I totally agree. I'm just blown away that the Mets are potentially worth that much, compared to say, the Dodgers, which was $2.0B seven years ago
Mets have a nicer stadium, in a slightly larger market, on a pricier piece of real estate.
Yeah, it seems strange that Cohen is buying a majority interest in the team but will not get control for five years. He reportedly has long wanted to be an owner, and that's why he invested in the Mets in the first place. The presumption is his infusion of cash is going to enable the team to spend more like the big market team they are. Odd that he'd infuse that cash then not have a say in how the team is run.
It's an investment. Cheaper to buy it now than in 5 years. Mets performance doesn't dictate value unless they lose 100 games a year for years in a row
I guess, but what about the Wilpon's has recently has screamed "Be my investment steward" for the next 5 years
There are only so many baseball teams. They are literally not fungible. So Cohen offloads some of his net worth to get a chance to buy the team in 5 years. Meanwhile, I feel like Cohen should be at least ok living on 11 billion dollars. Nobody is going to need to pass around a hat for him.
Agreed. It's as much as an investment as his famous art collection.
This may have been the only way to do the deal, anyway - the Wilpons clearly enjoy the perks of owning a baseball team, but (nominal actual owner Fred) is 83, so '5 years' could easily equal 'still be owner for the rest of his life, but get the money now'
Yea. No question this is amazing news for Mets fans. Also, nobody knows the arrangement yet that will be finalized. Wilpons may still have titles and "control" in name but ultimately all the real decisions could fall the Cohen. Or perhaps Cohen is responsible for selecting staff, GMs, analytics teams, coaches..etc.
You know that's not really the way it works, right?
Um, that's underselling things a bit.
Yes, agreed. I was just trying to say that by no means is he an unfamiliar name. He's a celebrity for a lot of bad reasons.
This was my thought as well. If the deal goes through, I’m sure there will be restrictions on the Wilpons going forward that are much more significant than whatever protections for minority investors exist in the club’s current governing documents.
That's why there was an edit at the bottom, even though you replied to only the first part
and for the Mets. Where there is drama, there are the New York Mets. They couldn't even avoid the sign-stealing debacle and they're not in the same league.
From what I read its not, which seems strange as it seems the two assets, the team and TV network derive a lot of value from each other. I would assume an eventual sale (within the 5 yr period) of SNY to Cohen would addressed.
2/20 would be a discount for Cohen; he was supposedly at 3/50 (not a typo) before his brief hiatus from managing outside capital, though now it’s a more complicated structure where he passes on come costs directly to his investors.
This is an understatement on both counts.
Yep. It would actually be hard to find a worse actor in the financial system who isn't already in prison. Joseph Cassano, maybe? Probably not. In a near-zero-sum market, the billions Steve Cohen possesses have essentially been stolen from ordinary investors, who would have gotten those gains but-for Cohen making the trade first.
The Wilpons are criminals. Cohen's lawyers obviously looked at the financials and realized it was a money pit of loss and failure. And possible fraud.
www.amny.com
www.espn.com
The Wilpon's entire business was financed by Madoff gains. The only reason they could buy the Mets was because of Madoff.
Is that true? How do the gains not get clawed back? I’m guessing the law doesn’t work that way, but it seems like a bs way to handle a Ponzi scheme fallout.
