Romney still in mix, but Bush/Jeter get publicity

MIAMI — On one side, Jeb Bush said he’s “confident” his syndicate that involves former New York Yankee Derek Jeter will be approved to buy the Miami Marlins.

On the other side, Tagg Romney’s group has put in a bid larger than the $1.3 billion of the Bush/Jeter bid, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, though it is not believed to be significantly larger.

Both sides have known names. Both have a syndicate of investors — Romney’s group is smaller than Bush/Jeter, the source said. And, most important, both apparently have the money to buy the team.

“We have two very strong groups that we believe will have sufficient financial resources to complete the sale and run the team effectively,’’ baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

This runs against the national current, which again Tuesday gave Bush’s group full run for the simple reason that, well, Bush talked about it in California. He said his group was in place. He said he’s “hoping to learn sooner rather than later” how things stand.

But just because Bush talked publicly and Romney — son of former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney — stayed silent doesn’t mean one group is the winner. The short answer of who wins is, quite simply, which group pays more and gets the votes of Major League Baseball’s team owners.

The longer answer involves the investors rounding out these groups, and how much they are COMMENTARY worth. What’s clear is there won’t be a one-man ownership like the Dolphins with Steve Ross. This will be more like the Heat in its early days, back before Micky Arison took control, back even before it was even a franchise, really.

Basketball Hall-ofFamer Billy Cunningham and New York businessman Lewis Schaffel wanted an NBA expansion franchise in Miami.

Like Bush and Romney, Cunningham and Schaffel had some headline currency. They just didn’t have the crazy money needed to bankroll a purchase. They had to knock on doors in hopes of finding someone with money like these two groups evidently have done.

Cunningham, Schaffel and minority owner Zev Buffman lobbied the founder of Carnival Cruise Line, Ted Arison, to invest in basketball for the good of South Florida. Arison was reluctant. But he agreed to join them to meet with David Stern, the NBA commissioner.

Stern was no dummy. He looked around the room and saw one man had the necessary money, a source explained years later. Stern laid it out to them: If Arison didn’t join, this group had no chance.

Arison, of course, was no dummy, either. On the flight home from that meeting, he reiterated he was reluctant to buy a basketball team. He was worth multi-billions. He had built one major business. He wasn’t a crazy sports fan. He certainly wasn’t someone who wanted the public limelight.

Arison laid out the ground rules for the operation if he was to join. Yes, Cunningham and Schaffel could run the team as they proposed. But they’d have to make themselves financially vulnerable in a way they wouldn’t like.

“Everything you own will be put up against this team’s cost — every penny you have,” he said.

Who knows the deal Romney and Bush have laid out for their respective investors? Who knows what kind of inner negotiations are happening for these two groups?

All you hope is Manfred and the voting owners pick the group that can do South Florida right. It has to do better than last time when then-commissioner Bud Selig took care of the Boston Red Sox by getting them John Henry as owner, took care of the expansion Washington team by ridding them of Jeffrey Loria as owner — and then dumped Loria on the Marlins for a sweet deal.

This is business, high business, and owners with deep pockets are needed.

When this Marlins sale goes through to the groups of Bush or Romney, fans will celebrate simply because Jeffrey Loria won’t be the owner. It’s good news.

How good the news is ultimately depends on the deep pockets of the Marlins’ new Arison — or Arisons, as the case is here — to make the deal work.