Laurence Leavy, the Miami lawyer and sports fan famously known as "Marlins Man" thanks to his trademark orange jacket, is ditching his home team.
After spending all winter publicly feuding with the Marlins over their purge of stars and descent into rebuild mode under new ownership, Leavy told ESPN's Darren Rovell he'll no longer attend any games at Marlins Park and is now searching for a new franchise to cheer for.
"Four teams reached out to me already and said that I could become, like, the Tigers man or other teams, and they would be happy to sell me tickets on TV view for three years paid in advance with a substantial discount," Leavy told Rovell.
Leavy revealed earlier this week that the Marlins rejected his offer of $200,000 for a three- or four-year renewal of his season tickets, and that appears to have been the final straw in what was an already strained relationship.
Related: 'Marlins Man' says team rejected his $200K check for season tickets
Leavy added that the only Marlins games he'll attend in person this season will be when they visit Yankee Stadium in April. He told Rovell he's considering taking the team's logo off his trademark jacket for those contests as a form of protest.
Marlins open in 20 days and @Marlins_Man has yet to renew his season tickets which he's had since 1993. "Reasonable offer I made was rejected," he tells me. pic.twitter.com/iBTC1SVNXj
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) March 9, 2018
Leavy, who had been a Marlins season-ticket holder since the franchise began play in 1993, has been the most vocal critic of new Marlins CEO and part-owner Derek Jeter this winter. After the Marlins traded stars Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, and Christian Yelich, Leavy expressed his distaste for the team's new direction in a face-to-face conversation with Jeter during a town-hall meeting in December, saying he didn't want to pay major-league prices to watch a "Triple-A team."
Outside of Miami, he has become a celebrity sports fan known for his seemingly random appearances in prime seats at marquee sporting events - always wearing his bright orange Marlins jacket and sun hat, regardless of the sport or participating teams.
