Jared Kushner's family may buy the Miami Marlins, and the MLB has questions about Trump

Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto speaks with pitcher Adam Conley on the mound.

(Image credit: Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

published 10 February 2017

The Kushner family is in negotiations to buy the Miami Marlins, The New York Times reports. While the family's most prominent member — and President Trump's son-in-law — Jared Kushner is not directly participating in the effort to acquire the team, the acquisition is still raising thorny questions for Major League Baseball:

The deal has already prompted questions within Major League Baseball, according to the people briefed on the conversations, about what kind of relationship Mr. Trump would have to the team and whether that would be a benefit or a disadvantage. Would fans or sponsors boycott or embrace the team or league based on a comment or Twitter post by Mr. Trump? And would Mr. Trump attend games? [The New York Times]

Marlins Park is about an hour and a half drive south of the so-called "Winter White House," Mar-a-Lago.

Kushner's brother, Joshua Kushner, is heading the efforts to purchase the team. Jared and Joshua Kushner previously bid together to try to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, only to withdraw. That team eventually sold for $2 billion.

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Forbes reports that the current owner of the Marlins, art dealer Jeffrey Loria, has a $1.6 billion "handshake agreement" to sell the Marlins, a price The New York Times says is too high for the Kushners. Joshua Kushner is working on "devising a complicated financial arrangement that would include bringing in partners later," people familiar with the negotiations said.

The Miami Marlins won the 2003 World Series, but the team has not returned to the playoffs since.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.