Jeter On Miami-Dade Suing Jeffrey Loria: "This Has Nothing To Do With Us"
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JUPITER (CBSMiami) – While there are a lot of new faces around the Miami Marlins Spring Training facility in Jupier, some things have yet to change.
For the second straight year, talk around the Marlins has little to with baseball and more to do with the ownership, both past and present.
With players fielding ground balls on the diamond, new owners Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter caught questions for about ten minutes to discuss the transition of power.
Welcoming them to South Florida is a lawsuit from Miami-Dade County.
The county and the Marlins, under former owner Jeffrey Loria, had an agreement.
Five percent of the profits from the sale of the franchise would go to Miami-Dade.
Carlos Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade County, laid out those contract details in a tweet last week and closed with "we will see Mr. Loria in court."
Mr. Loria did not meet the terms of the contract with Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami. He owes this community five percent of the profits from the $1.2 billion sale of the Miami Marlins. We will see Mr. Loria in court.
— Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez (@MayorGimenez) February 17, 2018
So why the hold up?
Well, Loria purchased the team for less than $160 million and sold it for $1.2 billion, yet he claims to have lost $140 million on the deal.
That takes us to the next question: How do Jeter and Sherman factor in?
Well Miami-Dade County is claiming they had an assignment and assumption agreement in place, meaning the new regime would be responsible.
"I really can't comment on that," Sherman said. "We've done nothing wrong as an organization, I can tell you that. I think it's unfortunate but I really can't comment beyond that."
Unsurprisingly, the new ownership is not willing to assume responsibility for something the former owner agreed to.
"I've been around during this time, it has absolutely nothing to do with us," Jeter said. "I think that what we need to point out. It's unfortunate but we need to let the legal process go on. But this has nothing to do with us."
Jeter would go on to say he's enjoyed meeting with local government officials and added they've been very supportive of the new group.