Add in Connors if you like but Art Fowler would be 1/2 of that ingredient.

No doubt that Paul, Michael and his own suspension were by far and away the 3 largest reasons he won any titles at all.

If CBS had hired Paul and left him alone they could have at least raised the value of their asset and if they had kept it with no rights fees they would have made a fortune. Why not? Katie Couric? What does she have to do with anything?

Speaking of George the 3rd, there is almost certainly a revisionist history about the Man.

He was the first to jump on the FA train. He was certainly ahead of the curve there and was able to capitalize on that foresight but without Gabe Paul, where would it have gotten him?

Smart trades for Chambliss, Nettles, Dent, Randolph, Pinella/Gamble, Blair/Rivers and Lyle along with holdovers like Roy White and Thurman and intelligent fillins like Cliff Johnson and young pitchers like Guidry and Figeroa had WAY more to do with those early WS championships then Jackson, Hunter and Gossage.

After a short time he started going mad. Signing Davey Collins when he had no position to play him at, talking about putting Astro turf on the field because the Royals finally beat him, moving to NJ, trying to dig up dirt on his best player and eventually leading the team back into the dark ages.

If it weren’t for Gabe Paul, his eventual suspension and Gene Michael he would be remembered as a blustering blowhard who got a couple of early Championships and followed them with a 25 year run of non stop buffonery.

He was very very smart about buying such an undervalued asset as the Yankees were but that was more about CBS’ bad decision than anything else. Can you imagine just how much money CBS would have made over the last 40 years if they had the Yankees on 25% of the year?

George the 3rd would have been known for his box office schtick right alongside Bill Veeck and nothing else if it weren’t for Gabe Paul, Gene Michael and his second suspension from MLB.

but bottom line, an investor might pay more to buy into the Pirates than into the Mets if the profit potential was higher (yes, mets bring in more revenue, but with higher expenses).

Stick as the measuring stick foer ALL capitalistic businesses is PROFIT. It’s my belief that an additional ruler is applied to sports franchises as businesses, namely winning so that while let’s say the Atlanta Braves are potentially less profitable than the NY Mets as a business entity, the W% component would clearly favor Atlanta over New York as regards the perception of upward or downward movement. Thus considering Attrendance, W%, R&D(Farm), the general direction of the NY National league Baseball franchise is heading in the wrong direction from an investor’s criteria and as it’s a long established tenant that sports franchises are not considered to be onging money making investments until total divestment(sale); but as ongoing ventures they are not considered a good short-term investment financially making the sports related criteria that much more relevant to directionality.

I do disagree with a major part of your premise. The mets are not a “downward spiraling business”. that would be Blockbuster.

the Mets (with SNY) are a license to print money, that is in a down period at the moment (but still probably profitable). Plus, as you note with Cuban, there are limited opportunities to get into the brotherhood of owners, especially with a major market team like this.

You do make a good point about Saul’s family though.

Fred had the right of first refusal and the arbitration arrangement put into the contract in 1986 when they became “partners.”

Anyone investing now would do the same which could really lead to a stalemate and affect the on field product.

I really believe we have the right management team in place right now and expenditures will be reigned in but results will actually be better.

Once the farm starts generating results the black cloud will lift and the team (and revenues) will follow. If some of Omar’s kids come through it will just be a couple of years.

Regardless of why or how the era of checkbook baseball came to an end, we as Met Fans are going to be the beneficiaries of it with a competitive team year after year.

I readily admit it’s highly unlikely; however, politics makes strange bedfellows & this Maidoff claim stinks of highhanded class politics It certainly has likely been a lively holiday season around the Wilpon Sader table.
From what I recall reading it was Jeff who initially cajoled Fred into accompanying him to one of the Bernie “private” sales pitches, can u imagine what’s transpired bet Saul Katz & his sons & the Wilpons? I’ve also read that Fred’s, HS chum, Sandy Koufax, was stung by Bernie, I hope he wasn’t involved because of Wilpon influence