Florida Marlins Executives Scramble To Defend Public Funding of Ballpark

Florida Marlins president David Samson has no shortage of critics these days in Miami-Dade County. He can thank Deadspin.com for his troubles.

On Monday, August 23, Deadspin.com obtained the financial records of the Marlins covering the 2008-09 seasons, and the fallout was not pretty.

When the Marlins approached Miami-Dade County officials for financial help in constructing a new baseball facility, they contended that the Marlins only break even financially year after year, the centerpiece argument for obtaining local government funding.

In fact, documents show the Marlins could have covered a substantial amount of the new stadium’s construction themselves and still turned an annual operating profit.

Documents obtained by Deadspin.com revealed that the Marlins had an operating income of over $50 million in the last two fiscal years.

Further documents that were recently revealed have shown that the Marlins paid out a "management fee" of $5.4 million over that same two year period to a company called Double Play.

According to the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, Double Play is owned by both Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and Samson, effectively paying themselves for the period shown.

Loria and Samson have been crying poverty to anyone who would listen over the course of the last several years. The leaked documents prove otherwise, and now both men are scrambling to explain to the public why they should be entrusted with their fans' hard earned money to provide sound entertainment value.

You can follow Doug on Twitter, @desertdesperado.