After being the apparent front-runner to land the Miami Marlins, the Jeb Bush/Derek Jeter bidding group may lose the franchise to a competing group led by Tagg Romney after MLB required both groups to lay out their financials.
Neither Jeb Bush nor Derek Jeter have the financial wherewithal to purchase the team (the current price level is $1.3 million) and provide operating capital, so they’ve worked to put together a larger group with additional financial resources. Romney, the Massachusetts businessman and son of venture capitalist and politician Mitt Romney, also put together an investment group that includes former Braves pitcher Tom Glavine.
Both groups were asked to present their financials to MLB to make sure either could buy the team and run it while meeting MLB’s financial rules. (Not that these rules have been applied consistently throughout the years: the Chicago Cubs did not meet MLB’s debt rules after the purchase by the Ricketts family trust.) If the purchase price is $1.3 billion, a buyer would need to provide $800 million in equity, as well as additional operating funds. AP is reporting the Romney group has supplied information backing a higher percentage of equity raised, which would indicate they have a better shot of receiving MLB approval. (Any sale requires the approval of 75 percent of MLB clubs.) Jeter would reportedly be involved in baseball operations if his group lands the Fish; former MLB pitcher and Arizona Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart would reportedly run the baseball side should the Romney group land the team.
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