MEET THE NEW BOSS
By George! Jeter close to reeling in Marlins
It’s hard to imagine Derek Jeter in anything but pinstripes, but the Yankee legend is close to becoming part owner of t he Miami Marlins, following in the footsteps of his former Boss, George Steinbrenner.
Number 2 is close to realizing dream number two.
Derek Jeter, who has long expressed his desire to own a Major League Baseball team, has advanced significantly in his quest to make that a reality. While multiple reports asserted a group fronted by the Yankees icon and former Florida governor (and 2016 Republican presidential candidate) Jeb Bush reached an agreement in principle to buy the Miami Marlins for $1.3 billion, an industry source told The Post the Bush/Jeter consortium has in fact arranged for a window of exclusivity to complete the purchase of the Marlins from their current owner, Manhattan-based art dealer Jeffrey Loria.
Bush and Jeter, who in his childhood dreamed of being the Yankees’ shortstop, must round up more financing to make the deal a go, multiple sources said. Jeter is believed to be contributing a significant amount, but south of $100 million. If the deal goes through, the 42-year-old is expected to take an active role in the team’s baseball operations, though Bush would be the control person and therefore have final say on all matters.
“There are multiple groups interested in acquiring the Marlins,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday while attending the Pirates-Cubs game. “One of those groups is the Bush-Jeter group. When we have a resolution as to which bid is going to be accepted, we will announce that.”
Marli ns pre s i dent David Samson wrote in a text message Tuesday, “I have not commented on the process and plan to keep it that way.”
The Marlins are believed to be hemorrhaging money, losing at least $30 million annually, and that’s what prompted Loria, who is a candidate to be the United States ambassador to France, to sell now. Loria’s tenuous grasp on the franchise helped put the Marlins atop Jeter’s radar as far back as 2014, his f inal year as a player, when he first started plotting his post-retirement life.
Jeter and Bush must display considerable financial might in order to land MLB’s approval. Unlike Jeter’s Yankees or another large-market titan like the Red Sox, the Marlins can’t be counted on to produce revenues through items such as attendance or sponsorship deals as a method for the new group to pay down its debt. MLB got burned badly when it green-lighted the sale of the Dodgers to Frank McCourt in 2004, a deal that featured scant money up front and wound up with McCourt and the league at war with one another. Typically, MLB wants a setup in which about 60 percent of the purchase price is paid immediately and no more than 40 percent is f inanced, but it is possible that for a team with financial troubles such as the Marlins, MLB could demand even more be paid initially.
While neither Jeter nor Bush is rich enough to pay the bulk of this deal out of his own pockets, optimism exists the two men can utilize their worldwide connections to land the necessary financing; the two recently aligned after originally being rivals in this sweepstakes. MLB would be thrilled to welcome Jeter to its fraternity, particularly in a struggling market like Miami whose ownership has been epically unpopular, and Jeb Bush’s brother, George W. Bush, enjoyed a very successful run as owner of the Texas Rangers before he went onto become the governor of Texas and then President of the United States.
The Marlins have some natural attractions to Jeter beyond the fact they are for sale. As a member of the National League East, they don’t contend directly with the Yankees, with whom Jeter maintains a relationship; the Yankees plan to retire Jeter’s uniform number 2 before the team’s May 14 game against the Astros. Furthermore, Jeter lives fulltime in Tampa, so it would be easy for him to commute to Miami, a bright-lights, Page Six-friendly city that f its the high-end tastes of Jeter and his pregnant newlywed wife Hannah Davis.
As per MLB’s laws of order, 22 of the 29 other team owners must approve of the Marl i ns’ sale. The owners meet four times a year, with the next meeting occurring May 16-18 at the league’s Manhattan headquarters.