Last week, Allen & Company set July 9 as the deadline for interested parties in buying the New York Mets from the Wilpons to submit their bids. The team has been up for sale for quite a few months now.
Allen & Company is the firm in charge of managing the sale of the Mets. Before talks broke down in February, billionaire hedge funder Steve Cohen was on the verge of completing the transaction. Now, there are several investment groups looking to secure the deal.
According to what J.P. Morgan told Charles Gasparino of Fox Business, the bid from the group led by Mike Repole, Alex Rodriguez, and Jennifer Lopez is closer to $2 billion and not the previously reported $1.7 billion that was floating around.
That is indeed a competitive offer, close to what Cohen bid this time around. Additionally, Gasparino is saying that a source close to Josh Harris and David Blitzer said that the pair is “feeling pretty good” about their chances of getting the team after their bid, although it is not known how much they offered.
Several parties are interested in buying the Mets
Besides “J-Rod” (and Repole) Cohen, and the Harris – Blitzer pair, there are at least four other interested parties in buying the New York Mets.
For now, the Mets are hosting its training camp in Citi Field, in New York, in preparation for the MLB season that will start on July 23.
According to general manager Brodie van Wagenen, he is focused on winning rather than what happens with ownership.
“You’d be surprised. We aren’t talking about it as a baseball operations group,†Van Wagenen said. “Our focus is … to win, and it’s to try to win going forward. There are no distractions. And I would say that’s true for me, it would be true for [COO] Jeff [Wilpon], it would be true for the rest of our baseball operations leadership, and I know it’s true for our players and our coaches. It’s just not a conversation we’re having internally because we’re keeping our eye on the prize and we’re having a lot of fun doing it,†he said to MLB.com.