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Report: Jeter projects big profits for Marlins in 2018

[January 03, 2018] Miami Marlins CEO and part owner Derek Jeter projects the club to make an enormous profit in 2018 and sizable profits the following three years, according to documents obtained from the Miami Herald.

Jeter shared a confidential document with potential investors titled "Project Wolverine" that two of the recipients sent to the Herald. In the business plan, which is named as a nod to his native Michigan, Jeter attempted to prove to potential investors that the franchise would turn a major league profit immediately, with an August version of the document projecting a "cash flow" profit of $68 million for 2018.

Jeter crafted the document, and the Herald received two editions -- one from August and another from a few months earlier.

The new ownership group is poised to make a profit next season because of the slashing of payroll, combined with the fact that every big-league team next spring will receive a one-time payout of $50 million as a result of Major League Baseball's $1.58 billion sale of its controlling stake in digital media company BAMtech to Disney.

The Marlins are already well underway in their plan to slash payroll, having traded All-Stars Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon to the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners, respectively. Key players Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto are also said to be available in trade talks.

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The August document projected a big spike in attendance revenue in 2018 (from roughly $30 million last year up to $37.5 million), which now seems unlikely given all the talent the team unloaded. In addition, Jeter's plan forecast a new $44.8 million payment from the team's local TV deal. The Herald's report says that amount of growth may be overly ambitious as there appears to be little impetus for Fox, which currently owns the Marlins' local TV rights, to renegotiate a deal that runs through 2020.

Jeter also highlighted corporate sponsorships as an area set for financial improvement.

Profit projections in the August version of Project Wolverine are based on a player payroll of about $90 million for 2018, or $100 million including pension payments, according to the Herald. The Marlins' current payroll projects to $104 million before pension payments.

The August document projects Marlins profits of $10 million in 2019, $15.8 million in 2020 and $22 million in 2021.

--Field Level Media

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