Why does Loria still own a team, given his mis-management of both the
Expos and the Marlins?
From today's Montréal Gazette:
<http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=77609153-c667-4156-9
583-ea59f462f59d&k=68358>
Expos sale earns Loria $8 million
PAT HICKEY, The Gazette
Published: Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Jeffrey Loria will receive a cheque for a little more than $8 million
U.S. later this year. It's his share of the sale of the team formerly
known as the Expos, from Major League Baseball to the Lerner family.
The kicker is that Loria would have been in for an even bigger windfall
if he had held on to the Montreal franchise.
Loria sold the team to MLB for $120 million as part of a deal that saw
him assume owner****p of the Florida Marlins. MLB took over the Expos
and, after several years of shamelessly running the team into the
ground, it moved the franchise to Wa****ngton last year. After a year of
battling with Wa****ngton politicians over a new stadium and a sweetheart
lease, baseball finally sold the team to the Lerners for $450 million,
the second-highest price tag for a major-league team behind the $700
million John Henry and his friends paid for the Boston Red Sox.
The purchase price has to be weighed against the $120 million MLB paid
Loria, $80 million in losses while the team was still in Montreal, and a
$10-million profit last season in Wa****ngton. The result is a
$260-million profit for MLB that will be divided among the 29 other
teams.
The high price tag was the result of intense competition for the team
and not the quality of the product. There were seven groups bidding and
the Lerners get a mediocre team with a farm system that is in shambles.
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