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More than seven years ago, Jeffrey Loria, the owner of the Florida Marlins, sat a few rows behind home plate at the spring training ballpark his team shared with the St. Louis Cardinals, watching Albert Pujols with wonder. “This guy is a monster,” Loria told me as Pujols came up to bat. “There is no stopping him.” A few innings later, William DeWitt Jr., the principal owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, approached Loria and asked a pointed question, “How are things going with the stadium?”
At the time, it seemed like Pujols’ future in Major League Baseball was bright while Loria faced daunting problems. Loria’s Marlins had just shocked the baseball world by winning the 2003 World Series, but the team played in front of tiny crowds in a football field then owned by Wayne Huizenga. Loria was locked into one of the worse leases in professional sports, paying about $2 million a year in rent and other expenses and getting none of the revenue from luxury suits and a 37% cut of the parking take. Loria’s plan was to get local and state governments to help finance a new park with air conditioning and a retractable roof that would shield fans from the humidity and rain of south Florida by opening day 2007.
Other baseball owners like DeWitt cared deeply about the stadium because Loria would have to pay them $15 million of loans back if he could build it, according to an agreement reached by Loria and Major League Baseball. In 2004, fans of the Marlins were worried about Loria dismantling their World Series team and at best were facing a future of competing by nurturing young talent and winning before they developed into expensive free agents. Without a new ballpark the team probably could not survive and the thought of ever signing a guy like Pujols was a pipe dream. Few people thought Loria or anyone else could make baseball a winner in Florida.
Loria never got his stadium built by 2007, suffering a string of defeats in his effort to get public financing, which included a court battle. Still, he stuck it out in south Florida and last week Loria hosted Pujols in an attempt to sign baseball’s most prominent star. Pujols got a tour of the new $515 million baseball park that features a retractable roof and is located in Miami’s Little Havana. It’s a long shot, but DeWitt might come to resent that new stadium.
One of the most unorthodox owners in professional sports, Loria’s ownership of the newly renamed Miami Marlins has officially become a success. An art dealer who originally became a baseball owner with a relatively small investment—$30 million—in the Montreal Expos, Loria has been criticized, even vilified, a lot over the years. There were those in Montreal, including his former partners, who accused him of deliberately destroying baseball in the city. There was even a lawsuit and arbitration over the matter that Loria won. He was part of the controversial deal put together by MLB commissioner Bud Selig that saw Loria swap his ownership of the Expos for the Marlins so that John Henry could unload the Marlins and purchase the Boston Red Sox. Baseball’s owners took control of the Expos and moved the team to Washington. In Florida, Loria was criticized for not spending enough of the revenue-sharing transfers his team received and being heavy-handed with his team managers—his former manager, Joe Girardi, once felt compelled to yell at Loria during a game.
Yet Loria stands in stark contrast to the biggest problem baseball faces today, irresponsible owners who are sinking important franchises with their own reckless behavior. Loria is building something in south Florida, an important market where the game has a good shot to expand. His Marlins have put down $155 million for their new stadium and now appear poised to invest more money at precisely the right time—when its new stadium opens. He has already secured the services of Ozzie Guillen, a showman who can attract attention like no other manager or coach in professional sports. Contrast Loria’s behavior to the disaster in Queens, where the Mets’ embattled owners are cutting payroll in the key earlier years of Citi Field. The point of revenue sharing shouldn’t be to have small-market teams pointlessly spend a little extra money each year, but to give them the financial resources to strategically build a strong franchise so they can spend some money when it counts. The Marlins spent about $50 million on payroll in 2011 and are expected to have a payroll of some $80 million in 2012. The team is reportedly paying Guillen $10 million over four years.
Baseball in Miami might still not work. It may or may not make sense for taxpayers in Florida to finance a baseball park. Loria will have made a small fortune off of baseball one way or the other. But the man deserves credit for his persistence and shrewdness in making the best of a tough situation.
At the time, it seemed like Pujols’ future in Major League Baseball was bright while Loria faced daunting problems. Loria’s Marlins had just shocked the baseball world by winning the 2003 World Series, but the team played in front of tiny crowds in a football field then owned by Wayne Huizenga. Loria was locked into one of the worse leases in professional sports, paying about $2 million a year in rent and other expenses and getting none of the revenue from luxury suits and a 37% cut of the parking take. Loria’s plan was to get local and state governments to help finance a new park with air conditioning and a retractable roof that would shield fans from the humidity and rain of south Florida by opening day 2007.
Other baseball owners like DeWitt cared deeply about the stadium because Loria would have to pay them $15 million of loans back if he could build it, according to an agreement reached by Loria and Major League Baseball. In 2004, fans of the Marlins were worried about Loria dismantling their World Series team and at best were facing a future of competing by nurturing young talent and winning before they developed into expensive free agents. Without a new ballpark the team probably could not survive and the thought of ever signing a guy like Pujols was a pipe dream. Few people thought Loria or anyone else could make baseball a winner in Florida.
Loria never got his stadium built by 2007, suffering a string of defeats in his effort to get public financing, which included a court battle. Still, he stuck it out in south Florida and last week Loria hosted Pujols in an attempt to sign baseball’s most prominent star. Pujols got a tour of the new $515 million baseball park that features a retractable roof and is located in Miami’s Little Havana. It’s a long shot, but DeWitt might come to resent that new stadium.
One of the most unorthodox owners in professional sports, Loria’s ownership of the newly renamed Miami Marlins has officially become a success. An art dealer who originally became a baseball owner with a relatively small investment—$30 million—in the Montreal Expos, Loria has been criticized, even vilified, a lot over the years. There were those in Montreal, including his former partners, who accused him of deliberately destroying baseball in the city. There was even a lawsuit and arbitration over the matter that Loria won. He was part of the controversial deal put together by MLB commissioner Bud Selig that saw Loria swap his ownership of the Expos for the Marlins so that John Henry could unload the Marlins and purchase the Boston Red Sox. Baseball’s owners took control of the Expos and moved the team to Washington. In Florida, Loria was criticized for not spending enough of the revenue-sharing transfers his team received and being heavy-handed with his team managers—his former manager, Joe Girardi, once felt compelled to yell at Loria during a game.
Yet Loria stands in stark contrast to the biggest problem baseball faces today, irresponsible owners who are sinking important franchises with their own reckless behavior. Loria is building something in south Florida, an important market where the game has a good shot to expand. His Marlins have put down $155 million for their new stadium and now appear poised to invest more money at precisely the right time—when its new stadium opens. He has already secured the services of Ozzie Guillen, a showman who can attract attention like no other manager or coach in professional sports. Contrast Loria’s behavior to the disaster in Queens, where the Mets’ embattled owners are cutting payroll in the key earlier years of Citi Field. The point of revenue sharing shouldn’t be to have small-market teams pointlessly spend a little extra money each year, but to give them the financial resources to strategically build a strong franchise so they can spend some money when it counts. The Marlins spent about $50 million on payroll in 2011 and are expected to have a payroll of some $80 million in 2012. The team is reportedly paying Guillen $10 million over four years.
Baseball in Miami might still not work. It may or may not make sense for taxpayers in Florida to finance a baseball park. Loria will have made a small fortune off of baseball one way or the other. But the man deserves credit for his persistence and shrewdness in making the best of a tough situation.
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