The entangled race to buy the Mets is rapidly escalating.
Major League Baseball has approved seven groups as qualified bidders for the Mets, according to a Tuesday morning report from Sportico.
Known bidders include Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez’s group, which consists of Vitaminwater co-founder Mike Repole and Florida Panthers owner Vinnie Viola. Rodriguez and Lopez hired JPMorgan Chase in April to raise money for their possible bid. But, because the couple does not have enough money to buy the Mets on their own with a combined net worth of $700 million, Rodriguez and Lopez need help from billionaire investors like Repole and Viola.
Devils and 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer — who have a combined net worth of $5.1 billion — are also reportedly in the mix.
Brothers David and Simon Reuben are reportedly exploring a bid for the team, according to a Variety report. The tycoons are worth a combined $14 billion and are more interested in the real estate opportunities around Citi Field. In April, Bloomberg reported the Reuben brothers’ purchase of a retail condominium around Rockefeller Center in Manhattan as a step towards growing their enterprise in New York.
The Mets — valued at $2.4 billion as of April — have been for sale since February, when the team’s current ownership group in Fred and Jeff Wilpon had a $2.6 billion deal with hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen that fell through two months after they announced they were negotiating a sale. The Mets hired Allen & Co. to oversee the process in the same month.
Jeff Wilpon confirmed during a June panel discussion that “the team will have some kind of transaction.” He added, “I can’t tell you exactly what it’s going to be and how it’s going to look.”
The Mets hope to close a deal before 2021, according to the report, with a preferred time for the transfer of ownership after the World Series and before the end of the calendar year. But, in case the deal doesn’t go through in that timeframe, the Wilpons made sure their Mets sale is protected for at least another year when they sought to extend their credit earlier this month.
The club reportedly took out a $250 million loan from JPMorgan Chase which expires at the end of July. The Wilpons, though, are seeking to extend the deadline of that term until at least July 31, 2021. It is unclear if that extension was approved.
Fred Wilpon and his brother-in-law, Saul Katz, purchased their first stake in the Mets in 1980. They became 50-50 partners with former majority owner Nelson Doubleday in 1986. Wilpon served as the team president until 2002, when he became majority owner of the Mets.
