BOSTON – In a $660 million deal that would double the record price for a baseball team, the limited partners of the Boston Red Sox voted unanimously Thursday to sell the franchise to a group led by Florida Marlins owner John Henry and former San Diego Padres owner Tom Werner.

The team said the agreement also included $40 million in assumed debt, bringing the total to $700 million. The current record is the $323 million that Larry Dolan paid for the Cleveland Indians last year.

“The Boston Red Sox represent the spirit and passion of New England,” the winning group said in a statement. “We will become active and visible members of this great community and always remember that the team belongs, not to us, but to all of you.”

The record price for a sports franchise is $800 million, paid by Daniel Snyder in 1999 for the Washington Redskins and the team’s stadium in Landover, Md.

Thursday’s agreement includes 100 percent of the Red Sox franchise, which owns Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network. The agreement must be approved by 75 percent of the 30 major league owners, who usually take about six months to consider sales.

Henry is negotiating to sell the Marlins to Jeffrey Loria, the owner of the Montreal Expos, a team baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to eliminate.

Other investors include ski resort developer Leslie Otten and The New York Times Co., the parent company of The Boston Globe.

The Werner/Henry group also includes former United States Senator George Mitchell of Maine. Mitchell, who was once considered a serious candidate to become commissioner of baseball, was appointed to the Senate in 1980. He served as majority leader from 1989-95.

The group’s efforts to bring in local partners failed Thursday when talks collapsed between Henry’s group and local businessmen,Joseph O’Donnell and Steven Karp. The Red Sox, controlled by the Yawkey family and its trust since 1933, would pass into the hands of Henry, a Florida financier, and Werner, a New York television executive.

But the sale could save Fenway Park, the oldest and smallest stadium in the majors. Werner’s group has said it would like to renovate the ballpark, which opened in 1912 and has a capacity of about 34,000 fans.

The group also could negotiate a deal with developer Frank McCourt, who dropped out of the bidding but owns land in South Boston where he has proposed a new ballpark.

Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington is confident Werner and Henry, both close to Selig, have the cash to close the deal, saying they were committed to the team and fans. They are “deeply involved and passionate about the game of baseball,” Harrington said.

Larry Lucchino, the former president of the Baltimore Orioles and Padres, is likely to become the Red Sox team president if the sale is approved.

Harrington said the Werner-Henry group offered the highest qualified bid for the team. Harrington has repeatedly said the trust would accept the “highest qualified bid” not necessarily the top price offered.

Harrington announced on Oct. 6, 2000, that the Yawkey Trust, which has controlled the Red Sox since 1994, would sell its 53 percent stake. After an initial round of bidding, several bidders raised the stakes by offering to buy out the entire team.

Four groups remained in contention when the limited partners met Thursday and decided to sell their shares. In a joint statement Thursday, Henry and Werner said they couldn’t solve the issue of control of the alliance with O’Donnell and Karp.

Others bidders included Cablevision Systems Corp. chairman Charles Dolan – Larry’s brother – and a group that includes New York lawyer Miles Prentice and s private equity firm, the Quadrangle Group.

A spokeswoman for Dolan declined to say how much he bid, and a spokesman for Prentice did not immediately return a telephone message.

Thomas Yawkey bought the team from J.A. Robert Quinn in 1933, and Jean Yawkey took over when her husband died in 1976.

Jean Yawkey, Haywood Sullivan and Buddy LeRoux bought the team’s general partnership from the estate and Jean Yawkey later bought out LeRoux.

When Jean Yawkey died in 1992, she willed all her holdings to her trust, and Harrington gained complete control of the team in November 1993 when the trust bought out Sullivan.

Werner, who made television hits like “The Cosby Show” and “Third Rock from the Sun,” made unpopular trades as owner of the Padres in the early 1990s, claiming they were necessary after the team lost $7 million in 1992.

Later the group added Henry, a math junkie and former commodities trader who bought the Florida Marlins from H. Wayne Huizenga in 1999 for $150 million.

Otten, who built American Skiing Co. into the country’s largest Alpine ski resort operator, with holdings in New England and in California, Utah, and Colorado. He was forced out of his skiing company last spring.