The bidding to buy the New York Mets began last week, though several of the potential new owners had already been discussed for months. Among those that advanced to the second round are the hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, a group led by Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, and another group led by Josh Harris and David Blitzer, the co-owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils. More details continue to emerge about the latter groups. ESPN reported on Monday that NFL players DeMarco Murray, Brian Urlacher, and Travis Kelce are part of Lopez and Rodriguez’s group.
More explosively, the New York Post reported on Wednesday that the casino billionaire and Trump mega-donor Sheldon Adelson had joined Harris and Blitzer. Adelson quickly denied the report, but not before some distress was registered. As Forbes’s Alex Reimer wrote on Wednesday, “Adelson’s reported identity as the mystery bidder for the Mets places the woebegone franchise’s beleaguered fans in an uncomfortable position: rooting for a team funded by the Republican Party’s biggest individual financial backer.”
The Wilpons, who have at least part-owned the team since 1986, reportedly hope to sell the Mets by October, and the Post reported last week that the team’s COO, Jeff Wilpon, would prefer to go with the Lopez–Rodriguez bid if they can match what the hedge fund and private equity types are offering. (A previous attempt by Cohen to buy the Mets in December fell through.) He’s not the only one with a bias toward the superstar couple. Page Six reported on Wednesday that the pair has been touted by anonymous entertainment insiders as a way to give the club a makeover. “They’d leave no stone unturned,” one source said. “It’s going to be an entertainment experience.”
It’s not a novel notion—as the tabloid notes, a similar case was made when Jay-Z got involved with the Brooklyn Nets in 2012—but it may have taken on some extra urgency on a day when the possibility of an Adelson-owned team was raised, and the stakes of the sale were underscored.
“Being a former athlete and having a chance to be a part of a group trying to purchase a professional team, it’s pretty cool,” Urlacher told ESPN on Monday. “It’s especially cool to be involved with Alex. Alex is the man.”
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