Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, explored buying a minority stake in the Mets earlier this year. Now he wants to buy all of another marquee franchise, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He joins a growing list of potential buyers that includes a group led by Magic Johnson; a second being formed by Peter O’Malley, the former Dodgers’ owner; a third that features the former Dodgers Orel Hershiser and Steve Garvey; Dennis Gilbert, a former player agent who is now a Chicago White Sox executive; Rick Caruso, a Los Angeles real estate developer, and several others.

Initial bids for the team are due Jan. 13 with a sale expected to be completed in April. The team filed for bankruptcy protection last June; the court is overseeing the sale of the team.

Cohen never publicly discussed the depth of his interest in the Mets, but he was among those in the mix for some time to buy one-third of the team for $200 million. A deal was eventually made with David Einhorn, another star in the hedge-fund world. When that agreement unraveled in September, the Mets began their ongoing effort to sell 10 minority shares for $20 million each.

Cohen’s desire to buy the Dodgers appears to be quite strong. The Los Angeles Times said he had hired the investment banker Steve Greenberg, a former deputy commissioner of Major League Baseball who is representing the Mets in selling their minority shares and sold the Houston Astros for Drayton McLane.
Cohen has also hired Populous, the sports architecture firm, to design changes to Dodger Stadium.

He is known to Major League Baseball through his interest in the Mets as well as from reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating his firm, SAC Capital Advisors, as part of the government’s broad crackdown on insider trading. The S.E.C. has issued subpoenas to SAC; two of its former portfolio managers have pleaded guilty. No charges have been filed against Cohen or his firm.

Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for Cohen, had no comment on Cohen’s interest in the Dodgers. Gasthalter has previously said that SAC is cooperating with the S.E.C.

In bidding for the Dodgers, Cohen has attracted the support of two members of the Los Angeles elite, the entertainment mogul David Geffen and the billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. Each told The Los Angeles Times that he would be a good owner for the Dodgers.

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