Jonathan Mariner News

Stadium Financing Has Cruise Companies Calling Foul

A plan to build a $400 million bayfront ball park for the Florida Marlins is pitting the team's millionaire owner against Miami's powerful cruise industry and its billionaire patriarch. Boca Raton, Fla.-based hedge fund manager John Henry paid $150 million cash for the 1997 World Series champion Marlins after former owner Wayne Huizenga stripped the team of its talent and alienated fans. Key to Henry's plan to rebuild the losing team's roster and dwindling fan base is a retractable-roof stadium, which he wants to pay for with a $4 per-day tax levied on cruise passengers traveling through the Port of Miami. Henry's proposal, now moving through the Florida Senate, puts him head-to-head with the lightly taxed cruise industry and Carnival Corp.