Tampa CEO Shah pleased to have stake in Marlins

Punit Shah, the CEO of Tampa-based Liberty Group, has known he didn't have the athletic talent to get into the world of professional sports.

So he went the route of becoming a minority owner of the Marlins, part of an ownership group that includes Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who lives on Davis Islands.

"(Professional sports teams) rarely sell," Shah told the India-West newspaper. "My most memorable moment was standing side by side with the rest of the ownership group in the owner's suite during the final game of the (2017 MLB regular) season, the night before we closed. That's when the realization of the deal sunk in."

Shah didn't reveal how much of the team he owns.

"I reset my goals to the business side of professional sports and desired to one day own a professional sports team," he told India-West. "The opportunity to partner with a world-class athlete as Derek Jeter, combined with the incredible upside that the Miami Marlins present in a gateway city to the United States, simply was too attractive to pass up."

Shah said Jeter has the qualities to improve the operations of the team. He declined comment about what direction the ownership group would pursue.