metirish

Marti Silver from Georgi Vodka had a press conference today replete with Mets girls saying he wants in with the Wilpon's but only if he has a say in the day to day operations.

Yeah not sure what Heyman was tweeting about....we all knew the ASG was going to be at CF then...not sure if we heard it confirmed from Seligs office.....maybe Heyman did....I dunno...the third year is a team option as linked in the first post.

Heyman saying its for "something less than $8million ". Heyman saying too that it was confirmed yesterday that the Mets would host 2013 ASG, although it's not official.

I meant to give kudos to the thread title and Willets first post.

Great news......

Forbes, some interesting stuff in here.....bold area are mine Pressed By Madoff Suit, Mets Owners Seek a Lifeline Is the well running dry for the owners of the New York Mets? Fred Wilpon, the man who bought his first stake in the Mets in 1980 and bought out partner Nelson Doubleday in 2002, said today that he�s retained Steve Greenberg of Allen & Company, a boutique investment bank in New York, to help him search for one or more minority investors in the team. Wilpon insists that he will retain majority ownership of the Mets, which he owns through his company, Sterling Equities. Wilpon told reporters he was looking to explore selling a 20% to 25% stake in the team. Despite the uncertain economy, Greenberg describes the marketplace for potential minority owners as �never stronger.� (Press release, below) That�s probably an exaggeration, given that other baseball properties on the block for awhile have yet to move � witness the Red Sox inability to move the 17% stake that the New York Times Company decided to shed. But most agree the market has generally strengthened since 2009. Any deal to sell off part of the Mets will c0me down to the details � what exactly is being sold. �If it�s a just a suite and capital calls, there won�t be much interest,� says industry consultant Marc Ganis of Sports Corp. Limited, who thinks any serious offer would likely have to include capital call protections and an interest in the Mets� SNY cable network. �The market is good, but the investors are very picky,� he says. It�s been a tough couple of years for Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff , the Mets� Chief Operating Officer. A client of scamster Bernie Madoff, Sterling Equities is being sued by the Trustee of the Madoff bankruptcy. The claim is that the Wilpons took more money out of Madoff account than they put in over the years, and as net winners they owe some of that money to other victims. Wilpon has been trying to quietly settle the suit. In his initial public statement, Fred Wilpon said that his desire to reassure fans during a period that�s brought an �air of uncertainty� created by the lawsuit is driving his quest to look for new investors. That strikes some observers as a bit odd. �On the one hand, they mention an air of uncertainty, but they�re also acknowledging that they need money� says Rob Tillis of Inner Circle Sports, a New York-based sports M&A firm. The Mets have also suffered through disappointing performances on the field and at the gate during the first two seasons of their $800 million ballpark, Citi Field. As Tillis points out, the Mets missed out on the attendance spike that usually accompanies the opening of a new park, thanks to the crummy economy and mediocrity on the field. Many believe the Wilpons have been offering up a minority share in the Mets for awhile now, quietly canvassing friends and high net worth individuals to gauge interest. By now going public with the plan �you�re making sure that investors will approach you,� says Ganis. A recent front office shakeup has the Wilpons pinning their hopes on new GM Sandy Alderson and new manager Terry Collins to turn things around. That could certainly happen, but not until the club is able to unload the burdensome contracts left over from the last regime and start fresh. It looks like a cash infusion may be needed too. Not that any of this makes the Mets situation all that unique. Teams look for minority partners all the time, notes Tillis, so there�s no reason to assume that the Wilpons are taking a first step toward getting out. �The real question is whether they will be able to find limited partner capital,� he says. �It will depend on the size of the checks and the valuation.� Forbes most recently valued the Mets at $858 million, third-highest in MLB behind the Yankees and Red Sox.

Jeff says minority partner would be with team and not SNY/Citi Field..... Greenberg says as of today 20-25% is up for sale....."interest should be robust".... That hair!

Can you sell a stake in the Mets but not in SNY?....how does all this work within the Sterling umbrella?

Mets conference call at 2:15

Edgy DC wrote: It's like Guy Fawkes Day for Klapisch. I was going to mention how full of the Klap twitter is today ....got to agree with MGIM on the bias.

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

Didn't they make money from Madoff?

$858 million from Forbes in 2010 http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/06/most-valuable-baseball-teams-business-sportsmoney-baseball-valuations-10-values.html

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

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.

Mets are for sale EDIT....I got a bit excited... refer to above post

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Someone on BTF remarked: the best part was when David Glass used that $12 million to light a cigar. WTF is BTF? Big Trading Floor?....like Wall Street ?

Shinjo turns 369 today?.....as retweeted by � S�illeabh�in in Boston.

TransMonk wrote: I think this is the coolest thing ever. Great job, BG! Yes.....and the choose font thing is the second coolest thing

Something about Minaya?, that would hardly constitute big news though.

What's it about anyway?....my twitter is not going crazy....Rubin is posting rambling quotes of the Mets decade all morning....

Sainthood is pending for Meche...he made the CBS Evening News yesterday and wait for it....that trollop from the Daily news Joanna Molloy has weighed in http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/28/2011-01-28_his_integrity_is_so_refreshing.html and Archbishop Timothy Dolan has his say along with various New Yorkers http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/01/28/2011-01-28_how_bout_our_bums.html

Ed Kranepool

I think it was JCL who last week wondered if Cashman was trying to get fired......Lupica wonders the same this....and no I am not comparing JCL to Lupica......the video below the article has Cashman explaining his thought process on Jeter.....from Foley's pub where he was bartending. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2011/01/27/2011-01-27_with_brian_cashmans_headlinefilled_offseason_is_the_yankees_gm_trying_to_orchest.html

The facking Irish .......