Big News! (update: Mets Minority Stake For Sale)

[batmagadanleadoff]

seawolf17 wrote: Gwreck wrote: No offense to Seawolf who (I presume) didn't invent it, but "Twitterverse" is possibly the dumbest internet-related made-up word ever, except of course for the utterly moronic "Blogosphere." I invented neither word, but I do enjoy the word "Twitterverse."

Because it sounds like Twatterverse.

[Edgy MD]

I don't think I feel particuarly dumb when I use "blogosphere." Let me check.

Blogosphere.

Blogosphere.

Nope.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Joel Sherman says Wilpons looking for financial partners. Is this the news?

http://twitter.com/#!/Joelsherman1/status/31039393686884352

no, I doubt it.

[metirish]

Mets are for sale


EDIT....I got a bit excited... refer to above post

[Edgy MD]

Wall St rumblings Wilpons looking for partners to help financially with #Mets If true, Madoff stuff more real then Wilpons have admitted 3 minutes ago via web Retweeted by 6 people .Joelsherman1 Joel Sherman

Maybe.

[metirish]

Release

The release was sent out at a few minutes ago � here it is in full:

Fred Wilpon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Mets, and Jeff Wilpon, Chief Operating Officer of the New York Mets, issued the following statement:

As Sterling Equities announced in December, we are engaged in discussions to settle a lawsuit brought against us and other Sterling partners and members of our families by the Trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy. We are not permitted to comment on these confidential negotiations while they are ongoing.

However, to address the air of uncertainty created by this lawsuit, and to provide additional assurance that the New York Mets will continue to have the necessary resources to fully compete and win, we are looking at a number of potential options including the addition of one or more strategic partners. To explore this, we have retained Steve Greenberg, a Managing Director at Allen & Company, as our advisor.

Regardless of the outcome of this exploration, Sterling will remain the principal ownership group of the Mets and continue to control and manage the team�s operations. The Mets have been a major part of our families for more than 30 years and that is not going to change.

As we have said before, we are totally committed to having the Mets again become a World Series winner. Our fans and all New Yorkers deserve nothing less.

[TransMonk]

I've got $37. How much of a stake will that get me?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I guess that's it.

Doesn't exactly get my pulse racing.

[metirish]

Well , it's a bit of a damp squib isn't it?

[seawolf17]

The CPF needs to be a minority partner. I'm in for $37 too. We'll only need... /crunches numbers ... about 162,000 other people or so.

[Ceetar]

Boring. Any new partner they took on would have less relevance on our lives than Saul Katz.

Is the idea here to make a couple extra bucks to cover what they might have to pay in the lawsuit without affecting the business as a whole?

[Benjamin Grimm]

seawolf17 wrote: The CPF needs to be a minority partner. I'm in for $37 too. We'll only need... /crunches numbers ... about 162,000 other people or so.

That multiplies out to about $6 million.

I would assume that the Wilpons are looking for a lot more than that.

What are the Mets worth these days? Anyone have an idea?

[seawolf17]

I was just guessing on numbers. 1% of a $600 million franchise, divided by $37 a person. I have no idea where I came up with that number, though.

[Edgy MD]

Maybe we can go halvsies with "The Happy Recap."

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: seawolf17 wrote: The CPF needs to be a minority partner. I'm in for $37 too. We'll only need... /crunches numbers ... about 162,000 other people or so. That multiplies out to about $6 million. I would assume that the Wilpons are looking for a lot more than that. What are the Mets worth these days? Anyone have an idea?

Approaching a billion I would think.

[TransMonk]

I think the idea is that the Wilpons are going to be financially down for several years and need some new money infused to keep the Mets competitive.

They have been denying (lying about) this for some time, but IMO, this confirms that the Madoff thingy was bad news for Fred and Sterling...more than they were letting on about.

In the long run, this will be good for the Mets.

[metirish]

$858 million from Forbes in 2010

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/06/most-valuable-baseball-teams-business-sportsmoney-baseball-valuations-10-values.html

[Edgy MD]

I don't think this proves lying at all. Being under a multi-million-dollar lawsuit freezes up assets.

[Ceetar]

TransMonk wrote: I think the idea is that the Wilpons are going to be financially down for several years and need some new money infused to keep the Mets competitive. They have been denying (lying about) this for some time, but IMO, this confirms that the Madoff thingy was bad news for Fred and Sterling...more than they were letting on about. In the long run, this will be good for the Mets.

Well, they weren't lying. the lawsuit is fairly new right? It's not the Madoff thing, its' the lawsuit in reaction to the Madoff thing.

[Frayed Knot]

TransMonk wrote: I think the idea is that the Wilpons are going to be financially down for several years and need some new money infused to keep the Mets competitive. They have been denying (lying about) this for some time, but IMO, this confirms that the Madoff thingy was bad news for Fred and Sterling...more than they were letting on about. In the long run, this will be good for the Mets.

I think it's more like a hedge should they get bitch-slapped by the results of the lawsuit and want someone to come aboard who is essentially going to help absorb that hit if it does come but at the same time is betting that it won't happen and gets a share of the team going forward for his risk.

[TransMonk]

Either way, I'm finally glad the Wilpons admitted there was a problem.

[metirish]

Didn't they make money from Madoff?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe. I've heard reports that they did. But even if so, they still might lose it (and more) in a lawsuit.

[metirish]

yeah , I think the big news on this release is coming......not buying this carefully worded statement.

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: Didn't they make money from Madoff?

I think that's actually the problem. That money is basically illegal and may have to be given back.

[Edgy MD]

The problem is that they made money. The nature of Ponzi schemes is that money from the later investors is used to pay off the earlier and larger investors wanting a piece of those big dividends the schemers have been reporting. Naturally, those later investors are saying, "Wait a minute... Let's share the pain here."

[Frayed Knot]

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) � The New York Mets are exploring a partial sale of the team as they face a lawsuit from a trustee trying to reclaim money for victims of the Bernard Madoff swindle.
Court-appointed trustee Irving Picard said the Mets made nearly $48 million in Madoff�s scheme. According to Picard, the Mets originally invested about $523 million, but eventually withdrew about $571 million from the accounts.
The Mets� owners, Fred Wilpon and son Jeff, say they are looking into the sale to �address the air of uncertainty created by this lawsuit.� They also want to provide assurance that the team will continue to have the �necessary resources to fully compete and win.�
The Wilpons have retained former deputy baseball commissioner Steve Greenberg to assist them.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The aim, then, is-- at least in part-- to diffuse the liability retroactively to Unnamed Suckers A, B and C, should the lawsuit move forward?

Wow, what a steal! That's better than a stadium chair!

[Gwreck]

Didn't Dave Howard angrily deny the Mets would sell back in August 2009?

Yes. Yes he did.

I believe he called claims that the Wilpons would sell was "flat-out wrong," "false," "irresponsible," "very disturbing," "outrageous" and "unfounded" noting that the team was "not for sale, in whole or in part."

[smg58]

seawolf17 wrote: The CPF needs to be a minority partner. I'm in for $37 too. We'll only need... /crunches numbers ... about 162,000 other people or so.

We need a more symbolic number. 41? 69? (for the World Series year, so whatever else you may be thinking, stop now.) 86?