Jeffrey Loria isn’t exactly a well-respected baseball owner. So, how does the owner of the Miami Marlins get rewarded for his crappy ownership abilities? By selling the team for more than double its value, of course.
According to Forbes, bankers say Loria is willing to sell the struggling Marlins franchise for $1.7 billion. This news comes as Miami is viewed as one of least valuable franchises in Major League Baseball and has a relatively new stadium that was built with public money and has not paid off.
Forbes ranks the Marlins next to last in team value and is only worth more than in-state foe Tampa Bay. Here’s how Forbes breaks down Miami’s worth.
The team posted an operating profit (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortizatoin) of $15 million during the 2015 season only because they received over $25 million in revenue sharing proceeds.
If Loria gets what he’s asking for, the Marlins would be worth as much as the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs. Yeah, I don’t buy that one either.
Not to mention, the team has been trash in recent years. The stadium in South Florida is new and cost a lot of money to build, but has been a complete financial disaster.
Marlin Park, which is owned by Miami-Dade County but run by the Marlins, was supposed to usher in new era for the Marlins. Instead, the $516 million ballpark has failed to deliver, partly because it opened at the tail end of the real estate crash when development in Miami ground to a halt. Add in the cost of repaying high-interest construction bonds and that figure rises to a jaw-dropping $2.4 billion over 40 years, which led me to call it baseball’s most expensive stadium disaster.
As of now, Miami seems stuck with a bad baseball team in a bad stadium situation. Loria gets the luxury of getting out and walking away with a lot of money, though he definitely doesn’t deserve it.
