Jeffrey Loria
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey H. Loria is an art dealer
and is the owner of the Miami Marlins. Raised in Manhattan
, Loria took an early interest in baseball, attending his first New York Yankees
game in the late 1940s. Loria attended New York City
's Stuyvesant High School
and Yale University
, where he initially took pre-med courses. With a requirement to take a history class, Loria chose art history
.
After college, he worked in a newly-established art-buying program for Sears, launched with the help of actor Vincent Price
. In 1965, at the age of 24, he opened his private art dealing business, Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., on Manhattan's Upper East Side and wrote a book, Collecting Original Art. He specializes in 20th century masters. His collection includes works by Pablo Picasso
and Henry Moore
. Loria graduated from Columbia Business School
in 1968 and published his second book, What's It All About Charlie Brown?, a look at life through the Peanuts
comic strip (co-written with Pat K. Lynch).
, then a Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers
. The team won the American Association
championship in 1992. Loria sold the team in 1993 and began looking to buy a Major League team
. Loria lost out to Peter Angelos in his bid to purchase the Baltimore Orioles
in 1994. On December 9, 1999, he bought a 24 percent stake in the Montreal Expos
for $18 million CAD
(approximately $12 million USD
) and became the managing general partner. When a series of cash calls went unanswered, Loria ended up with 94 percent of the team. He headed an ownership group that included the city of Montreal and Stephen Bronfman, son of founding owner Charles Bronfman
.
One of Loria's first acts was to reiterate demands for a new park for the Expos to replace Olympic Stadium
, of which he bluntly said, "We cannot stay here." He lost a considerable amount of goodwill with Expos fans when the team was not able to reach an agreement for television and English-speaking radio coverage during the 2000 season
, as the Expos tried to increase their revenue from broadcast rights. He also sought more public funding for a planned downtown ballpark, Labatt Park. However, the provincial and municipal governments balked at committing more money to the project. Premier
Lucien Bouchard
said that he couldn't support using taxpayer dollars to build ballparks when the province was being forced to shut down hospitals. Additionally, Bouchard didn't like that Olympic Stadium still hadn't been paid for 25 years after being built (and wouldn't be paid for, as it turned out, until 2006).
and then-Marlins owner John W. Henry
, Loria sold the Expos to "Expos Baseball, LP," a partnership of the other 29 major league clubs, for $120 million. In effect, the Expos were sold to the commissioner's office. Henry then sold the Marlins to Loria for $158.5 million, including a $38.5 million no-interest loan from MLB. The deal was approved by the other owners before Loria and Henry even signed a contract, and paved the way for Henry to buy the Boston Red Sox
. Loria moved the Expos' entire front office staff, on-field staff, office equipment and computer equipment to Florida. MLB's plans to contract the Expos and Minnesota Twins
failed, though, as the Twins were compelled through legal action to fulfill the terms of their lease at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
.
Loria's partners in the Expos ownership consortium filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO) lawsuit against Loria and Major League Baseball, but it eventually went to arbitration, with the arbitration panel finding in favor of Loria. The Expos were ultimately transferred to Washington, D.C.
as the Nationals
. While the move was welcomed by baseball fans in Washington, it has led to many bitter feelings among Montreal - as well as Canadian - baseball fans. Many speculate that Loria's original purpose was never to keep the Expos in Montreal.
The feelings among some Canadian baseball fans are so strong that when Loria chose Veterans day
to announce his team's new name and stadium, Richard Griffin, a well-known Canadian baseball columnist wrote:
Today the current value for the Florida Marlins would be worth around $277 million. As of May 12, 2009, the Marlins are 569-564 under Loria. On November 11, 2011, the Florida Marlins officially rebranded themselves the Miami Marlins with a new logo, uniform, and color scheme.
A deal with the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County was eventually approved and the Marlins agreed to contribute $155 million towards the construction of a new retractable roof stadium. They were also made responsible for any cost overruns and the stadium is set to be complete in the Little Havana section of Miami in early 2012. The first Major League Baseball game will be against the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals on April 4, 2012.
of Yeshiva University
in New York. He formerly served on the board of the Art Dealers Association of America. Loria, who splits time between homes in New York and South Florida, supports hospitals, educational institutions and museums around the world with charitable contributions.
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
and is the owner of the Miami Marlins. Raised in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Loria took an early interest in baseball, attending his first New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
game in the late 1940s. Loria attended New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, where he initially took pre-med courses. With a requirement to take a history class, Loria chose art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
.
After college, he worked in a newly-established art-buying program for Sears, launched with the help of actor Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
. In 1965, at the age of 24, he opened his private art dealing business, Jeffrey H. Loria & Co., on Manhattan's Upper East Side and wrote a book, Collecting Original Art. He specializes in 20th century masters. His collection includes works by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
and Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
. Loria graduated from Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School is the business school of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students...
in 1968 and published his second book, What's It All About Charlie Brown?, a look at life through the Peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
comic strip (co-written with Pat K. Lynch).
Montreal Expos
In 1989, Loria purchased the Oklahoma City 89ersOklahoma RedHawks
The Oklahoma City RedHawks are a minor league baseball team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Pacific Coast League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros...
, then a Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
. The team won the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
championship in 1992. Loria sold the team in 1993 and began looking to buy a Major League team
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
. Loria lost out to Peter Angelos in his bid to purchase the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
in 1994. On December 9, 1999, he bought a 24 percent stake in the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
for $18 million CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
(approximately $12 million USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
) and became the managing general partner. When a series of cash calls went unanswered, Loria ended up with 94 percent of the team. He headed an ownership group that included the city of Montreal and Stephen Bronfman, son of founding owner Charles Bronfman
Charles Bronfman
Charles Rosner Bronfman, is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Bronfman was ranked by Forbes as the 15th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world....
.
One of Loria's first acts was to reiterate demands for a new park for the Expos to replace Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Montreal)
The Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics...
, of which he bluntly said, "We cannot stay here." He lost a considerable amount of goodwill with Expos fans when the team was not able to reach an agreement for television and English-speaking radio coverage during the 2000 season
2000 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*Regular Season Champions*World Series Champion - New York Yankees*Postseason - October 3 to October 26Click on any series score to link to that series' page....
, as the Expos tried to increase their revenue from broadcast rights. He also sought more public funding for a planned downtown ballpark, Labatt Park. However, the provincial and municipal governments balked at committing more money to the project. Premier
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...
said that he couldn't support using taxpayer dollars to build ballparks when the province was being forced to shut down hospitals. Additionally, Bouchard didn't like that Olympic Stadium still hadn't been paid for 25 years after being built (and wouldn't be paid for, as it turned out, until 2006).
Controversial Sale of the Expos
In 2002, as part of an orchestrated move with Bud SeligBud Selig
Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is the ninth and current Commissioner of Major League Baseball, having served in that capacity since 1992 as the acting commissioner, and as the official commissioner since 1998...
and then-Marlins owner John W. Henry
John W. Henry
John William Henry II is a futures and foreign exchange trading advisor who founded John W. Henry & Company . He is the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C., and co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing. In March 2006, Boston Magazine estimated his net worth at $1.1 billion, but noted...
, Loria sold the Expos to "Expos Baseball, LP," a partnership of the other 29 major league clubs, for $120 million. In effect, the Expos were sold to the commissioner's office. Henry then sold the Marlins to Loria for $158.5 million, including a $38.5 million no-interest loan from MLB. The deal was approved by the other owners before Loria and Henry even signed a contract, and paved the way for Henry to buy the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. Loria moved the Expos' entire front office staff, on-field staff, office equipment and computer equipment to Florida. MLB's plans to contract the Expos and Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
failed, though, as the Twins were compelled through legal action to fulfill the terms of their lease at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, commonly called the Metrodome, is a domed sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1982, it replaced Metropolitan Stadium, which was on the current site of the Mall of America in Bloomington and Memorial Stadium on the University...
.
Loria's partners in the Expos ownership consortium filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO) lawsuit against Loria and Major League Baseball, but it eventually went to arbitration, with the arbitration panel finding in favor of Loria. The Expos were ultimately transferred to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
as the Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
. While the move was welcomed by baseball fans in Washington, it has led to many bitter feelings among Montreal - as well as Canadian - baseball fans. Many speculate that Loria's original purpose was never to keep the Expos in Montreal.
The feelings among some Canadian baseball fans are so strong that when Loria chose Veterans day
Veterans Day
Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark...
to announce his team's new name and stadium, Richard Griffin, a well-known Canadian baseball columnist wrote:
- It’s ironic that Loria and the Marlins held their celebration in Miami on Remembrance DayRemembrance DayRemembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day, or alternative dates, are also recognized as special days for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth...
[the Canadian equivalent of Veterans DayVeterans DayVeterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark...
] because there’s a generation of fans north of the border that will never forget [about the how Loria's actions led to the Expos leaving town].
Miami (formerly Florida) Marlins
In 2003, the Marlins won their second World Series. Loria designed the 3½ ounce championship rings that contain 228 white diamonds, 13 rubies and one teal diamond.Today the current value for the Florida Marlins would be worth around $277 million. As of May 12, 2009, the Marlins are 569-564 under Loria. On November 11, 2011, the Florida Marlins officially rebranded themselves the Miami Marlins with a new logo, uniform, and color scheme.
Marlins Stadium
The franchise, which pays rent at Sun Life Stadium, had been trying for years to finance a new retractable roof ballpark. The City of Miami and Miami-Dade County both recently voted to approve construction of a new baseball stadium for the Marlins. It will be located in the area formerly occupied by the Miami Orange Bowl football stadium. Construction is anticipated to be completed by opening day 2012. Without a stadium deal in place, Loria shed star players to pare down payroll to among baseball's lowest in 2005, and was given permission to explore options for relocating. The team then worked with the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County, in a public/private partnership, to build the 37,000 seat ballpark.A deal with the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County was eventually approved and the Marlins agreed to contribute $155 million towards the construction of a new retractable roof stadium. They were also made responsible for any cost overruns and the stadium is set to be complete in the Little Havana section of Miami in early 2012. The first Major League Baseball game will be against the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals on April 4, 2012.
Personal life
Loria, who still runs his art dealership, is a member of the board of directors of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of LawBenjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University, located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo's success as a young school has been remarkable, leading some to characterize Cardozo as a...
of Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
in New York. He formerly served on the board of the Art Dealers Association of America. Loria, who splits time between homes in New York and South Florida, supports hospitals, educational institutions and museums around the world with charitable contributions.