Bush out of running for team

MIAMI — Jeb Bush has dropped his pursuit of purchasing the Miami Marlins, according to a source close to the talks.

The source, confirming a report by The Associated Press, did not offer an explanation for Bush’s change of course. “He just decided to take a step back,” the source said.

The former Florida governor and candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination had teamed with retired New York Yankees star Derek Jeter in a bid to buy the franchise from Jeffrey Loria, the current owner who bought the team in 2002 for $ 158.5 million from John Henry.

Bush and Jeter faced competition from a team assembled by Tagg Romney, son of former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Each group had bid about $ 1.3 billion to buy the team. But one source that confirmed Bush’s withdrawal said he did not put up enough of his own money to have the controlling interest he sought.

The baseball commissioner’s office wants the purchasing group to demonstrate it has enough cash both to close the deal and to operate the team. Because of Major League Baseball’s debt service rule, more than half of the winning bid may have to be in cash.

The source close to the Bush talks said he did not think Jeter was withdrawing from the chase for the Marlins.

“I think he will try to do it on his own,” the source said of Jeter.

The news removes the only known local suitor for the Marlins, although Jeter lives in Tampa. The team has suffered from weak attendance and political backlash still lingering from the 2009 deal to use local taxes to build the team a new stadium in Little Havana.