The New York Mets are still an attractive to team to potential suitors.
Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils principal owner Josh Harris and David Blitzer are among the suitors for the Mets, Scott Soshnick of Variety reports.
Harris is the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management. Blitzer is an executive at private equity firm Blackstone.
In 2017, the two formed Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, a holding company for their sports franchises that also includes the English Premier League soccer club Crystal Palace.
The Mets, controlled by the Wilpon family, in December said they were in negotiations to sell up to 80% of the team to hedge fund titan Steve Cohen at a valuation of $2.6 billion. Terms of that deal allowed for the Mets to retain control of the club for five years.
Talks with Cohen reportedly broke down because the timetable for control of the team reportedly didn’t sit well with him.
For over a decade, the Mets have been in the news as it pertains to their financial status.
Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and his fiancé, the actor and singer Jennifer Lopez, have retained JPMorgan Chase to help raise capital for a possible bid on the team. Wilpon took control of the Mets in 2002 at a valuation of about $391 million.
A key factor in any negotiations with the Wilpons will include their regional sports network, SNY. This has been a deal breaker for the them in earlier talks. It will be interesting to see if they’ve budged on their position.
But according to the New York Post, someone budged.
The Post is reporting the Wilpons are finally willing to part with SNY.
This would give Harris and Blitzer a chance to merge their other franchises onto one “superregional” sports network.
“The Wilpons need to sell, and they want everyone to know that Harris and Blitzer are interested,” said one Wall Street source close to the Mets situation. “But those guys are only going to buy the team if they can steal it. It’s a real ‘catch a falling knife’ scenario.”
