The last time we heard from Derek Jeter he was expecting a baby. Now, he’s also about to become a father to a new baseball team.
According to reports, the New York Yankees shortstop has teamed up with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to buy the Miami Marlins for $1.3 billion.
A group led by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter has won the auction for the Miami Marlins baseball team with a $1.3 billion bid, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person requested anonymity because the sale contract hasn’t been signed. The person also wouldn’t name the group’s other investors, though Bush’s network of donors to his unsuccessful presidential campaign was vast.
This would be a huge relief for Marlins fans, considering the team is currently owned by Jeffrey Loria, widely considered possibly the worst owner in all of professional sports. But that’s another article for another day.
Loria bought the team in 2002 for $158 million. Forbes estimates the franchise is now valued around $940 million. So Jeets and Bush appear to be overpaying for the franchise, but it won’t take long to turn profits more quickly.
Even with a recently built stadium, Miami finished dead last in the National League in attendance last year, bringing in just 21,405 fans a game. And although losing Jose Fernandez was devastating, they have an exciting young core of talent in Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, J.T. Realmuto and Marcell Ozuna.
If Jeets can get some great marketing lined up, get the team some pitching and stop them from trading draft picks, this is a playoff team in two years.
MLB still needs to approve the deal, which shouldn’t be a problem considering the owners would be a future Hall-of-Fame shortstop and the brother to the former president.
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.
Photo: Getty
