The New York Mets and their fans are back to square one now that the proposed buyout by billionaire Steve Cohen has fallen through. The deal, in which Cohen would buy 80 percent of the team for approximately $2.6 billion and take control of the team over five years, was pronounced dead last Thursday, leading the club to release this statement.
“The transaction between Sterling and Steve Cohen was a highly complicated one. Despite the efforts of the parties over the past several months, it became apparent that the transaction as contemplated would have been too difficult to execute.â€
On Monday, Mets’ scion and COO Jeff Wilpon sent out an additional statement claiming he can’t comment on why the deal is no longer in place but assured fans ownership will continue it’s crackerjack effort to win a championship.
More Wilpon: "We would like to assure our fans that we will continue our commitment to winning in 2020 and beyond and we'll work hard to earn and maintain everyone's confidence and trust."
He says Mets won't update further "until we are prepared to make a public announcement."
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 10, 2020
The part where Wilpon says they’ll be working hard to “maintain everyone’s confidence and trust” is comical. Of all the MLB ownership groups, the Wilpons are among the least trusted and respected.
Some are speculating that Cohen rethought the deal which would have kept the Wilpon family in power five years into his stewardship and possibly beyond. The deal made no sense from the get go. Why he would agree to it is nuts. It appears that he didn’t.
There is a possibility Cohen comes back to the table with a new offer but it doesn’t seem as if the Wilpons are willing to simply hand over the keys under any circumstances. They still want some type of control regardless of their ownership stake.
No one is going to agree to those terms. It looks like Met fans are stuck with the Wilpons for the foreseeable future.