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Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez Reportedly out of Race to Buy Mets
May 7, 2020
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are reportedly out of the running to purchase the New York Mets.
According to Thornton McEnery of the New York Post, "negotiations with potential partners failed to materialize and it became clear that the Wilpons' reluctance to part with SNY makes it almost impossible for anyone without many billions of dollars to afford [to own] the team."
The question for Mets majority owner Fred Wilpon is whether he can feasibly sell the team without also giving up SNY given the potential financial losses the team is facing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Major League Baseball is currently on hiatus and it remains to be seen when the league will return to play and if they'll be able to play a full season.
There will almost assuredly be no fans in attendance when the games do resume, at least initially, removing a huge revenue stream from ticket sales, concessions and merchandise.
"The league has drawn down all of its credit lines," a person close to MLB told McEnery. "But that means it can pay each team $40 million at most. The Mets are going to lose like $90 million this year, if not more."
Given those losses, any attempt to sell the Mets without also including the television revenue that SNY provides is unlikely to succeed.
"There is no way this team trades now without SNY," a banker told McEnery. "The Wilpons can play hardball as much as they want but no one can afford to own this team without the TV revenue. It literally doesn't add up."
Regardless, Rodriguez and Lopez were unable to find a money partner to make any potential deal work.
McEnery reported that their Mets' pursuit "hit a major snag in recent weeks when their chosen money partner, Long Island biotech billionaire Wayne Rothbaum, made it clear he was only interested in scooping up the MLB franchise at an amazing discount. Rothbaum also wanted to exert more control over the team than J-Rod was comfortable surrendering."