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

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Price adjustments for this season: 14-15% overall decline in ticket prices... but it's in the form of 20% off-plus on the high-end stuff. Most of everything's staying stable in price... although the cheapest tickets in the ballpark-- Value date Promenade-- have actually increased in price.

[Frayed Knot]

Sure they mis-priced the tickets - as did the Yanx and the Jets/Giants if you want to bring PSLs into the conversation.
Specifically the Mets were banking on the lure of that new-stadium smell, an expected carry-over of both high hopes and a high performing team from the '06-'08 era (they got little of either), and they most decidedly were NOT counting on the economy tanking. All that contributed to a lower than expected income while the payroll rose and the cost of the new digs kicked in.
Lowering the prices this year is a simple supply/demand adjustment which is fine but it also means a lower income line than the one they were planning for.

[Willets Point]

I wonder if it's a long tail thing where lots of cheap seats at Shea are more profitable than a select number of premium seats at Citi Field.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I listed 2011 ticket prices. So perhaps prices were slightly higher for 2009-10.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Mets allegedly lower value of franchise in negotiations to sell minority stake. At least three of the approved potential buyers reportedly are interested only in purchasing majority share of team.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/mets_market_value_going_into_slump_UC8tAJCx6hQBbbaDH21cgO

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

MLBS with a ton of $$.

Cohen Makes a Pitch for Mets Billionaire Hedge-Fund Manager Joins Bidding for a Stake in Baseball Team By RANDALL SMITH And MATTHEW FUTTERMAN Billionaire hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen has joined the bidding for a minority stake in the New York Mets, as the baseball team attempts to raise about $200 million to cover losses and pay down debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Cohen, the founder of SAC Capital Advisors LLC whose net worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $7.3 billion, is a longtime Mets fan who knows its controlling Wilpon family socially. He manages about $12 billion in assets. A spokesman for the Mets declined to comment. Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for Mr. Cohen's SAC, declined to discuss any bid. Several other Wall Street financiers also are vying to gain a minority stake in a team with heavy debt, declining attendance, and the cloud of $1 billion in claims against the Wilpons by the trustee for victims of the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. The Mets recently requested that potential investors submit nonbinding letters confirming their interest in the team, including their bid price and size of the stake, which could range from 25% to 49%. Among other bidders is a team led by Steve Starker, the co-founder of Wall Street trading firm BTIG LLC. His group includes Kenny Dichter, a co-founder of Marquis Jets, and Douglas Ellin, creator of the HBO show "Entourage." Another group with Wall Street credentials is the team of David Heller, an executive of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Marc Spilker, the president of Apollo Global Management LLC, the private-equity fund. The sale is taking place against the backdrop of the $1 billion lawsuit filed against team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and their associates by Irving Picard, the trustee in the Madoff bankruptcy case. Mr. Picard has claimed the Mets owners either knew or should have known Mr. Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme. Messrs. Wilpon and Katz have denied any wrongdoing. The Mets played their home opener Friday in front of a near-sellout crowd of 41,075 at Citifield. Since then, the team has averaged 30,600 fans, below last year's average of 31,600 when the Mets led Major League Baseball in attendance declines. That makes it tougher for the team to regain profitability and command an attractive price for the minority stake.

[Edgy MD]

Get ripped off by a hedge fund manager. Be forced to sell to a hedge fund manager. The world is a funny place.

[metirish]

Apparently it's down to Cohen and these two

Cohen�s competitors include a group formed by Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of Skybridge Capital, a hedge-fund firm, and James McCann, the founder of 1-800-Flowers.com, a Mets sponsor, according to a person briefed on the matter. The two visited Fred Wilpon in spring training last month at Port St. Lucie, Fla.

out of the running are

Out of the bidding is an investment group formed by David Heller, a Goldman Sachs executive, and Marc Spilker, president of Apollo Global Management, and another comprised of Leo Hindery, a media investor, and Marc Utay, managing partner of Clarion Capital, a private equity firm. The status of a third syndicate, led by Steven Starker, a co-founder of BTIG, a global trading firm, could not be confirmed.

so says the Times article

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

McCann is kinda interesting: A social worker and part-time florist who went on to do that whole 800 flowers thing. Real NYer, also a Met fan I assume.

[Valadius]

Hindery and Utay previously tried to buy the Cubs. Hindery also is the former Chairman and CEO of the MFY Propaganda Network.

[Edgy MD]

I'd sell a little of the Metties to McCann
Scaramucci, Scaramucci? Is he from the hedge fund gang-o?
Government indicting --- very very frightening me!

One-eight-hundred, One-eight-hundred
ONE EIGHT-HUNDRED! ONE EIGHT-HUNDRED!
He sells flowers on the go! Loves Al Luplow-o-o

[Benjamin Grimm]

Valadius wrote: Hindery and Utay previously tried to buy the Cubs.

Wait... aren't those Saddam Hussein's evil sons?

[Willets Point]

Edgy DC wrote: Get ripped off by a hedge fund manager. Be forced to sell to a hedge fund manager. The world is a funny place.

It seems to be the prevailing philosophy in the House of Representatives too.

[Edgy MD]

Reports coming out about Cohen being the frontrunner, despite being under SEC investigation.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

I wish Stan Kroenke gets involved -- it will really complete my universe.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Stamford Advocate article

[Willets Point]

Two-hole golfcourse? Isn't that just minigolf?

"I'll meet you on the back 1!"

[metirish]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Stamford Advocate article

a smart guy with bags of money, what can possibly go wrong?

prediction, and not a bold one, if Cohen gets his share he'll be majority owner with in three years.

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: prediction, and not a bold one, if Cohen gets his share he'll be majority owner with in three years.

I second that emotion.

[metirish]

Per various tweets


Earlier today, Kate Kelly issued the following report on air for CNBC:

Stevie Cohen has offered to buy a 49 percent stake for about $200 million dollars, which is the cash that the Wilpons and Katz were hoping to raise. But, he does want some board seats in the Mets organization and he wants some significant say over how they do what they do. However, voting control within MLB would remain with the Wilpons, which is something that they have been insistent upon all along, as well as not wanting to sell a majority stake, which gives you sort of the 49 percent number. So, I�m told that talks are at a little bit of a stalemate right now. Cohen is demanding sort of stiffer terms than the organization was originally prepared to offer, but they are not dead. They are still happening and the goal is to get this thing done ASAP.�

[Edgy MD]

Other outlets are reporting that Cohen is out the door.

[metirish]

Sounds like Kelly might know him right?, Stevie?

[Ceetar]

There's an article in the WSJ about something Picard did that's sorta not true or something to that nature.

WSJ wrote: Madoff and the Mets; The bankruptcy trustee is using dubious methods based on flimsy evidence. The Wall Street Journal May 11, 2011 Bernie Madoff perpetrated the largest financial fraud in American history, but are his crimes now being compounded by the trustee charged with unwinding the Ponzi scheme? We're beginning to wonder after scrutinizing the evidence against Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the New York Mets owners who stand accused of colluding with Madoff. Messrs. Wilpon and Katz and their families are being sued by Irving Picard, a New York bankruptcy attorney appointed to liquidate Madoff assets and recover money from those who benefitted from his Big Con. Mr. Picard is borrowing from the method of overzealous prosecutors everywhere: distorted accusations, tailored for the media, that intimidate public figures into settling to avoid further embarrassment. His methods raise basic questions of transparency and due process. *** In an amended complaint in March, Mr. Picard is looking to recover $295 million in fake profits that the Wilpon-Katzes made from Madoff investments�i.e., other investors' money that Madoff allegedly passed on to them. He is also seeking $710 million that they withdrew against their principal, to repay the investors who came out net losers. Mr. Picard claims they were sophisticated businessmen who knew or should have known that Madoff's returns were too consistent to be true, and that they "willfully turned a blind eye to every objective indicia of fraud before them." One of Mr. Picard's marquee pieces of evidence is supposedly Peter Stamos, a friend of Mr. Katz and an investment partner. Mr. Picard claims Mr. Stamos "repeatedly warned" the Wilpon-Katzes that Madoff's returns were fishy. But the Wilpon-Katzes later obtained Mr. Stamos's deposition, long after Mr. Picard's accusations had been splashed all over the New York tabloids�and it turns out that his full testimony directly and specifically contradicted Mr. Picard's selective edit. In 1972, the Wilpon-Katzes founded Sterling Equity Partners, a closely held family partnership that manages their empire of real estate, professional baseball, a TV network, and private equity and hedge funds. Sterling first invested with Madoff in 1985. In 2002, Sterling joined with Mr. Stamos to create the hedge fund Sterling Stamos. Mr. Picard contends that Mr. Stamos "openly questioned Madoff's legitimacy for years and recommended to the Sterling Partners that they should redeem" their other investments with Madoff. But Mr. Stamos actually testified under oath that "I'm embarrassed to say that I said to Mr. Katz on a number of occasions that my assumption is that Mr. Madoff is the most honest and honorable man, among the most honest that we will ever meet. Number one. And number two, that he is perhaps one of the�my assumption is he's perhaps one of the best hedge fund managers in modern times." Mr. Picard maintained in court and led the media to believe that Mr. Stamos was a whistle-blower. Mr. Stamos did send an email in December 2008 saying that "Fortunately, our firm did not invest with Madoff. That firm and fund wouldn't make it through our risk and ops controls�lack of transparency, no third party administrator, etc. Unfortunately, our partners�Saul and Fred�against our recommendations invested as individuals and through their real estate firm. Based on the public evidence so far, it looks as if Mr. Stamos was merely being a good fiduciary, urging the Wilpon-Katzes to diversify their investments and warning them about the risks of proprietary trading strategies like the one Madoff said he was running. The Sterling partners had about nine-tenths of their securities investments with Madoff, Mr. Picard estimates. As Mr. Stamos put it, "What I recall telling him [saul Katz] was don't put more than 10% of your assets in any one manager." Mr. Picard also makes much of an email from Sterling Stamos's chief strategist Ashok Chachra calling Madoff "too good to be true" and a "scam." But that email was sent a day after the fraud was exposed�and Mr. Chachra testified that beforehand there was "no reason to think there was anything wrong." His deposition, which the Wilpon-Katzes also obtained, reveals that Mr. Picard's team did not ask Mr. Chachra about the email, while Mr. Stamos said that "I can't recall ever using those words to describe Mr. Madoff." Mr. Picard left out such details because the case in still in "pre-compliant discovery" under U.S. bankruptcy court rules. Defendants aren't entitled to see even exculpatory evidence until litigation begins months from now, and they couldn't respond publicly until they countersued. So far Mr. Picard has refused to open his case. After the Wilpon-Katzes acquired Mr. Stamos's deposition from his lawyer, Mr. Picard's shop sent a letter threatening them for their "premature self-help efforts" and for "pressuring third-parties" to supply the same information Mr. Picard already knows. His legal strategy seems to be to prevent the public from knowing all the facts before passing judgment. What else is he keeping under his hat? We could continue with other distortions, but let's get to what seem to be Mr. Picard's most damning allegations. In 2004, the Wilpon-Katzes had an option with Cablevision to buy back the valuable broadcast rights of the Mets for $54 million, and a narrow contract window in which to do it. As the deadline drew near, the bank loans they had applied for hadn't come through. So they approached Madoff to withdraw the $54 million as a contingency plan, but Madoff claimed their accounts were "in the market" and that he would give them a bridge loan instead. The only documentation for this unorthodox transaction was a false agreement on Mets letterhead describing it as an "investment" by Madoff's wife in what would become SportsNet New York, the Mets station. As it happens, the bank loans closed in time and the Wilpon-Katzes repaid Madoff the day after he wired the money. They say they trusted their friend Madoff in a frantic business moment and didn't know what they were signing. But in any case, how is any of this evidence of their knowledge of a pyramid scheme? *** So should Messrs. Wilpon and Katz have known that Madoff was a crook? After all, he eluded serial Securities and Exchange Commission investigations, and he was once a pillar of the community, even briefly the Nasdaq chairman. His crimes depended on credulity in affluent circles, and trust is necessary for betrayal. The Sterling partners did not earn extraordinary returns as high as 100% to 900% typical of some high-level Madoff clients. But more pointedly, do the investment errors of the Wilpon-Katzes�the failure of due diligence, their nondiversified cash management strategy�prove they were complicit with Madoff? Or do these errors merely prove they were lousy investors? The latter explanation seems more plausible, but it doesn't help Mr. Picard's strategy to recover more funds by portraying the unsympathetic rich as villains. Mr. Picard has virtually unconstrained discretion under the bankruptcy code, including subpoena power and a team of investigators and forensic accounting experts. He has billed for $175.5 million in fees. Yet rather than shed more light on what happened, he seems most interested in collecting fortunes from public figures by humiliating them into a settlement, before his claims are ever tested in court. Madoff's crimes did enough damage and shouldn't be compounded by treating his victims as accomplices without unequivocal evidence or due process.

[dgwphotography]

That reads like it was written by the Wilpon's defense team...

Madoff's crimes did enough damage and shouldn't be compounded by treating his victims as accomplices without unequivocal evidence or due process.

I'd be more willing to accept the Wilpons as victims if they didn't see such profits, and the track record of honesty with this ownership group isn't exactly stellar...

[Edgy MD]

The Times and the Post are carrying some more water for Picard in reporting that Wilpon and Katz apparently shopping for fraud insurance in 2001 implicates them in more deeply in the Madoff fraud.

Seems like a stab in the dark.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: The Times and the Post are carrying some more water for Picard in reporting that Wilpon and Katz apparently shopping for fraud insurance in 2001 implicates them in more deeply in the Madoff fraud. Seems like a stab in the dark.

It's all a stab in the dark at this point.

Isn't it like not getting into a car with someone wearing a seatbelt because it must mean they don't think they're a good driver?

[Edgy MD]

dgwphotography wrote: That reads like it was written by the Wilpon's defense team... Madoff's crimes did enough damage and shouldn't be compounded by treating his victims as accomplices without unequivocal evidence or due process. I'd be more willing to accept the Wilpons as victims if they didn't see such profits, and the track record of honesty with this ownership group isn't exactly stellar...

Everybody saw such profits. The Wilpons just withdrew more.

[ashie62]

It gets weirder..SAC Capital being investigated by Grassley for Insider trading.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/21/sac-capital-insider-trading-grassley_n_865081.html?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk3%7C213932

[metirish]

Here he is, the new man according to tweets

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Einhorn_(hedge_fund_manager)

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: Here he is, the new man according to tweets http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Einhorn_(hedge_fund_manager)

And apparently he called for the CEO of Microsoft to step down. I like it.