As All-Star festivities have already gotten under way in Miami, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is reportedly set to sell the team to businessman Jorge Mas for $1.17 billion, Mike Ozanian of Forbes reports. 75 percent of baseball’s owners must approve the deal before it becomes official.
Mas is chairman and co-founder of MasTec, an infrastructure engineering and construction company.
In 2002, Loria bought the Marlins for $158 million, so he made a pretty good return on investment. As Ozanian notes, the Marlins are expected to lose $70 million and will pay interest on approximately $400 million in debt.
The Marlins entered the All-Star break at 41-46, 10.5 games out of first place. There is some thought that the team will undergo another fire sale and getting a new owner in place before the trade deadline would clear one giant hurdle. Major League Baseball would have to have been consulted if the Marlins had tried to have a fire sale while Loria was still in the midst of selling the team.