Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Jeff Wilpon are considering selling the franchise, though they may not make out as well as they hope if a deal does come together. Rumored bidder Wayne Rothbaum does indeed have interest in taking the Mets off the Wilpons’ hands, but only at a reduced price, according to Thornton McEnery of the New York Post.
“I think he likes the idea of $1 billion,” a source told McEnery. “It’s a round number and the Wilpons are not holding any cards without SNY.”
That wouldn’t be an ideal outcome for the Wilpons, whose financial situation has taken a hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if half of a baseball season takes place this year, the Wilpons could lose up to $150MM, per McEnery.
Before the league shut down because of the coronavirus, the Wilpons nearly agreed to sell an 80 percent stake in the Mets to Steve Cohen for $2.6 billion, but those plans fell through. That transaction wouldn’t have included the SNY network, either. The Mets have recently been valued at $1.6 billion without SNY in the mix, writes McEnery, who hears that the idea of Cohen purchasing the team still isn’t off the table. A source told him “he’s the only one that makes sense” as a possible buyer.
Rothbaum, meanwhile, was part of the $1.2 billion bidding for the Marlins in 2017, but the team ended up going to a group headed by Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter. If Rothbaum does eventually land the Mets, it’s possible one of Jeter’s former teammates could be a member of his ownership group. There has been talk of Alex Rodriguez and fiancee Jennifer Lopez owning some portion of a Rothbaum-led Mets franchise.
Is this considered karma or revenge?
Karevenge. I’ll see myself out.
You have been shown out…..
So 2.6B for 80% fell through now someone thinks they can get more for 1.0B?
Doesn’t sound like a reasonable ask, the Marlins sold for more, that 1 billion is an embarrassingly low ask, what am I missing?
Taking a 150MM loss is better than taking a 1.6B+ loss.
If you feel you HAVE to sell, you’re going to find a dearth of deep-pocketed users at this point. So don’t sell if you don’t like the current market price!
It’s not a 1.6 billion loss, SNY wouldn’t be included in the deal.
It’s not a 1.6 billion loss, SNY wouldn’t be included in the deal.
As it clearly stated in the write up, the Cohen bid didn’t include SNY either so yes it is 1.6b less.
valued at $1.6 B without SNY…Cohen’s original deal sounds like a Wilpon coup taking Cohen to the cleaners
and yet they still weren’t satisfied.
Well, junior had to have a job, you know. It would be amusing if his insisting that he keep control for 5 years ends up costing them a serious bundle of money. Karma, I guess.
There’s a rumor both parties acted in bad faith and it’s two wildly greedy antisocial types
And yet Cohen is supposed to be some kind of genius…..
Agentp, you forgot to include that with the marlins deal that includes all tv rights for the marlins in one of the top markets in the country. Baseball is not popular down there but the rights have quite a bit of worth and also no stadium cost if i remember right as the city footed the bill for the majority if not all.
The free market at work.
If a franchise falls in the woods, how many billionaires hear it?
The Mets ? Ha ha ha ha ha, a mill would be too much !
Go brother!
How much does SNY pay the Mets for broadcast rights and all the other Mets programming on the network, is it market rate, and how long does the contract last? Without knowing those numbers, we don’t know whether part of SNY’s value is derived from underpaying the Mets, whereby Mets income is transferred to SNY, or whether SNY appears more valuable than it is because it underpays the Mets? It could be either, or possibly neither, though it wouldn’t surprise me if most teams that own their cable station use it to shift income around. Hollywood does this all the time. Sports are just another form of entertainment, so they probably do the same.
Accounting tricks!
I assume you’re currently unemployed since you have time to make the same point five times over.
Mexico!
Current contract Wilpon’s are trying to hang on to plays about $150 mil. per full season, and runs through 2030.
Currently SNY and the Mets are owned by the same people i thought so i dont think there is any formal agreement between the two companies. Couldnt the group that buys the mets basically say screw SNY and go their own route and go with another broadcast company? SNY would take a huge hit i would assume in that case.
Long term contracts!
SNY has a 10 year contract. It pays way below market rate to broadcast the games, so it is quite profitable. The Mets make very little money off of it. The Wilpons set it up that way so that SNY are taking a huge portion of the profits away from the Mets. By selling the Mets without SNY, they are trying to take all of the profits with them and leaving all the debts with the new owners. Nobody will pay $2.6 billion for that except Cohen. Even he is probably rethinking it by now.
At $1B, they will have be stolen when history looks back at the deal.
This is hilarious!
A TV series should be made.
Uh, call it billionaires?
Looks like Wilpon Jr is costing himself $1.6 billion. HAHAHAHAHAHA
Can anyone imagine a sit-com with Wilpon Jr. and David Samson?
I’d name it “Lucky Sperm”. I imagine it’d be hilarious.
Its called Arrogance and Greed!
The Tampons are once again bit by it and it couldn’t happen to a worse bunch.
They had no empathy for the long suffering Mets fans and rammed their idiotic and arrogant decisions down Mets fans throats.
I hope the new owner dumps Van Lunchwagon; that would be the icing on the cake!
Another arrogant idiot who only cared about seeing himself in the MLB news.
Marc_from_Brooklyn Current contract Wilpon’s are trying to hang on to plays about $150 mil. per full season, and runs through 2030.