Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt tries soccer with 'French fixer-upper'

MARSEILLE, France - Olympique de Marseille might not have the biggest stars on its roster or have an owner with the deepest pockets, but the soul of French soccer is said to rest in this sunny Mediterranean port city.

"Marseille is in the skin of the people," Laurent Colette, a member of the team's executive committee, said, echoing a widely held perception. "Marseille is the club for France. It is the genuine French culture."

Except it now speaks with a Boston accent.

For the last 2 1/2 years, the jewel of French soccer has belonged to Frank McCourt, who, a decade ago, turned the Dodgers into a private piggy bank before driving it into bankruptcy, according to Major League Baseball.

There are plenty of parallels between the Dodgers and Marseille. Both are iconic clubs, with deep histories and passionate fan bases, that had fallen on hard times before McCourt bought them at deeply discounted prices - the Dodgers for $430 million in 2004, the soccer club for about $50 million 12 years later.

The future plans are similar too. When McCourt bought the Dodgers, he intended to use land near the stadium for a dining and sports center featuring shops, restaurants and a museum. In Marseille, he wants to use the soccer team as the foundation for an elaborate project that would dominate the center of France's second-largest city.

Four months ago, McCourt took over day-to-day management of the team's publicly owned stadium, the Orange Velodrome, the largest club soccer