The Mets have suffered through decades of bad ownership by the Wilpon’s
Steve Cohen has agreed in principle to buy the Mets at a deal which values them at $2.475 billion. The New York market paired with a new stadium already in play made the Mets’ brand an attractive one for the first time in awhile. Cohen immediately becomes one of (if not the) richest owners in all of MLB and sports in general. He’s vowed to put some of that fortune back into the team.
Mets supporters have long complained, and perhaps secretly loathed, their neighbors in the Bronx for out-spending and out-thinking every team in baseball. Playing in the Steinbrenner’s shadow is never ideal, and now they have a rich owner of their own willing to empty his pockets for a winning baseball team, if we’re willing to take Cohen at his word.
Mets fans should be thrilled that Cohen bought the team
Per Tim Healey of Newsday, “Steve Cohen is in agreement to buy the Mets from the Wilpon and Katz families, a source says. The deal is pending MLB approval. If and when he is approved, Cohen will own 95% of the Mets. The deal values the Mets at approximately $2.475 billion.”
That puts Cohen in near-complete control of the franchise. Nothing will get in the way of him seeing out his vision for the team — whatever that may be. Cohen is expected to gain approval from MLB’s board of owners, which is more than we can say about the competing ownership group of Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez. Despite Lopez’s willingness to be the face of said group rather than A-Rod, there were doubts as to their intention with the team and if they had enough capital to keep up with the day-to-day operations of owning a baseball franchise. A-Rod and J-Lo, of course, said otherwise.
There are no such issues with Cohen. He’s loaded, and has long wanted a baseball franchise. At least on the surface this looks like a win for the Mets. Surely it can’t be worse than the Wilpon’s.