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Reggie Reggie Reggie Wants Stadium in SOFLA

Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said Wednesday he has approached Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria about purchasing a portion of the team, but Loria does not appear interested.

Jackson and his three investment partners have failed in several attempts to buy teams, including the Oakland Athletics last year. Jackson said his group would be interested in owning either minority or majority interest in the Marlins, and he has broached the issue to Loria in the past “about trying to do something if anything ever arose. I know Jeff. I feel I have a good relationship with him.”

Jackson approached Loria again during spring training and asked him about the Marlins’ stadium efforts. ‘[Loria] said, `If there’s some interest, Reggie, we’ll let you know. Stay in touch.’ ”

Jackson, who said owning a team ”would be exciting,” spoke on a conference call to promote the movie Benchwarmers. He said he is ‘’sure” there would be interest if Loria decides to add partners.

Loria reiterated Tuesday that he would not sell the Marlins under any circumstances. Team president David Samson said previously that Loria decided against adding minority partners after considering the idea when he purchased the team in 2002.

Update April 13, 2006
JC over at Sabernomics wrote a small bit of info pertaining to my opening day post @ Dolphin Stadium which I found very insightful and interesting. Figured I would share some excerpts here.

Just to review Loria’s threat:

Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said before the home opener Tuesday that he believes San Antonio is a viable market for a team and he must determine the club’s future “very, very, very soon.”

“San Antonio is a very viable market, and they’re very serious,” Loria said. “Read my lips: They’re very serious.”

Per Sabernomics:

When you see statements as non-credible as this one, it’s hard to take anything the speaker says seriously. Shut-up and market your damn team.

Good point JC. Being a Marlins fan I cannot stand the fact that everyday I have to hear something out of Loria’s mouth badmouthing the fan’s. Opening day is meant for opening day and all things pertaining to stadium talks should be halted. At this point Loria needs to be making more friends locally rather then slapping everyone in the face.

South Florida should be a great place for baseball. You have two of the best players in baseball on your team—Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera—playing for peanuts. Yeah, Jeff, you’d make more money if the city bought you a new stadium, but it’s not like you’ve got a bad situation. But no one believes you’re going to move the team from a top-10 market to a city three times smaller. The owners certainly won’t allow it either.

Loria’s inability to lock up 2 of the bigger stars in MLB and show the fans that he does not have the capabilty of running a team. He proved this in Montreal.

I hope the citizens of Miami do the right thing and dare him to leave. The citizens of Charlotte did the same thing to George Shinn with the Hornets, and look what it got them. The jerk owner left town, and the city got a new team and a downtown arena. Threatening to leave a city is a dangerous strategy. If you don’t get what you want, it can cost you in the long run.

You are going to find Loria apologists everywhere. I will be going to as many games as possible while I can but at the same time I feel horrible giving money to Loria.

[SABERNOMICS]
[MIAMI HERALD]