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Former New York Yankees star Derek Jeter and ex-Florida governor Jeb Bush have each expressed interest in purchasing the Miami Marlins, a financial industry source familiar with the situation confirmed to the Sun Sentinel.

Major League Baseball is aware of their interest, the source also said.

Fox Business was first to report Wednesday afternoon that Jeter and Bush were potential bidders, and that they had lined up financial backing. Fox also reported that at least one other group is in the running for a possible bid.

The Marlins had no comment. Owner Jeffrey Loria, who is with the team in Washington this week, declined an interview request through a spokesman.

Marlins president David Samson said in February that Loria is considering offers more seriously than he has in the past.

“There are many groups who are interested,” said Samson, who has noted that the Marlins have been engaged by interested buyers about once a month through the years. “We field offers often. The difference now is those offers are being looked at very seriously.”

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Samson cited “a confluence of events that have taken place” as reason for why Loria, 76, is now looking to sell the team he has owned since 2002. He was not willing to get specific on which events he was referring to.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly has known Jeter for two decades, dating back to their partial season as teammates in 1995. Jeter succeeded Mattingly as the face of the Yankees and won five World Series championships by the end of his no-doubt Hall of Fame career.

Could Mattingly see Jeter as an owner of a major league team?

“He’s always talked about it,” Mattingly said Wednesday afternoon before the Marlins played the Nationals. “I asked him if he wanted to coach and he’s like, ‘Never.’

“I’m sure he’ll be good [as a theoretical future owner of a team]. Jeets pretty much seems to be good at everything he tries to do.”

Jeter, 42, has reiterated his interest in owning a major league team since his retirement in 2014. Speaking to New York reporters at a gala in November, Jeter said he was “trying to learn” about the possibility of MLB team ownership.

“You’re always learning, you know what I mean?” Jeter said at the time. “The ultimate goal, the ultimate aspiration, is on the ownership side, but not right now. There’s other things going on in my life, so I had to focus on that.”

Jeter, who lives in Tampa, was married last summer. He and wife Hannah (Davis) Jeter revealed last month that they are expecting their first child, a girl, this year.

Bush, 64, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination last year, reportedly made a prior bid for the Marlins in 2013. His brother, former President George W. Bush, owned the Texas Rangers from 1989-1994.

The financial industry source said that former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney has also shown interest in the Marlins. The Boston Globe reported in November that a group including Romney had looked into buying the team but that that had apparently fallen through.

A spokeswoman for Romney told Fox that “Mitt Romney is not involved in an effort to buy the Marlins.”

Wednesday’s news is the latest sign over the past half-year, starting with Romney’s reported interest, that Loria is looking to leave baseball.

New York venture capitalist Joshua Kushner — brother of President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law — was part of a previous group in discussions to buy the team for a reported price in the neighborhood of $1.6 billion. The Kushners dropped out of the bidding when Loria became under consideration for the U.S. ambassadorship to France.

The Marlins have not made the playoffs since winning the 2003 World Series, and they have finished under .500 seven seasons in a row. Despite playing in recent years at Marlins Park — the team’s $639-million taxpayer-funded home that opened in 2012 — the team has had the lowest attendance in the National League in 11 of the past 12 seasons.

As for the Marlins on the field, Mattingly is trying to keep the blinders on.

“It doesn’t really change for us as far as getting ready and playing,” Mattingly said. “We knew the [Kusher] report was out there early, beginning of spring. Nothing has really changed as far as us trying to get ready to play, making sure our guys are focused and trying to play our best baseball.”