Mets' proposed sale to billionaire Steve Cohen may be falling through
Carlos Beltrán's reign as the New York Mets' manager was gone in the blink of an eye, and it appears that the Steve Cohen era as the team's expected majority owner may be about as brief.
The proposed sale of a reported 80% of the Mets to the hedge fund billionaire could be falling through, according to reports Tuesday.
Cohen, a Long Island native who purchased a small stake in the Mets from the Wilpon family in 2012, is "deeply unhappy with the Wilpons changing the terms of the deal at a very late stage and has decided to walk away," wrote the New York Post, which cited sources close to the situation.
Among the points of contention, per the newspaper, are the Wilpons' degree of control over the team during a previously reported five-year transition period and whether SNY, a regional sports network associated with the team, would be part of the sale.
Sterling Partners, the holding company for the Mets' ownership group, responded to Tuesday's reports in a statement, saying: "The parties are subject to confidentiality obligations, including a mutual non-disclosure agreement, and therefore cannot comment."
Fred Wilpon, 83, became a minority owner of the Mets in 1980, co-owner in 1986 and purchased the team outright in 2002. Wilpon and his son Jeff Wilpon were forced to sell shares in the team after becoming embroiled in the Bernie Madoff financial scandal.
The reported agreement with Cohen, 63, called for Fred Wilpon to stay on as the Mets' chief executive and for Jeff Wilpon to retain his role as chief operating officer through the five-year period. Fans of the team, which despite being based in the nation's largest market has been in the middle of the pack in payroll since the fallout began from the Madoff scandal, were hoping that Cohen would quickly ramp up the Mets' spending.
Instead, the transition to a new majority owner appears closer to not happening at all.
CNBC also reported Tuesday that Cohen has stopped negotiations to buy the team. Other reports indicated that the deal is in jeopardy but not dead.
Beltrán, a former Mets player, was introduced at the start of November as the team's new manager, replacing Mickey Callaway. He and the team parted ways in mid-January after Beltrán was named in the MLB report on the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scheme.
