Tony Plate New Potential Buyers of Mets

                                               

At first everyone thought Steve Cohen, who agreed to purchase eighty percent of the team for 2.6 billion, was going to buy the Mets and the deal unfortunately fell through. The problem was that Cohen grew concerned about not having control over the direction of the franchise. If you’re going to invest that much money into a team you would expect team control over the direction.

The thought of Alex Rodriquez and his fiancé Jennifer Lopez possibly buying the Mets was great.  A-Rod confirmed his interest in buying the Mets on The Tonight Show and said “If the opportunity came up, I would certainly look at it” 

The news of A-Rod’s interest first came back in February.  A-Rod prepared himself quite well for a business opportunity like this as he attended high-profile investment conferences and has started his own investment firm, A-Rod Corp.

After all of the hype, A-Rod and J-Lo no longer became interested in buying the Mets due to their money partner, biotech billionaire Wayne Rothbaum wanting to apply more control over the team than A-Rod and J-Lo was comfortable surrendering. Rothman also wanted to buy the team at a huge discount. This was the second time that a potential deal had fallen through.

So, now new potential buyers of the Mets have come into the picture. Private equity billionaires Josh Harris and David Blitzer are serious about making a run to buy the team and add the club to their portfolio of teams, which includes the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

The Wilpons’, who are really desperate to sell may now part with SNY to make the deal possible giving the new potential buyers a chance to merge their other franchises onto one huge regional sports network, which would bring in a good chunk  of revenue offsetting the massive operating loss of the team.  

Now that times are very tough with the MLB season in more doubt than ever and the Mets financial picture deteriorating rapidly, the potential buyers can leverage the situation to buy the Mets for the lowest possible price. 

If they do make a deal, I think since Harris and Blitzer, who have a portfolio of teams may be the type to show an interest in free agency to sign a few big-name players to improve the team, which is what the Mets have not been doing that much of in recent years.