Marlins Man has officially cut ties with the organization he blindly supported for the past 25 years, and he says he is considering taking his loyalty elsewhere for the 2018 MLB season.
Marlins Man, a Miami lawyer whose real name is Laurence Leavy, told ESPN’s Darren Rovell on Wednesday night that he will not be paying for Marlins season tickets this year for the first time since 1993. He has a credit with the team that paid for two season tickets in the outfield, but he plans to give them away and will not sit in them himself.
“I have been a full season-ticket holder since the first year 25 years ago in 1993, and I don’t know anybody else who spent as much money on the Marlins for tickets as I have in the last 25 years,” Leavy said. “While they asked us to be loyal to them and faithful and patient, they are not faithful and loyal to us.”
Leavy reiterated his recent revelation that he offered the team $200,000 for three years of four Diamond Club seats behind home plate, and the offer was rejected. He figured he should get a 10 percent discount for the Marlins selling off their All-Star players and another 10 percent off for paying up front, but the team rejected the offer and wanted him to pay $263,000, using his credit to help make up the difference. Leavy said he has been offered better deals from other teams.
“Four teams reached out to me already and said that I could become, like, the Tigers man or other teams, and they would be happy to sell me tickets on TV view for three years paid in advance with a substantial discount,” he said.
While you could argue that the Marlins would be setting a dangerous precedent by allowing someone to negotiate the price of a season ticket package, the franchise has dealt with some horrible PR since Derek Jeter’s ownership group took over. Alienating their biggest fan probably isn’t going to help anything.
