Derek Jeter is a student of sports history, and Jeb Bush is from a family that wrote world history, so here's a relevant story as Bush expresses confidence in their group's bid to buy the Miami Marlins.
This goes back to a different time in South Florida sports. It's still how business works in the billion-dollar ledge of this Marlins deal. In the mid-1980s, a former basketball player, Billy Cunningham, and New York businessman, Lewis Schaffel, wanted an NBA expansion franchise in Miami.
Like Jeter and Bush, Cunningham and Schaffel had some headline currency and inside-the-sport knowledge. They just didn't have the crazy money needed to bankroll a purchase. They had to knock on doors in hopes of finding someone with money. Again, like Jeter and Bush evidently have done.
Cunningham and Schaffel convinced a South Florida theater king named Zev Buffman. He, in turn, lobbied the founder of Carnival Cruise Line, Ted Arison, on how important a team would be for South Florida. Arison was reluctant. But he agreed to join them and meet with David Stern, the NBA commissioner.
Stern was no dummy. He looked around the room and saw one man had the necessary wallet, as a source explained. Stern laid it out to them: If Arison didn't join, this group had no chance.
Arison, of course, was no dummy, either. On the flight home from that meeting, he reiterated he was reluctant to buy a basketball team. He was worth multi-billions. He had built one major business. He wasn't a crazy sports fan. He certainly wasn't someone who wanted the public limelight.
Arison laid out the ground rules for the operation if he was to join. Yes, Cunningham and Schaffel could run the team as they proposed. But they'd have to make themselves financially vulnerable in a way they wouldn't like.
"Everything you own will be put up against this team's cost _ every penny you have," he said.
Cunningham and Schaffel grew up together in Brooklyn, and buying a team was their dream. But when Arison said this, Cunningham initially decided to stay in his cushy job as a CBS-TV basketball analyst rather than put his life's earnings at risk.
A few days later, Cunningham changed his mind. He was in. Schaffel always was in, though it was indeed uncomfortable. When he went to buy a house in Miami, for instance, the bank saw all his money was tied up in an expansion basketball team. Arison had to vouch for him to get a loan.
So here's the question as Jeter and Bush evidently have found their modern-day Ted Arison _ or group of investors to become an Arison. How vulnerable did Jeter and Bush have to get? How much do they really want to own a team?
For all the public hope, Jeter, Bush and whatever group they've cobbled together aren't the best answer for new Marlins owners. Maybe they'll work out fine if the finances indeed are in order. But the best new owner isn't a group of owners.
It's one obscenely rich person. It's the Dolphins' Steve Ross. It's the Panthers' Vinny Viola. Maybe that person is behind Jeter and Bush in the way Arison was Cunningham and Schaffel. Maybe this still has to play out a bit.
Here's the final history lesson for Bush and Jeter: Ted Arison told this to Cunningham and Schaffel. After he bought his first cruise ship, Arison held a party on it. He was on the dock, admiring the boat, when the man who financially backed him came beside him. They look at the boat together.
"Don't fall in love" he told a young Ted Arison.
Cunningham and Schaffel fell in love to a point. The point was when Ted's son, Micky, stepped in after a series of inner-wranglings essentially sold the team to H. Wayne Huizenga through his brother-in-law proxy, Whit Hudson.
Micky essentially paid Schaffel and Cunningham $30 million each to go away. That's how the partnership ended. They got rich. Micky kept the Heat. Everyone seems to have been better for it, as the years go by, especially the Heat.
If this Marlins sale goes through for Jeter and Bush, fans will celebrate simply because Jeffrey Loria won't be the owner. It's good news.
How good the news is ultimately depends on their version of Arison _ or Arisons _ to make the deal work.
