Jeffrey Loria, bought the Marlins for $158.5 million in 2002 and ran a frugal ownership and perennially losing team. In 2009, local government agreed to help pay for the Marlins Park, which opened in 2012 in exchange for Loria's pledge to share profits if he later sold the team. Loria sold the team in 2017 for $1.2 billion.
Following the sale, Loria claimed a loss on the deal due to taxes, which the county described as "fuzzy math."
On MLB trade Rumor site ..owners included a provision with their vote that team owner John Fisher would be taxed "heavily" on any sale if he ultimately strives to sell the club for an immediate profit. The magnitude of the tax isn’t clear, nor is the length of time for which he’ll need to retain ownership of the team before he is exempt from said taxation.
So instead of a of the $200 million relocation fee, MLB said they would wave, they have in fact just added the fee after the move. This works for Fisher, as he has does to have to come up with the money now, and when attempting to get a lone, he does not start down the 200 million.
It would be interesting to know how much the A's would sell for today in Oakland, and how much the A's would sell for in 2030? If Fisher has to build a stadium that he does not own, and pay a tax to the other owners, does he he end up with more money in 2030? Unlike Miami and Loria, Fisher will need to pay the tax if he sells.
Another interesting point, it is widely reported that Fisher needed to get a deal locked down so that he could continue to get revenue sharing money from the League. Not that things will change, but the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Union ends two years before the Vegas stadium is to open. What would happen to A's if the revenue sharing money changed, or MLB had a salary floor for teams. The A's may need to fill the Vegas stadium just to break even based on todays numbers. Will those number change in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Fun stuff, would be great to hope ahead 10 years to see how Fisher fucks this up.