SATURDAY, 5:51pm: Union head Michael Weiner told Wallace Matthews of ESPN New York that despite the team's financial trouble, he's confident the Mets will pay their players on time.
"I rely upon both the assurances we received from the commissioner's office as well as the documents that we are entitled to under the basic agreement," said Weiner. "What I said when I was in [Mets camp] was that I have every confidence that all the obligations to players under the basic agreement in their contracts will be met, and I still have every confidence that that's going to be the case."
The player's union was aware the commissioner's office was giving the Mets a loan since the Collective Bargaining Agreement entitles them to such financial information.
FRIDAY, 5:49pm: The Mets, dealing with a cash shortage, received $25MM from Major League Baseball in November, according to Michael S. Schmidt and David Waldstein of the New York Times.
MLB typically extends its 30 clubs a credit of $75MM, according to the report, which the Mets have already exhausted in addition to the $400MM debt they have on the team. To boot, more financial damage looms for the Mets, as they face a $1 billion lawsuit by Irving Picard, the trustee of the victims of the Bernard Madoff ponzi scheme.
The Mets issued a statement, confirming the report and offering no further comment, per Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (Twitter links):
We said in October that we expect to have a short-term liquidity issue. To address this, we did receive a loan from Major League Baseball in November. Beyond that, we will not discuss the matter any further.
The loan is expected to be paid back "relatively quickly," according to Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal.
It is speculated in the Times report that Selig's assistance to offer financial aid to a big-market franchise, on the hook for about $140MM in player salary this year, might anger other owners. As well, it signals that the Mets are in dire financial straits, according to sports-industry consultant Marc Ganis, because the league is typically a "lender of last resort."
In January, the Wilpons announced that they are looking to sell a minority stake — perhaps 20 or 25 percent — in the team, and so far, that search has generated only "modest interest," according to the Times, with fewer than 12 investors applying to investigate the team's finances.
Aside from the Madoff mess, the Mets were wise to be stingy with their cash this offseason, writes Ed Price of FanHouse.com, because there wasn't a big-ticket free agent who could have put them over the top. And with a lot of money coming off the books after this season, the franchise will have flexibility moving forward — even if it doesn't spend $150MM per year on payroll — because teams can compete with any payroll so long as they spend wisely.
Fred and Jeff need to have a bake sale
Or gut the team to save cash.
I have a feeling they’re going to be forced to sell everything in the near future.
maybe they could try insurance fraud next or get creative with what they do with city field like , dog and pony shows
“Okay okay, you’re trying to make me feel guilty and it’s almost working”
-Oliver Perez
Wow, what a disgrace. They blew all that money over the years and it’s nobody’s fault but the Mets.
Time for a fire sale.
If the League gives them an couple-hundred-million-dollar advance in their allowance, they are going to be all over Pujols.
If we had it Kenny Williams way we’d have a shut down. Than we can make everyone have the same payroll, same type of players, same contract sizes. Wait this is the USA, sometimes you make money sometimes you don’t. At least the Mets have owners ready to buy them out so they come out of it possibly debt free. Unlike all those poor people who lost jobs and homes. Seriously sometimes you need to know when to fold.
The Wilpons are nice guys but they are bad owners and need to SELL this team NOW!!!! Mets fans deserve to have an owner with solid financial backing and field a competitive team every year!! The problem is they (Wilpons) are too stubborn to see that they are hurting the franchise and the fans….SELL, SELL, SELL
Hate to nitpick, but Ponzi should be capitalized, correct?
Yes it should, but you should have an “I” in front of “Hate” in your sentence.
Maybe MLB needs to take over the day to day affairs of running the Mets franchise. I mean they have experience in doing so with the Montreal team and MLB did such a wonderful job handling it.
mets seeking starting pitching, second basemen, sugar daddies
“The Mets ARE my sugar daddies. I’m rich b#@!#!
-Bobby B. aka Bobby Being Bobby
Do the Mets qualify for some help from FEMA? They deal with natural disasters (eventually) right?
hurricane oliver
Well, now, just WHO did they sign for $25,000,000 this off season?????
In went into a special fund where it will collect interest……and pay off the 24 $1.2 mil annual payments they owe Bobby Bonilla. Yeah……Bobby Bonilla.
I understand the principle of deferred contracts but that’s just ridiculous.
Dude that’s not deferred payments….that’s the megaball lottery..haha. And if the article I read was right, they owed him $5.9 mil for 1 season and offered him 24 payments of $1.2 mil due every July 1st from 2011 to 2035. Who in the he!! does that? I BARELY got a passing grade in Eco101 in college and even I know better than that.
I wish someone would pay me for doing nothing.
I’m getting a Masters in Econ and I still have no clue how Bonilla pulled this one off. Seriously the dude should write a book: “How did I turned $6M into $28M? I played for the Mets!”
apropos of the billy wagner thread:
1. transact with the mets
2. do something. or don’t
3. profit
Admit it. You’re one of the underpants gnomes.
study harder. it sounds crazy, but with how far out it was pushed, IIRC it assumed a 7% annual interest rate.
No more nuts than paying back 400K on a 150K mortgage!
I find it pretty funny that Major League Baseball has no problem loaning $25 million to a disaster like the Mets while at the same time denying the Dodgers $200 milllion from FOX. I know it’s not apples to apples, but it still caught my attention as a Dodgers fan.
You think the Dodgers are less of a disaster than the Mets? 8-|
I think the difference is that every team is allowed a certain amount of a loan from mlb but the loan for the Dodgers was from a TV entitity. Might not be a valid reason though.
Must be weird to ask for $25Mill to finish 3rd or 4th place…..
They’ll pay it back as soon as they start seeing returns on their latest hot investment opportunity … Just give em time.
hahahahhahahahahahahaha…..enjoy the season Mets fans !!!!!!!!!!
Really? New York needs a load?Never thought I would ever see that headline.
Mets change their name to
The New York General Motors
has a good ring to it
Or better yet, The New York Expos
don’t scoff that hard. GM paid the money back that was a loan, the treasury sold a bunch of their stock for a profit, and GM just turned their first full year profit in ages.
I hope the loan to the mets turns out that good!
besides, it was really like borrowing from a bank (which teams do quite often). Just had to be guaranteed by MLB. And the mets are paying it back, so NBD.
Two words:
Liquidate assets
Any Mets fans out there who still think you can sign Pujols this winter?
Most mets fans don’t want him. Anyway I’m going to do my part as a Met fan and not buy a Ticket until the Wilpons sell the team. Make it harder for them to fix this “short term” Liquidity problem.
Ummm. Does this mean the city of NY becomes a 1 team town, much like the cities of Boston and St Louis did?
Looks like a case of “fold ’em” here. Who wants to spend money on this cluster pile and why should the rest of the owners spend good money bailing out this mess? This is the Wilpon’s problem and the MLBPA can go off on any kind of tirade they want.
No, Steinbrenner wants the small market teams to move there, didn’t you hear?
“why should the rest of the owners spend good money bailing out this mess?”
Why should owners of small market teams be allowed to pocket money from revenue sharing?
it was a loan, paid back with interest. Not exactly a bail out.
the bail out was a loan, paid back with interest
If this financial mess persists any longer then i really hope they sell the team. As a huge mets fan i dont mind this offseason. We need a season to regroup and let money come off the books. But next season looks to be a HUGE offseason and if we are in financial distress still and do not make a splash that is just not right and unfair to mets fans. I already have not renewed my season tickets for last year and this year, and if they think signing mid level guys next year and keeping the payroll down bc money problems, then that would be unacceptable. We are sticking with you mets! But please, dont think we will keep siding with you if you selfishly hold onto a team that you cannot properly fund. It would just be unfair.
“I already have not renewed my season tickets for last year and this year” then next “We are sticking with you Mets”
That is some great support you are showing!
This is getting ridiculous. I think the MLB needs to contemplate taking over the team if they lose this trial. The Wilpon’s are going to go bankrupt.
Man, Weiner is all over the news today
Well, considering that they play at CITI FIELD, of course bailouts are only appropriate……..!!!!!
C’mon people, I should not be the first one making this lame joke at 37 posts in.
there needs to be a dislike button
Can MLB mandate the sale of a team? There have been a lot of years of sketchy ownership in Florida (someone with more info on their owner please reply to this post with the details…) and questionable financial leadership in Pittsburgh that have gone without intervention from MLB (that I know of) but the potential for disaster seemed less severe. I really hope the Mets have new owners in the next 2 or 3 years, for the sake of the franchise and the sport.
This is garbage. When the Pirates had a financial bind in 2003 and needed to be compliance with MLB’s standards they were forced to give away Aramis Ramirez’s salary for nothing. The Mets get a loan from the MLB and get to keep all of their expensive players. Yes the Pirate had and have questionable financial leadership but is the double standard that is troubling.
ok yeah I wasn’t aware of what kinds of things had been done with the Pirates honestly. My whole point was suggesting that MLB can’t just jump the gun and intervene when past situations have gone unaddressed, but every instance of MLB getting involved in how teams operate due to financial troubles supports the argument that something needs to be done with the Mets other than bailing them out of trouble that resulted from non-baseball related financial nonsense.
Am thinking they can intervene whenever thy want, or just sit on their collective thumbs and watch good old Wilpon circle the drain until he flushes himself down it for good myself, then an entire organization, staff, minor league and all goes bye bye and that wake up call is what the larger market owners that are stable need to force upon whoever takes over for selig to actually happen.
Draconian measures here so this “mess”terpiece cause by the Wilpons now and before by Hicks will not be repeated.
there really isn’t any risk for MLB to cover the liquidity. Worst case for the owners is they can’t make it up, and have to sell.
And for sure, if the entire wilpon nut (team, network, stadium) goes on the block because they go bust, then there will not be a shortage of offers to take the whole enchilada.