component in his plan to join TeleCommunications Inc. in an $850 million agreement to form a new sports network that he hopes will challenge Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN.

Fox Sports already televises around 40 Dodgers games a year as well as several other professional franchises on regional networks - including baseball’s Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche, and the National Basketball Association’s Seattle SuperSonics.

N.L. playoff hosts set

The Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants won coin flips and would be home for one-game playoffs if they are tied for first place in their divisions at the end of the regular season.

Any tiebreakers would be scheduled for Monday, Sept. 29, the day before the N.L. playoffs start at the ballparks of the East winner and the wild-card team.

Oakland Coliseum takes alias

The Oakland Coliseum is the latest stadium to get a new name - for money.

The home of Oakland’s Raiders and Athletics is becoming the Umax Coliseum - for the Umax Data Systems, a Taiwanese-based computer company.

The name will officially be announced Monday, just in time for the Raiders’ first home game of the season, against Kansas City.