The Miami Marlins are reportedly on the verge of becoming somebody else’s problem.
Mike Ozanian of Forbes was told by two sources that Marlins president David Samson said team owner Jeffrey Loria has a “handshake agreement” in place to sell the club for $1.6 billion. The accepted offer is believed to have come from a real estate developer in New York, but there are still some hurdles.
According to Ozanian, the potential buyer’s assets are tied up in real estate and he does not have the cash needed to buy the Marlins. He would likely need to purchase the team with a significant amount of debt, and Major League Baseball may not be comfortable with that.
Loria purchased the Marlins in 2002 for $158 million. Ozanian previously reported that Loria was seeking $1.7 billion for the sale of the team and received an offer of $1.4 billion from Solamere Capital last November. Loria moved the team into a state-of-the-art $639 million stadium that was paid for by the taxpayers, but the Marlins have been terrible in the five seasons since opening their new home. They had an average attendance of just 21,405 last season.
For obvious reasons, Loria is not well-liked among Marlins fans. A few years back, some fans claim they were ejected from Miami’s home opener for being critical of Loria and the team. If Loria can get out for $1.6 billion given how bad the Marlins are, that seems like a no-brainer.
