The saga of the potential sale of the Marlins has been ongoing for months now, with a group led by Derek Jeter and another led by Tom Glavine and Tagg Romney believed to be at the forefront of the mix. There’s been plenty written to suggest that those groups are still in the process of raising the necessary funds to meet MLB’s debt requirements, and Charles Gasparino of FOX Business suggests that both may have hit a significant snag.
Per Gasparino, both groups are still “hundreds of millions” of dollars short of the reported $1.3 billion asking price for the Marlins, which has tabled the bidding war for the time being. Other potential buying groups, according to Gasparino, want current owner Jeffrey Loria to lower his asking price to roughly $900MM. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald cites a source in echoing Gasparino’s point that both groups are well shy of the $1.3 billion threshold.
Jackson also notes that Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred appeared on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM with Craig Mish and Jim Bowden, telling the pair that he’s confident a sale of the Marlins will be completed in advance of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
According to Manfred, there’s been an “amazing” amount of interest in purchasing the Marlins, though the Jeter and Romney/Glavine groups are indeed the two front-runners and the two likeliest groups to complete a sale. The commissioner stated that is is “convinced the Marlins are going to sell” before suggesting that he is optimistic of a deal being reached sooner rather than later. Asked about the possibility of needing to consult with new owners before the trade deadline, Manfred replied:Â “I am hoping we get some clarity well before the trading deadline. …Â It would be best for all concerned if we got to point where we know who the new owner would be before that happens so they have some input in that process.”
At present, there haven’t been any public reports of a third serious suitor emerging. To the contrary, former Florida governor Jeb Bush bowed out of the group which he was said to be leading with Jeter, though reports since his departure have indicated that he was only lined up to commit about $10MM of his own resources to the sale. His departure doesn’t necessarily come without consequence, of course, as Bush undoubtedly could have played a significant role in rounding up investors to reach the requisite sum needed for an earnest bid.
Romney is out of the running as of last Friday.
It sounds like Loria isn’t going to make a big return, if any, on his investment given the debt the Marlins have incurred. When you account for inflation, he could have lost money over the past 10 years with this sale.
what debt? he’s going to sell it for like 5x what he paid, they’re profitable, and Dade county paid for the stadium
They’ve been borrowing money to meet payroll. They are in debt
What did he pay
He purchased the marlins for like $150 mil… he’s going to make money whether it’s 900 mil or 1.3 bil
how so, he had none of his own money involved,barrowed from the other owners ….He n Pud Selig both belonged in jail
Politics and sports should never interwine.. but As an unbiased fan I want Jeb to win it. And I think Jeb’s brother was a really, really, really, bad president. But if my memory serves me correctly, beside the fact Jeb’s currently the governor of Florida with Florida ties baseball runs in their family because his brother George W Bush (the ex president) was a part owner of the Texas Rangers and sold his ownership stake in the Texas Rangers for a SERIOUS profit.
Apparently your reading skills are as poor as your political evaluation, Bush dropped out more than a week ago as he had a minor investment and wanted to be managing partner. He was told that will not happen so he took him money and went home.
Not buying that they’re “out” considering we’re not even supposed to know who’s “in”
Billions of dollars in play. It’s anybody’s game (with money)
It’s going to be facinating to watch.
“When the Texas Rangers franchise was sold for $250 million in 1998, at a total profit of $170 million, George W Bush personally received $14.9 million for his $600,000 investment”
Maybe Jeb does the same thing to the Marlins value lol
What’s the value of a baseball franchise these days?
Problem is, Loria is trying to do the same and selling the Marlins are far more than he paid. For Jen to do that in the future at current asking price, Marlins would have to sell for 2.1 Billion next time around.
Whoops I accidentally wrote “currently” the governor of Florida but Jeb served governor 1999-2007. But everything else is on point!
Anyways, real interesting stuff. wonder who wins the Florida Marlins
Manfred sounds like Scott Boras talking up a client. Amazing interest, mystery buyers, MLB has always served Loria from Selig’s time with non-arms-length transactions, interest-free loans, revenue sharing, etc. I suppose this is part of his concierge service. Only the best for Jeff.
Don’t forget Fred Wilpon.
If the Marlins are sold, can the new ownership group elect to remove that monstrosity of a statue in left-center?
They’ll take the statue down as soon as the Braves fans quit doing the tomahawk chop.
Most irritating “chant” in sports.
you mean stanton’s statue? not going anywhereeee we love it
The jeter group and the glavine group should just combine and drive the price down
A really bad TV contract that is not up until 2020, bad player contracts like the one for Stanton, bad treatment of the fans, bad treatment of the community, and no fans in the stands equals a team with severe revenue problems. If the TV contract were to be renegotiated now, then the team is worth $1.3 billion. As it is, the team is worth about $900 million and that is presupposing that new ownership could change the view of the team in the community and draw fans.
The Miami Marlins baseball franchise is NOT worth $500M let alone $1.3B.
No one will ever make money on ANY enterprise that is acquired at an inflated price. It goes against the absolute law of investing.
Let old man Jeff Loria hold on to the team the next 5 years…. if he lives to be that old.
Sports teams are ALWAYS sold at a premium to what they’re “worth”. They don’t come up for sale very often.
The LA Clippers were “valued” at $550M by FORBES when Steve Ballmer outbid everyone for the LA Clippers buying 100% of the team for $2 billion.
Guess how much they’re they’re worth now? $2 billion (As of February 2017)
These team values keep going up man. We keep thinking they’re going to hit a bubble but the values surge every year. If I had $1.3 billion, I’d buy the Marlins. I would bet on the future of baseball in the city of Miami. Miami also don’t have the Oakland A’s or Tampa Bay Ray’s stadium situations. Loria swindled MLB for that new stadium and new owners would reap that benefit not having to worry about a new stadium anytime soon (but I hear mixed reports on how the stadium looks)
$1.3 billion is a lot though. When does it end
Miami is simply a horrible sports town. Even with a new stadium (which they conned the city and govt) they still can’t get people there or make money. Terrible TV deal, nobody watches the games, follows the team, etc. Investors don’t want to be stuck with a bad investment. Only way he gets what he wants is there are only 30 franchises and so few opportunities to own a team. Hopefully someone can get it turned around there.