Billionaire Steve Cohen has been in exclusive negotiations to buy the Mets for two weeks now, and those talks may be nearing the endpoint. According to Charles Gasparino of FOX Business Network, Cohen is “finalizing” the details on his purchase of the team. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported yesterday that “the complication of language, mainly for tax reasons” was the primary reason for “the slowness” in fully completing a sale agreement.
Though there don’t appear to be any obstacles standing in the way of Cohen becoming the Mets’ next owner, we have already seen his earlier attempt to buy the team fall apart back in February, so no assumptions should be made until a deal is officially announced. Until that time, the competing ownership group led by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez (who were known to be less than pleased with the bidding process), haven’t yet abandoned hope that they could still end up as the Mets’ next owners. “It ain’t over until it is over….We feel we have the best bid for the sport, the team and the city,” Lopez told Sherman.
Lopez and Rodriguez shared some details about the vision for the team, including a player payroll in the $225MM range and the guarantee of a $100MM donation to various New York City charities if the Mets didn’t win a World Series within a decade of their taking ownership of the club. Lopez also revealed the intriguing news that she would act as the Mets’ control person (i.e. the member of the ownership group who officially represents a team in the eyes of Major League Baseball), rather than Rodriguez. Past documentation filed by the ownership group indicated that A-Rod would be the Mets’ control person, though given the amount of baggage and controversy attached to his name, having Lopez as the official owner of record would perhaps make their bid more palatable in the league’s eyes.
As Sherman puts it, “the Rodriguez/Lopez group is staying alive as, at minimum, a just-in-case alternative should current Mets ownership need to pivot” and is “trying to deliver a message to [Mets ownership], fans and major league owners that — eleventh hour or not — they believe they would be the superior caretakers of the franchise.” Whether this public appeal will have any impact is anyone’s guess, as the only potential hurdle for Cohen’s bid would be if he doesn’t receive the necessary 23 votes of approval from the league’s other owners. As Gasparino notes, however, league executives “say every indication is that Cohen gets approved.”
Come on over to Texas guys…
Arod and JLo are sore losers go away dudes
Shouldn’t you be working with your lawyers right now Mr. Cohen?
They are terrible for baseball. Hope they don’t get the team or any team.
It’s all about them. ARod doesn’t know how to lose gracefully. He wants to be Jeter. Don’t need a lying cheating ex Yankee owning the Mets.
“Hey charities, we’ll give you $100m if we can’t get a ring in the next ten years. If we win one, then you get nothing!”
What a joke. Just give them some money.
Kind of guarantees that every charity will be rooting for ten consecutive losing seasons…
That’s a rather sick twist to throw out there. I’d be rooting against the Mets’ big-time.
Agreed. Give em $150m if you do win.
How about learning the facts before saying anything. You don’t know if the offer is for a bigger donation if they win within those ten years, with a fall back of $100 mil if they don’t. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, they are not getting the team.
What have you given lately?
They dont have to give them anything.
I’ve given to charities recently, as have many others.
It’s not so much about the giving or not, it’s about the stance of, “If we’re good enough to win the World Series, which very likely would result in many millions of dollars in revenue for us, we make no promises to help others. But if we suck, we’ll pony up some money for those in need.”
It’s not, as they say these days, good optics.
Absolutely no way I want Arod and JLo to even attempt to buy the Rangers.
They should go offer their $2.3b to Nutting. No need for a 225m payroll after either. Just pledge 150m and everyone is happy.
85 would be great these days for pirate fans
Rangers29- Nah trust me, last thing you want is those clowns coming there. How is everything going with Lance Lynn? Do you regret not trading him or no? The Yankees are not hitting. 2nd year quiet at the deadline makes no sense. Starling Marte’s bat was needed with injuries to Judge & Stanton. Derek Jeter intercepted him coming to NY. Still shocked Marlin’s traded Caleb Smith for Marte when they were still in a playoff race. smh
Let’s just hope Jeter’s Marlins don’t become the new Kansas City Athletics.
I like the trade both ways.
That said, I cannot believe that Cashman made no moves. A month ago, them and the LAD seemed liked an upcoming clash of the titans. Going in as the final WC would be bad, but missing the playoffs completely, because you didn’t want to give up a single minor legal, is beyond comprehension.
That $100M pledge reeks of Scott’s Tots
Laptop battery for a backup ain’t too bad.
I know a lot of people don’t like that episode, but if there’s one lesson to take away:
529 plans
How much that episode makes you cringe is what makes it so good
I have it on the BEST authority that A-Rod/Jay-Lo have a secret silent partner. I don’t know who it is, but I hear he’s going to put up the Nobel Peace Prize as collateral……
Left and right cheek strike again. Put them together and they represent what people think of them.
That Nobel prize is worthless, so unless he’s using it to buy baseball cards, and not a team, it ain’t going to help.
Lol
A-fraud and J-ho owning The Mets. That’s so 2020 in a steroid & botox filled nutshell.
I’d love to see an unprepared interview with Lopez regarding her general baseball knowledge and the game in general. What is her pre-Rodriguez baseball experience?
While I believe Rodriguez would bring solid baseball knowledge and insight to the ownership table (notice I didn’t state ‘trust’, ‘integrity’, intelligence or common sense), he and Lopez might be nothing more than mouthpieces for ownership. I think this also warrants the ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ scenario as well when adding financial partners and multiple opinions at a decision making roundtable discussion. Not to mention one massive issue: since Lopez and Rodriguez aren’t married, how convoluted would the Big Top Circus event be if they split up?
I just think it might be a fresher start for beleaguered franchise with essentially one CEO responsible for making the decisions. Especially if winning is a higher priority than protecting his wallet. As a Mets lifelong fan (50+ years), it would be refreshing to feel as though we didn’t have the shallowest pockets in the tri-state area, featuring all four major sports.
There are going to be some massive long term contracts with this team in the near future. It’d be great if we could experience home grown, successful mlb careers and reward our own players’ efforts instead of continually taking on overpriced contracts of players on the downside if their careers.
You can feel the misogyny and curmudgeonry oozing out of that comment. Do you really think every male team owner has encyclopedic knowledge of the sport?
Don’t talk to the incels. They’re contagious.
If she wants to be the control person, then what is wrong with asking about her background for that position? People question the Wilpon’s son and Dolan’s son about their (in)ability to run their teams. I don’t know why JLo gets a free pass, simply because she is female.
Even Jeter’s been questioned.
The problem is the assumption she lacks the necessary knowledge and the dismissive tone of his comment. 50+ year old guys like Jim is what’s wrong with this country/world
Exactly. It would be sexist to not put her under the same scrutiny as the other owners.
What a horribly ageist comment. What a sweeping generalization.
How so?
The problem is that there is no prerequisite of actually having to understand the game of baseball in order to buy an MLB team. Jennifer Lopez just has to know how to run a business and make money which she clearly can since she’s the only fly girl background dancer from In Living Color that anyone knows 30ish years later
Treating one demographic group (50 + guys like Jim) as a monolithic entity is a stereotypical generalization. Calling out someones age is ageist (even if Jim mentioned it)
The Arod, J-Lo should buy the Indians, and put some money into the Tribe’s future. The Indians pitching is awesome, but they need bats. Their current owner won’t spend, I believe these two would be the best option for all
Spending money doesn’t always work; look at the Angels under Arte Moreno. Also, as much as I want A-Rod off ESPN, please, not the Indians.
Your main issue is youre watching anything on ESPN
Can you imagine a scenario where Arod and Lopez buy the Mets and in their 10th year of ownership, they win the World Series? Sorry, charities, you don’t get $100MM because we just got RYNGZ.
Pure publicity stunt by two people that have an abnormal craving to see their pictures in the paper.
Mets championship within a decade of purchase? I feel like he’s making promises in an attempt to win the bid. Someone should tell him he’s trying to buy a baseball team, not running for office.
Cohen actually knows how to run a business AAAAAND he loves the Mets. We’ve seen more than a couple professional athletes attempt to run a sports franchise that didn’t turn out well. Despite how much flack Jeters gotten, he’s actually one of the few that has done well.
Either way, the Mets can’t want the circus that AROD is and I don’t think Jlo helps matters. Not even Mets fans have a vote in this but Cohen is the one to cheer for.
Cohen is not afraid to cheat either so they’ll have that going for them
But so does arod @whynot….
And your point being?
That cheating is ubiquitous
@whynot. Do you see any upstanding citizens offering to purchase the Mets? I’m aware of Cohen’s rep so since neither is clean I didn’t bring it up. All you can do is choose the best candidate for the job OTHER than being ethically upright such as competence.
Right, I have no problem with either of them buying the team
If Lopez/A Rod “win” you can bet owning a MLB franchise has become a losing proposition.
What would make more sense would be to buy independent franchises and form another professional league. There are enough of them to do it. And develop an internet carriage at a fraction of the cost the MLB spends.
Start up would be cheaper, yes. But who would watch it? They should buy the Rays and make them great again. I mean, they love & live in Florida so why not.
No player dreams about playing in any other professional league but MLB. Players risk their lives to come here and play.
ARod/Lopez should their talents to Austin / San Antonio. Create an expansion team.
Cohen will be APPROVED
The BUY IS 2.3 BILLON IN CA$H
Our cash….
Maybe I don’t see the whole picture, but, why would Arod think that MLB would support him buying a franchise after suspending him for a year for cheating during his playing career? Plenty of opportunities to cheat as an owner, too.
As a Met fan here’s my prediction: Cohen buys team, goes out and buys the biggest, fattest free agent contract (or thereabouts), team still loses, Met fans complain ownership is cheap.
Sounds about right
Yep. Mets fans as a group are prone to whining, win or lose.
We have it down to an art form
Hey dugmet
True Mets fans whine but with good reason.
Where is the winning you are talking about? 34 years ago!
Certainly not under one of the worst GMs in all MLB history whose team will finish behind the Marlins. BVM
How did his pickup Castro do?
How did his pickup Wacka Mole do?
Etc.?
Why does anyone generalize fan bases? Is that way of thinking any different than generalizing people by skin color? I guess because we call THAT something different, right?
Every fan base has every type of fan in it.
Cohen gets
Realmuto
Betts
Martinez [bo sox]
Bauer
Nola
Mets finish in 3rd place
Is the same as when you predicted the Mets were getting Starling Marte?
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
What “moderation”?
What we don’t do when drinking.
Hey Dan. I’ve had some issues in the past with that sort of thing. I usually contact MLBTR about that sort of thing. You may have to be a little aggressive though. Once they respond, they are pretty good at fixing issues. I know it sucks because by the time it’s moderated, the conversation is over. My hope is in reporting issues like unneeded moderation, it will show the writers the problems and so don’t come up again in the future. I haven’t had a moderation problem for several months now.
Steve Cohen has quite a history of shady dealings himself. It seems the Mets can’t catch a break in terms of ownership.
Joel Sherman’s telling all of his buddies he’s got J-Lo’s number.
So after reading all of the comments on this thread (and others regarding Cohen vs A-Rod/J-Lo), it’s pretty clear steroids are bad but a nearly 2-billion dollar fine for insider trading is no big deal. So, a guy takes steroids to further his career, heal faster, earn a bigger individual pay check and attempt to help his team win a championship is somehow significantly worse than a guy who was convicted in one of the largest insider trading criminal settlements ever…
Exactly. Cohen has so much dirt all over him. He is definitely not a safe bet.
Hopefully ownership change means BVW is out and they hire a GM with a totally different philosophy and approach.
The proper philosophy would result in a total rebuild of the organization. Mutts fans don’t want that because they think their woeful team is “close.”
No fan base ever “wants” a total rebuild
Yes – we need a total rebuild. The corporate culture instilled by Fred and Jeff has stained the organization. Only a complete corporate rebuild will remove those stains.
This Mets fan doesn’t think the team is close and wants a total rebuild after BVW has gutted the minors and sold off the future.
I think the Mets are “close” in the sense that a competent FO/ownership combo could conceivably bring in the talent necessary to complement the strong areas on the major league roster.
They’re just not set up to contend over the long term, because of BVW’s (read as “Jeff Wilpon’s) reckless approach to their minor league talent.. To me, that really goes back to their refusal to pursue a legitimate rebuild in that ~2010-2014 block. They made their entire future contingent on a small group of pitchers holding up over the long term, which has obviously been a mistake.
Cosmodeus couldn’t agree more.
Look how BVW’s latest pickup Castro is doing?
How did his pickup Wacka Mole do?
Has anyone seen Lowrie?
BVW has to go; as a Mets fan I can only hope they finish in last place so Cohen takes notice.
Ownership change and then bring in Dan O Dowd GM and Buck Showalter Manager and rebuild the pen and possibly swing a trade for offensive catcher dont need Jt too expensive for a 30 year old catcher.
There’s a misunderstanding among the reporters. MICHAEL Cohen is buying the Mets, and Stormy Daniels is going to be his GM.
Great News! I would take Stormy Daniels as GM over BVW
Still no MetsFan22 sighting. Seems like he’s abandoned the Mets. Shocking!
He? Do you have inside info?
a player attempting to buy a team with the money he earned as a player. yet, many of you side with the players in union negotiations. comical.
??? wtf? Did you think this argument would change anyones mind? Or are you just that supportive of all top 1%ers getting more and more rich.
this might be the most confusing comment Ive ever read on here. What is even your point?
It is a blessing to all real Met fans that Cohen is buying the team. Although marred by his steroid use and lying about it, A-Rod was a great player, who really knows baseball. He probably would make an excellent GM if he is willing to put in the time and effort. But, the A-Rod/JLo tandem would be a circus. Glam over substance. The thought of JLo running the team (because A-Rod’s past may make the owners hesitant to approve him) inspires thoughts of Ruth Phelps as the Cleveland owner in “Major League.” JLo wants the team because her dad was a fan. That’s sweet. But she never said she’s a fan. Cohen is a real fan. I’m confident that he will spend on free agency and provide the proper leadership. Looking forward to him taking over.