New York Mets: 5 Reasons Bud Selig Needs to Step in and Change Ownership

As most people know, the New York Mets are going though a bit of a bad spot.

Because of Bernie Madoff, Mets ownership is in a rough financial situation. They are losing money with the team every year, and it's affecting the Mets both on and off the field.

A lot of people are calling for Commissioner Bud Selig to step in and make a change. This would be unusual for him, because he is normally laid back and likes the team owners to handle their own business and sort out their own problems.

However, with multiple lawsuits and many financial issues in the biggest sports market in the country, it might be close to a time when Selig will have to do something about it.

These are some of the reasons that he might decide to make a change.

No. 5: Frank McCourt and the Los Angeles Dodgers

Obviously, the Dodgers don't really have anything to do with the Mets in a literal sense. However, the situations—in relation to the game of baseball—are quite similar.

For years, Frank McCourt used the Dodgers as his own personal ATM and was destroying a team playing in probably the second biggest market in the United States.

Plainly, it was hurting the game of baseball.

That's when Selig stepped in and took over the Dodgers day-to-day operations. The reason that I use this as a reason as to why Selig should step in for the Mets is because it has worked pretty well for the Dodgers.

As a team, they didn't have a very good year, but as far as a business, everything went much better once McCourt was removed. That should be the start of a turnaround for the franchise.

If Selig removes what are essentially the money troubles from the Mets, then the franchise can start to turn around faster. Hopefully Selig realizes it worked last time and steps in before things get too out of hand.

No. 4: The Fans

The New York Mets have some of the most passionate and loyal fans in baseball. All teams are going to have fans that turn on them when times are down, but most Mets fans support the team through and through.

Even if it isn't a reason that would ever be good enough to constitute a change, Selig should think about the fans when weighing a decision. Mets fans have had some rough times lately and Selig can makes things a lot better by changing ownership.

I'm sure there are some Mets fans out there, who for whatever reason, support the Wilpons, but the majority are sick and tired of what they are doing to the team.

They have made many poor decisions over the years, and it hasn't severely hampered a team that should be able to compete year in and year out like their cross-town rivals.

Obviously, this wouldn't be a main reason Selig makes a change, but hopefully if he's on the fence about what to do, this might give him that little extra push.

No. 3: Preventing a Good Team

As I said in the previous slide, the Mets should be able to compete year in and year out. I believe this mostly because of the market they are in.

When you are in the biggest sports market in the country, and have the opportunity to have a payroll that reflects it, you should be able to compete. Look at other big market teams that are able to consistently have good seasons (Yankees, Braves, Phillies, Red Sox, etc.).

The only thing that has been hampering the Mets from reaching that level (besides injuries) is ownership. The Wilpons have made some terrible management decisions that have severely hurt the team.

The better a big market team is, the more money will be spent by fans.

Whether it's tickets, merchandise or food at the ballpark, it doesn't really make a difference. Then that helps the game through revenue sharing.

It would be in Bud Selig's best interest to have the big market teams be competitive every year, and the best way to do that with the Mets is to change ownership. Sandy Alderson was a great start at the GM spot, but now it needs to be taken to the next level.

No. 2: Irving Picard Lawsuit

Irving Picard, the trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff's ponzie scheme, has filed a huge lawsuit against the Wilpons.

He is claiming that the Wilpons were "Willfully blind" to Bernie Madoff's scheme because they benefited from it. This looks bad for the Mets in multiple ways.

First, there is the bad press. How does it look if one of major league baseball's teams is accused of receiving funds from a scheme that costs millions of people a lot of money? It really puts a black stain on the league.

Secondly, there is no telling when this lawsuit will be settled. It can go on for years and years and drag the Mets all through the mud. Then you continue to have these problems with publicity and money. That causes players to not want to come play for the Mets because of the ridiculous state that their franchise is in.

Without the money aspect even being considered, this lawsuit is nothing but bad news for the Mets, the Wilpons and Major League Baseball.

No. 1: Money!

C'mon, did any of you really expect anything different as the No. 1 reason?

Money is the biggest issue for the Mets right now—evidenced by their biggest roster downsize of all time (amount-wise). All the problems with the Mets are the result of money.

The Irving Picard lawsuit talked about in the last slide obviously has a lot to do with this. For Picard to get any more than $83 million from the Wilpons and Saul Katz, he would have to prove that they knowingly gained money from Madoff.

However, even if he only gets around $80 million, that would still be a big blow to the Mets.

Already in plenty of debt, any extra cash owed would just pile on. The Mets already have a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball, $40 million bridge loan from Bank of America, and still have part of a $375 million loan on the team (via NY Times).

With everything that is going on right now, it just doesn't seem like the Wilpons are going able to stay afloat and hold on to this franchise. Bud Selig should step in and make a change before everything slides too far downhill to recover from.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/sports/baseball/for-mets-vast-debt-and-not-a-lot-of-time.html