Whoever buys the Marlins is "getting a throwback team" burdened with "significant financial losses," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that the Marlins are "set to lose tens of millions of dollars this year, and as major accelerators kick in next year on certain player contracts, the losses could skyrocket." Sources said that it is likely the team, even with revenue sharing from MLB, "could lose in the high eight figures if not low nine figures in the next few years." Marlins President David Samson said, "We have always said we have had losses." Meanwhile, the team’s local media-rights deal with FS Florida "expires in a few years." The current agreement pays the Marlins $18M a year, a figure that "would be expected to rise with a new deal." However, sources "don’t see the value of the team" above $1B, "especially in light of the losses that a new owner would shoulder" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/10 issue).
TOUGH SELL? YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Passan wrote the "biggest question" surrounding former MLBer Derek Jeter's pursuit of the Marlins is whether he "wants to be the person to wade into the muck and mire that is the Marlins’ financial situation." Sources deemed the situation "'toxic,' 'a dumpster fire' and 'worse than the Dodgers’ and Rangers’ when they went into bankruptcy.'" With a "flagging season-ticket base -- one source estimated it at less than 5,000 -- turnstile attendance that may have been half the 1,712,417 fans the Marlins reported last season" and a payroll that may end up in the $130M range, the "financial straits are real" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/7). In Tampa, Martin Fennelly wrote if Michael Jordan can own the Hornets and Magic Johnson can be the ownership face of the Dodgers, Jeter can "do it, too." He is a "winner" and a "professional." He is also a "savvy businessman with an impeccable reputation" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/8).
