The gist of it is that A-Rod is putting together a group that can purchase the team outright, but the Wilpons might not get as much as they would have selling the club if times were normal. None of that seems all that surprising. Given all the uncertainty about when the sport might return to business as usual, the new owners would be taking on a fair amount of financial risk. They certainly couldn't expect to make a profit for this year, and who knows how far along things will be next year.
The story cites an unnamed source close to the Wilpons as describing them as "motivated sellers". The article points out that the Mets owners have had cash flow problems for years since the Madoff pipeline dried up. Obviously that situation is exacerbated by the fact that no money is coming in right now.
That whole situation with the Wilpons is something I've been fretting about in this space since I started blogging again. With their already precarious finances the Wilpons are ill-equipped to survive the financial pressures this pandemic has caused baseball, and the real loser from this situation stands to be the long-term strength of this franchise.
What kind of struck me as odd from the end of the article was the assertion by someone described as a "Mets insider" that the Wilpons wouldn't consider revisiting selling the team to Steve Cohen again, even if he was to offer more money to buy the club, citing "bad blood" between the Wilpons and Cohen.
I won't begin to guess what happened to cause that potential deal to fall apart, but if you are the Wilpons, you're desperate to sell the team, and you would take less money because you're holding a grudge, then maybe we shouldn't be surprised that your finances are in bad shape. That's just bad business.
Note that this is offered as a supplement to my main post today. If you haven't had the chance yet, please check it out.
Stay well. See you tomorrow.
Follow me on Twitter @MikeSteffanos
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