Billionaire Richard Chaifetz has left Derek Jeter’s group bid for the Miami Marlins, reportedly due to frustration with the fact that Jeter was asking for control of the group while “not investing much money,” per the New York Post.
Jeter’s unwillingness to pay up is allegedly the same reason that former Florida governor Jeb Bush backed out of the group bid back in May, denying us the glory of a Jeb! and Jeets partnership.
The departure of Chaifetz—and the hundreds of millions of dollars that he took with him—is a serious blow to Jeter’s bid, though not necessarily an insurmountable one. A different billionaire, Bruce Sherman, has agreed that he’ll be “picking up some of the slack.” Whether that will be enough to make up the difference for the $1.3 billion asking price remains to be seen, but if not, they don’t have too much time to explore alternatives. MLB has expressed interest in wrapping up the sale by this Tuesday’s All-Star Game. (Though it’s possible that the league will be willing to work with Jeter to push back the decision date, the Post notes.)
If Jeter’s group can’t work out who will cover the totality of those few hundred million—and, maybe, even if they can—it’s likely that the team will instead be sold to Miami billionaire Jorge Mas. Another rival group, led by Tagg Romney, has dropped out of the bidding per the Post’s reporting.