Report: Derek Jeter, Jeb Bush Deal For Marlins Looking Less Likely
Ryan Mayer
Just last week, it was announced that former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and former Florida governor Jeb Bush had topped the bidding to buy the Miami Marlins from current owner Jeffrey Loria for a price tag of around $1.3 billion. The baseball public as a whole immediately got excited and started imagining what the new ownership group would do for the franchise.
Then, later in the week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred threw water on those claims by saying that there were still multiple bidders for the franchise. The Miami Herald further cast the Jeter/Bush deal into doubt by reporting that the group still needed to raise the money necessary to buy the club.
Now, a report from Ken Davidoff and Josh Kosman of the New York Post further throws the reported deal in doubt. According to Davidoff and Kosman, the Jeter/Bush-led group may decide that they don't want to buy the "money-losing" franchise. From the report:
"The Bush-Jeter duo has expressed confidence privately that it will be able to secure the necessary financing, although a source said the two men were exasperated by reports this week that they had reached an agreement in principle to buy the team for $1.3 billion — reports they say are inaccurate.
Bush and Jeter, who don't have an exclusive deal to buy the Marlins, believe the baseball team has been spreading misinformation including the terms of the bid, according to the source.
The source added that Bush and Jeter may decide, after conducting due diligence that has only just begun, that they do not even want to buy the money-losing team.
"These are not guys who can afford a vanity acquisition," the source said. "My guess is they will back out.'"
The report from Davidoff and Kosman is worth a full read-through as it includes details on the man that Jeter and Bush have reportedly brought in to help them figure out the details of the sale. All of the news since the initial report of Jeter and Bush topping the bidding seem to indicate that this deal is far from being done and that those two may not even end up buying the franchise.