What can the Miami Marlins really afford?

Bruce Sherman keeps saying that he will spend to turn the Miami Marlins into consistent winners. He said it so many times, that you have to believe that he’s either serious or just saying what he thinks we want to hear. I’ve seen fans question if he can even afford to spend if he wanted to! Let’s take a look at the financials and see what The Fish can actually afford.

What can the Miami Marlins actually afford?

The first thing that we should take a look at is Bruce Sherman’s net worth. He actually has the lowest net worth of all MLB owners with $500 million. This is pretty bad to say the least and makes you wonder why he was approved to then buy the team for $1.2 billion. There are other investors but it’s alarming when Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg actually has a higher net worth at $800 million.

How much profit do the Miami Marlins make? I couldn’t find the numbers for 2022, but The Fish made a $240 million influx of revenue in 2021. That’s just around the luxury tax, but realistically it wouldn’t make sense for Sherman to use all of the profits on payroll. Let’s be generous and say that he should use half. That half comes out to $120 million.

Theres more to the Miami Marlins and the team’s financial situation of course. What about our TV broadcasting contract? Here’s what I found about this:

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald now reports it’s a seven-year deal that pays just over $50M annually. The parties’ previous agreement averaged in the neighborhood of $18M, Jackson notes, paying the Marlins a league-low $20M last season.While the $50+M average annual value represents a significant increase over the prior contracts, it’s not an unexpected figure. Craig Mish of SportsGrid reported last month the new local rights deal paid “substantially more than double” the annual salary of its predecessor over a six-plus year term. In January 2020, Jackson reported the Marlins turned down a 2017 offer from Sinclair that would’ve paid more than $50M annually. The Marlins had hoped to secure around $60M per season on the new contract, Jackson reports, but the intervening COVID-19 pandemic seems to have made that goal unattainable.

That’s another $20 million for payroll. This brings the total number at $140 million. This is definitely not ideal, but gives us an interesting floor. The Miami Marlins currently have a $44.9 million payroll for 2023. There is NO excuse for Bruce Sherman not to give Kim Ng at least $95 million to work with.