Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has agreed to sell his MLB franchise to an investor group led by Derek Jeter for $1.2 billion, as first reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Hearld.
New York businessman Bruce Sherman is also headlining the group, but Jeter is expected to run both the business and baseball aspects of the Marlins franchise.
It’s been a drawn out process for Jeter, who previously had a failed attempt at buying the Miami Marlins alongside Jeb Bush in April.
This time around, the surefire MLB Hall of Famer led another group of 15 investors that submitted the $1.2 billion deal to buy the franchise in early July, per the New York Post.
Among those investors is NBA legend Michael Jordan, who already owns the Charlotte Hornets. He and Jeter share a close relationship after Jeter was a marquee member of Jordan’s classic brand. Jeter sported plenty of custom cleats throughout the years and saw Jordan create the “RE2PECT” campaign during his final year in baseball.
However, Jordan is not contributing an exorbitant amount to the group.
Owning a team has been on Jeter’s wishlist ever since he retired in 2014 and he was tantalizingly close to getting the Marlins with former Florida Governor Bush after winning an auction for the team in April. A month later, Bush backed out.
Bush had since reentered the conversation as Marlins owner, bringing on Pitbull and others in order to submit another bid, as reported by Douglas Hanks of the Miami Herald.
