It is true that the Marlins were turning a profit which they were sheepish to admit in public. This is in part due to the revenue sharing system where smaller payroll teams (e.g. Marlins, Royals, etc.) are the beneficiaries of luxury tax money made off of the larger payroll teams (e.g. Yankees, Dodgers, etc.). The thinking behind this is that those teams would reinvest that money into payroll and in turn become more competitive (the Tampa Bay Rays have actually managed to do this very well). Unfortunately, Loria chose to more or less pocket that money up until 2012 (and probably will do so again after 2013). But that's more of an ethical question than a legal one.
However, speaking strictly from a "Keeping Up with the Jones" standpoint and not from a practical, common sense perspective, the Marlins were not in a profitable stadium situation compared to most other teams in the league. They were playing at Joe Robbie Stadium, an oversized stadium designed with football first in mind, meaning sightlines weren't always ideal for baseball. Not only that, but arguably many baseball fans were turned away by the weather factor, having to play baseball (a summer sport) subject to Florida's hot and rainy climate. (I'm actually in the minority on this one when I say I didn't mind this--I actually love Florida summers. But that's just me, and needless to say, the weather was a major deterrant for others.) But arguably worst of all for the Marlins, they were subjected to a pretty harsh lease. Joe Robbie Stadium is owned by the Dolphins, and the lease meant that the Dolphins--and not the Marlins--got all revenues from luxury boxes, concessions and parking. Essentially the only thing the Marlins got was from sales of the regular non-luxury seats.
This put them at a distinct disadvantage competitively when compared to almost all the other teams in the league who were getting those types revenue sources. True, the cheapest solution would have been for the Marlins to try to renegotiate the terms of the Joe Robbie Stadium lease with the Dolphins where the Marlins would recieve a cut of the luxury box/concession/parking revenue. But even then, the team would still be playing in an outdoor oversized football stadium, which was a deterrant for fans. Hence the rallying cry for all of the Marlins owners up through Loria was that the team needed a stadium of its own to compete with other teams. And as it ended up, as with most cities a large portion of funding for that stadium would be through public sources (although thankfully from a tourist tax and not the general taxpayer fund.)
There were certainly shennanigans played by Loria, but if you look at just about all publically funded stadiums, Loria was pretty much par for the course. A sad testament to the times, perhaps, but not really unique. As a baseball fan living in South Florida, I do hope the Marlins get a new owner and that they get a new owner soon. But the saddest thing is that I don't think Loria, as bad as he's been, can be called the Marlins' worst owner. That distinction has to go to Wayne Huzeinga, who ripped apart a World Championship team in 1997 before the champagne had even gotten flat. At least Loria tore apart a team that was fatally underacheiving....Huzeinga tore apart a World Series winner. That is unforgivable.
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