The Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a role for season ticket holders in the baseball team's bankruptcy, which the team said it will take longer to resolve than once thought.

The Dodgers have been in bankruptcy since June and are waging a battle with Major League Baseball over control of the team, which struggled this year on the field.

A group of fans, led by the three children of the late entertainer Frank Sinatra, had sought a season ticket holders' official committee, which would have had standing to raise objections and have its expenses paid by the team.

The season ticket holders agreed to drop the request for their own committee and in return they accepted two seats on the unsecured creditors committee, according to papers filed with Delaware's bankruptcy court late Monday.

Fan boycotts and fears about security at the stadium drove Dodgers' attendance down nearly 20 percent in 2011 to its lowest level in a decade.

The unsecured creditors committee also includes a representative of Bryan Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan who was beaten so badly at the Dodgers' opening day game that he ended up in critical condition.

Separately, the Dodgers said in court papers they will need more time to bring the team out of bankruptcy. The team asked the court to extend until next baseball season the period in which the Dodgers have the exclusive right to propose a bankruptcy plan.

The team argued it will need more time to negotiate with Fox Sports, a unit of News Corp, before it can auction the right to broadcast games.

The team landed in bankruptcy after the league rejected a deal for those media rights. Now the team wants to try to sell those rights again, but this time the team hopes to convince bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross to overrule the league's objection to the sale.

The league shows no sign of backing away from its insistence that the only way out of bankruptcy is a forced sale of the team.

The league said McCourt is draining the financial lifeblood from the team and said McCourt took more than $61 million from the Dodgers to pay off his personal debts, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

In addition, the league said McCourt's recent divorce settlement with ex-wife Jamie McCourt, reportedly worth $130 million, would worsen the owner's finances and require a new owner for the team.

The court has scheduled a four-day hearing beginning October 31 to determine the best way out of the bankruptcy. McCourt and the league's commissioner are expected to testify.

The bankruptcy case is In re: Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-12010.

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