Miami Marlins Sink To New Low, Sue Former Season Ticket Holders And Vendors

I’d say the Miami Marlins had finally hit rock bottom as an organization, but owner Jeffrey Loria and President of Baseball Operations David Samson seem to take statements like that as a challenge to sink even lower. The franchise’s latest move is stunning in its vileness.

The Marlins are reportedly suing a number of former stadium vendors and season ticket holders who were either driven out of business when attendance at games fell below projections, or feel the team didn’t keep its promises. The season ticket holders mostly opted out of paying for the second season of the two-year agreements they signed up for, and the vendors canceled their agreements with the team after suffering huge financial losses after Marlins Park opened with weak attendance numbers.

Here’s the key section from a report by the Miami New Times:

"“The Marlins have sued at least nine season ticketholders and luxury suite owners since 2013. That virtually never happens in sports, experts say. Two stadium vendors are also locked in court battles with the team, both alleging the Marlins promised robust crowds and then didn’t deliver. “All this from a team that has gone from world champion to perennial also-ran, hustled taxpayers on a Little Havana stadium, and just lost its best hitter and last year’s National League batting champion Dee Gordon to an 80-game drug suspension.”"

One of the season ticket holders being sued, veterinarian Mickey Axelband, had tickets since the club debuted in 1993. When Marlins Park opened, the team promised premium season ticket holders a ton of amenities, and that’s why Axelband signed up, despite the price increasing from $13,000 to $24,000 at the new facility. Among the features promised were bottom-level parking in the stadium garage, a private entrance into the arena and a lounge for premium ticket holders with pre- and postgame buffets.

Midway through the first season, the club stopped allowing the premium parking and special entrance, and the buffet had the same food every game.

Axelband wrote to the team and asked them to live up to the amenities they had promised, but the Marlins declined. So he decided not to pay for the second season of the two-year package he had to sign up for. As far as Axelband is concerned, the Marlins didn’t live up to their promises and broke their contract, therefore he had the right to opt out.

Axelband is absolutely in the right here. The Marlins promised something and didn’t deliver. Frankly, that’s the history of Loria’s ownership of the team. He’s Disney villain evil.

Lets remember, the Marlins got a taxpayers fund 80.3 percent of a $634 million stadium. With interest, the city’s payments for Marlins Park will likely rise into the neighborhood of $2.4 billion as the payments are made over a 40-year period. The Marlins sold the project by promising fans that they would consistently put a winner on the field. Then promptly sold off all their best players during the stadium’s first year.

If you want the model of the worst-run franchise in sports from a public relations perspective, the Marlins cannot be topped.