Jeffrey Loria won't read this -- he clearly doesn't care what people think of him. But he has billions of dollars, so what does it matter?
In a move that comes as a surprise to no one except for, apparently, Miami-Dade County, Loria has reportedly elected to give exactly $0 to the county after selling the Miami Marlins for $1.2 billion, per The Miami Herald.
Loria bought the team for $158 million in 2002, and has been fleecing the area ever since. Most notably, he got the city in a position where it was forced to pay for the majority of Marlins Park, which was opened in 2012. The county footed $500 million that it did not have, so it sold bonds on Wall Street -- which you should never, ever do.
Deadspin did the math for what the stadium would cost Miami-Dade in real dollars, and it's grim. It will owe $2.4 billion for the $500 million loan by the last due payment in 2048. Loria hard-balled the county, and Miami-Dade wanted to keep the Marlins.
And Loria rewarded the county's kindness in a way that only Loria can: by giving them nothing. The agreement, which took place in 2012, entitled the county to profit shares if Loria sold the team within 10 years of it. However, Loria's lawyers have found a loophole that will get Loria off the hook for any revenue sharing at all.
Per The Miami Herald:
But Loria could deduct team debt, certain expenses and taxes tied to a sale, and county officials and team executives privately predicted Loria wouldn't agree to give up any of his revenue from the October sale to Derek Jeter and partners. Loria bought the Marlins in 2002 for $158 million, and it's described by the league and current ownership as a money-losing franchise.
In other words, Loria made out like a bandit that happens to have a private jet as a getaway car. Loria's lawyers sent a report that showed how those expenses came out. The Miami Herald reports:
About $280 million in debt that lowered the profits from the $1.2 billion sale, plus an agreed-to underlying value of the franchise of about $625 million, based on it getting more valuable each year. Add in nearly $300 million in taxes tied to the sale by Loria and partners, and Loria's accountants claim the sale amounted to a loss of $141 million. Loria also deducted the $30 million fee paid to the financial advisors hired to negotiate the deal.
County officials, naturally, were reportedly furious. Norman Braman was adamantly against the team funding a new ballpark, and he said that the county should have intervened long before Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman were negotiating a deal for the team.
"It's outrageous," Braman said, per The Herald. "Sherman never would have closed on his deal if the county had asserted itself before."
There's no way Loria ever intended to share a dime; that's his M.O. However, county officials had to learn that one last time, the hard way.
