Who owns the Miami Marlins? Bruce Sherman, explained

Bruce Sherman has run the Miami Marlins since August 2017, when he led a group that paid $1.2 billion for the team. He is chairman, majority owner, and the control person recognized by MLB. What makes the Marlins distinctive is their speed: valued at $1.5 billion in 2026, they posted the largest percentage gain of any franchise that year—43 percent—despite ranking last in franchise valuation.

🏟️ Ownership at a glance

Principal owner	Bruce Sherman
Controlling group	Group of investors led by Bruce Sherman, who is chairman, majority owner and ‘control person’ before MLB since 2017
Current group since	2017
Purchase price	$1.2B
Latest valuation	$1.5B
Value multiple	1.3× the purchase price

Who is Bruce Sherman

Sherman’s money comes from investment management, not sports. He was born in May 1948 in Queens, New York, and in 1985 co-founded Private Capital Management (PCM) in Naples, Florida, a value-investing firm. By 1999, PCM managed $4.4 billion in assets; by 2005, that had grown to roughly $31 billion. In 2001, Sherman sold PCM to Legg Mason for $1.4 billion and remained at the helm until his retirement in 2009, when he said he was ‘very proud of my 23-year investment career, especially the first 22.’

Sherman entered baseball in August 2017 when he assembled a group to buy the Marlins from Jeffrey Loria. Derek Jeter, the Yankees legend, joined as a minority partner with 4 percent of the club and took the public-facing role of CEO. Michael Jordan was also part of the original group. But Jeter departed in February 2022 after disagreements over the team’s direction—former team president David Samson later stated Sherman had fired him. Today, Sherman alone holds control.

How they bought the team

Sherman’s group acquired the Marlins in August 2017 for $1.2 billion, buying from Jeffrey Loria, who had purchased the team in 2002 for $159 million. The Marlins have changed hands five times since their 1993 founding: Wayne Huizenga paid $95 million in 1993, John W. Henry bought in for $158 million in 1999, Loria took over in 2002, Sherman’s group arrived in 2017, and in 2026 two unnamed family investors from the Florida area purchased an additional 15 percent stake in a transaction that valued the franchise between $1.4 billion and $1.55 billion. Sherman retained control through that sale.

Year	Buyer	Amount
1993	H. Wayne Huizenga	$95M
1999	John W. Henry	$158M
2002	Jeffrey Loria	$159M
2017	Bruce Sherman group with Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan	$1.2B
2026	Two family investors from the Florida area (15%, identity not disclosed)	—

What else they own

Sherman does not control a parallel media or real-estate empire tied to the team. His wealth remains rooted in investment management through his career at PCM, which he left in 2009. He is an active philanthropist in southwest Florida, particularly in health and education, and holds membership in the Horatio Alger Association. He also owns the yacht Majestic.

Where the games air

In 2026, the Marlins left FanDuel Sports Network Florida and became one of nine clubs to break with Main Street Sports Group, the regional operator that faced insolvency and failed to pay broadcast rights on time. MLB took over production and distribution of their local signal as part of a group of 14 franchises. Games air on MARLINS.TV and are distributed through Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity, Cox, DIRECTV, Fubo, and Verizon Fios, among others. The team does not own its own regional network.

Facts worth knowing

The stadium is Miami’s open wound: Jeffrey Loria built the loanDepot park financed mostly by taxpayers and shortly after sold the team for $1.2 billion, after having bought it for $158.5 million. The scandal reached the courts: in 2021 Loria agreed to reimburse $5.5 million to local governments for the stadium cost, and earlier had reached another settlement of $4.2 million over the sale dispute.
It is the repeated pattern of the franchise: Wayne Huizenga won the 1997 World Series and dismantled the championship roster immediately claiming losses.
Derek Jeter, Yankees legend, only had 4% of the team despite being the public face and CEO; he left in February 2022 and former president David Samson later stated that Sherman fired him.
In 2026 the Marlins were at once the LEAST valuable team in MLB ($1.5 billion, 30th place) and the one that grew the MOST in percentage (43% in one year).
Sherman sold 15% in 2026 explicitly to pay debt and protect himself from a possible salary floor of between $150 and $171.2 million being negotiated for 2027: his payroll was around $79 million, less than half that floor.
Uncomfortable fact: with the lowest payroll in baseball, the Marlins reported $53 million in operating income in 2025, more than the Braves and the Cardinals.

Where they stand among the 30 owners

List	Rank
By franchise value	#30 de 30
By purchase price	#6 de 27
By years in charge	#25 de 30

Amounts are nominal and not adjusted for inflation: comparing a decades-old purchase price with today’s valuation overstates the real gain.

Sherman stands in the lower tier of MLB ownership by franchise valuation—ranked 30th—yet his group’s 43 percent gain in a single year tells a different story. He paid the sixth-highest purchase price among all 30 owners and has held the club for nine years. The Marlins remain the least valuable franchise in baseball, but they are moving in the direction Sherman’s investment background suggests he prefers: upward.