Tom Brady renting “St. Jetersburg” from Marlins CEO

With most of the sports world currently at a halt, one of the few “distractions” from the coronavirus pandemic has been the NFL offseason. Tom Brady’s decision to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency—parting ways with the Patriots after 20 seasons and six Super Bowl titles—transcended football. And now, there’s a wrinkle to the move that gives it additional relevance to the Marlins.

As confirmed Thursday by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Brady got some help from friend Derek Jeter in his search for a new home in the Tampa area. The veteran quarterback will be leasing Jeter’s vacant mansion, a waterfront property on Davis Islands with more than 30,000 square feet of space.

Jeter actually made the original purchase while still playing for the Yankees— after all, it was a relatively short drive away from the club’s Spring Training complex.

But commuting daily between “St. Jetersburg” and Marlins Park wasn’t feasible. A testament to Jeter’s commitment to his new franchise, he relocated the family to a Coconut Grove condo in late 2017. Prior to “stay at home” orders going into effect last month across Miami-Dade county, he’s been known to spend long hours at the office, rarely using his humongous estate.

Should Brady continue renting it throughout his two-year Bucs contract, Jeter would potentially collect north of $1 million, according to a rough estimate on Zillow. Every bit helps at a time when cancelled 2020 regular season games threaten to dramatically reduce the Marlins’ projected revenue.