Tweet
Much has been made of Fred Wilpon’s unflattering comments about stars Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and David Wright in the most recent edition of The New Yorker, but it’s the club bleeding red ink that is more concerning.
Wilpon is quoted in the current issue of Sports Illustrated as saying the Mets are "bleeding cash" and could lose up to $70 million this year.
That’s $10 million more than the club initially forecasted they lose this season. Attendance is killing the club that is seeing an average of 28,565 over 21 games and rank them just 13 out of the 30 clubs in MLB.
The loses are adding to the drop in the club’s overall valuation. Forbes valued the club a $747 million in its most recent listing, but today, Mike Ozanian with the publication adjusted that figure now estimates the value of the franchise to be closer to $700 million.
When you throw in hedge-fund mogul Steve Cohen backing out of a reported $200 million minority purchase of the club (something that we said was actually beneficial), it does put more pressure on the Wilpons and Saul Katz to get cash in the door, fast.
At what point, if any, does all this cause Sterling Equities to buckle and sell majority stake? The ownership will say that’s not going to happen, but we’re beginning to wonder. Either the club needs to get a minority owner in yesterday (which will assuredly be below Cohen’s offer), or quite building ill-will with the fans (comments about the players). Either way, if the team were to somehow rally and move up in the standings, it’s going to be a losing year for the Mets.
Wilpon is quoted in the current issue of Sports Illustrated as saying the Mets are "bleeding cash" and could lose up to $70 million this year.
That’s $10 million more than the club initially forecasted they lose this season. Attendance is killing the club that is seeing an average of 28,565 over 21 games and rank them just 13 out of the 30 clubs in MLB.
The loses are adding to the drop in the club’s overall valuation. Forbes valued the club a $747 million in its most recent listing, but today, Mike Ozanian with the publication adjusted that figure now estimates the value of the franchise to be closer to $700 million.
When you throw in hedge-fund mogul Steve Cohen backing out of a reported $200 million minority purchase of the club (something that we said was actually beneficial), it does put more pressure on the Wilpons and Saul Katz to get cash in the door, fast.
At what point, if any, does all this cause Sterling Equities to buckle and sell majority stake? The ownership will say that’s not going to happen, but we’re beginning to wonder. Either the club needs to get a minority owner in yesterday (which will assuredly be below Cohen’s offer), or quite building ill-will with the fans (comments about the players). Either way, if the team were to somehow rally and move up in the standings, it’s going to be a losing year for the Mets.
Comment