7
2011
Forbes and The Death of the Mets
An article by 
Mike Ozanian of Forbes Magazine, eulogized the Mets this weekend and wrote the following:
The Mets franchise as we have known it since Nelson Doubleday and Wilpon bought the team in 1986, is dead. There are two causes of this fatality: One, Wilpon forgot his primary duty as a team owner was to produce a quality product that, in baseball’s biggest market, was self-sustaining. He had that obligation. Instead, he used the team as an ATM to earn high returns from a dubious fund manager and his cable channel to pay himself a leveraged dividend. Second, MLB commissioner Bud Selig neglected his responsibility to baseball to act in the best interests of the game. Selig whiffed on the huge debts that Wilpon piled up on the team, stadium and cable channel. I do not believe this was because of Selig’s friendship with Wilpon. After all, Selig fell for a similar game with Tom Hicks and the Texas Rangers. But it is neglect nevertheless.
Ozanian goes on to speculate that Wilpon and Katz are as good as gone and it will happen sooner rather than later. I disagree with him.
He further adds that it would be good for baseball in general if commissioner Bud Selig resigned. He feels strongly that Selig turned a blind eye to this Mets disaster as he has before with other teams and owners.
He concludes that until the Wilpons are finally gone and a new commissioner is put in place that is dedicated to ensuring the integrity of every team in the league, the image of the Mets and the National Pastime will remain tarnished.
Those are some very harsh words from Forbes who seem to be interested in taking the lead on this Wilpon/Madoff situation ever since the story first broke.
While I don’t believe the Wilpons will get through this mess by simply selling a 25% stake in the team, I do believe they will ultimately find a way to pay for any settlement agreement, and still maintain a majority ownership of the Mets.
They may have to give up 49% of the Mets and also a part of SNY to keep that control, but at the end of the day, the Wilpons will still maintain majority ownership and all decision making power over the New York Mets.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 25 | 18 | .581 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 21 | .523 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 23 | .477 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 24 | .415 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 12 | 32 | .273 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/19/2013
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I think his read of the Wilpons is a little off. But I think he is dead on with Selig.
This is just another example of Selig and MLB looking at the immediate returns and not even caring about long term reprocussions. Just like they all turned a blind eye to steroids because it was bringing in revenue, he let the Wilpons gamble on the Mets future with the stadium and the network and the leveraging contracts, because it would supposedly give big immediate gains in the #1 market.
Of course you would think that. It is impossible for you to think with an open mind about the Mets. But criticize a non-Met and you think its right on. Here is some Wilpon/stuff in regualr English that might help you understand just how the Wilpon family ran the Mets and SNY….
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/02/the-madoffwilpon-mess-a-simple-guide.html#more
They bottom line is these schemers owe more than the Mets are worth. So don’t believe Frobes, as a matter of fact don’t beleive anything or anyone that doesn’t say everything Mets is perfect. afterall they must be part of the vast world wide anti-Met conspiracy….LOL….
Did I sday the Wilpons were perfect? Did I say they were in no way at fault? Quote me where I said that.
I don’t think the Wilpons forgot they were responsible for putting out a quality product in the form of a good team. I just think they didn’t know how to do so, or forgot.
And I like how you finally learned some proper grammar, but still can’t read. That is a really neat trick.
Selig is a moron, but it is not his fault the Mets are in the situation they are in. The Wilpons’ are greedy and hopefully that greed will bite them. If they go to prison or just jump off of a building than the Mets have a shot at a turnaround, but if they still own the majority of this organization and have all the decision making power than it is going to be a long time before the Mets put a winner on the field. There is going to be a lot of payroll coming off the books after this season, and I doubt Jose Reyes will be benefiting from that this offseason, just as David Wright will most likely be gone after next season. With the Wilpons as owners, by the 2014 season, the Mets payroll will be around 70 million. Hiring Alderson was a great move for the Wilpons’ and their wallets, not the on-the-field product for the Mets.
When the writer says “Selig whiffed on the huge debts that Wilpon piled up on the team, stadium and cable channel.” I can only ask is what did the writer expect Selig to do?
Can Selig actually tell an owner he cant build a stadium or buy a netork by borrowing against the team? Has a past owner ever been denied based on similar conditions?
I’m not sure or do I recall a Commissioner ever having that type of power. I’d be interested to see that he actually does have that type of power.
The powers of the office seem to be rather vague. It’s pretty much whatever he can get the owners to go along with.
who would i believe freddye wilpon or forbes magazine? lets put it this way every newspaper or magazine looking at this issue buries the wilpon mob.oh pardon me,every newspaper but the ny daily news..who happen to be on the wilpon payroll.i guess that answes my own question.
I believe the Attourney General of the US myself.
He pretty much said Wilpons were not involved when he never took a crack at prosecuting them.
Did the Wilpons run their business badly? Sure they did they spent 140 Million dollars on a 4th place team in a 5 team division!
There are a lot of powerful people who are listed as victims of Madoff.
You don’t think they don’t have media contacts?
Why don’t you just let the case play out?
Cause some of you haters are really going to look foolish if they win their case!
I cannot understand how some people KNEW for a fact that the Wilpon’s were part of the scam before the suit was even unsealed. some people are too quick to pile on and should really should examine their own character to see why this is.
One thing about this lawsuit that has come to light (after it was unsealed) is that many people and companies supposedly either refused to do business with Madoff or warned people (including Katz/Wilpon about him.) Some like Merrill Lynch wouldn’t take any Madoff business, others like JP Chase supposedly knew and said nothing. I can’t see how this fraud was able to continue for so long while so many people knew or suspected something despite the SEC investigating Madoff 8 times in 16 years.
All of these individual investors were crowing about how smart they were all these years making 16% every year even in down cycles and now their being portrayed as innocent victims who “lost their life savings.” Bullshit. Nobody except the extremely greedy puts ALL of their money into one thing. Nobody. And if they weren’t in the mood to be asking questions about their funds performance why should anyone else have been?
The rich aren’t like the rest of us. When they get dicked they hire someone like Picard to try to find someway to get their money backed. Just wait.
Just wait until the individual investors lawsuits are winding their way through the system and the SEC get sued BIG TIME because these are BIG TIME people with BIG TIME money and their gonna get it back from someone and that always means you and me. After all we “could have and should have known too.”
You know why those people invested with madoff despite all the people who warned them?
GREED!
They saw that 16% and jumped. Now that doesn’t mean they deserve to lose their money (hard earned or not) but they should have known going in that any investment that pays 16% interest HAS to be high risk! Or a scam!
So in that regard yes the Wilpons should have known as well that the fund was funny even if no one told them it was fishy. EVERY victim should have known it too. The Wilpons are no more guilty as anyone else who was in that fund!
And everyone was happy when they thought they were making that 16%!
People can say what they want about the Wilpons, and while the Wilpons may not be the smartest business guys on the planet they were at least smarter than the remaining madoff victims because they were smart enough or lucky enough to take out thier money before the scam was uncovered! That is the only way to win in a Ponzi scheme other than running it yourself!
Imagine what 10-15 Billion dollars of REAL investment could have done for this economy!
As for the accusations of the WIlpons here, well all you have to do is look at who is making them!
The same folks who 6 or 7 months ago were posting how the Wilpons should go because they refused to cut Oliver Perez or sign and trade for Cliff Lee!
They don’t know what is going on it’s just that they have newspapers to quote now that they didn’t have before so they are re-introducing their HATRED agenda!
I say we ignore them because as soon as the case is over and the Wilpons remain they are all going to be wearing all that mud they slung in hopes of it sticking to the Wilpons!
As I say to them all…you want the Wilpons gone come up with 2.5 Billion, 1 Bil for the team and another Bil and a half for the stadium and TV Network!
Then they will be able to get rid of the Wilpons!
Obviously the “Forbes” author does not read “Metsmerised.com” because if he had he would have known that if the Wilpon’s just allow a Black or other minority person to purchase 25% of the team all their problems will magically all go away…..
What is your problem?
Do you really think that when Tom wrote “it is becoming clear that it is not just a minority partner that the club needs, but totally new ownership.” that he was referring to Race rather than just the percentage of which a person owns a team?
Did you ask him to clarify that statement to see if he was referring to a person’s race? No, your just running off rambling about something that only you seems to think has to do with one’s race.
Cmon dude really.
Bud Selig is totally inept and has presided over some of the darkest moments in baseball. He ddnt lift a finger to prevent many of the scandals and was always late in responding. The worst commissioner thye game has ever had in my opinion.
Oh and regarding Wilpon, I dont think he will be forced out as majority owner either.
it is really a simpole equation. If he can come upo with enough money to pay off the suit and cover other debt without selling the team, he keeps it. If he can’t, then the team (being probably the most liquid and most valuable asset) will get sold, since he won’t have a choice.
and for happy little (don’t the Phillies fans actually hand out on their own blogs?), many companies are worth less than they owe in debt. The key is cash flow. You don’t pay off all your debt in one shot, it is over time, and normally teams appreciate too.
so as long as they can make the payments, they keep the team (and their real estate holdings, which are probably way more underwater at this point!)
Ya, I get the feeling the real estate holdings are a way bigger problem than the team or the Madoff suit.
I’ve never been a big fan of Selig. This is mainly due to my aversion to change. Lets face it Baseball has changed alot since Selig took the helm. In the end I think Selig has done a poor to midland job as commisioner. I have no idea what Bud and Fred talked about the financial situation of the Mets. If nothing was said until the bottom dropped out then it’s another example of reactionary politics that seem to be taking the country by storm. Look at Omar as an example of always reacting instead of being ahead of the curve. As far as Wilpons financial situation I really do not have the information necassary to form a strong opinion. If the Wilpons have leveraged everything they own and are more in debt then fluid then thats pretty dumb on their part but not criminal. I don’t understand the law when it comes to these things. If the wilpons are guilty of insider trading or fraud then shouldn’t the law step up. If they are not guilty of anything then why are they being sued. Not to mention that I can’t imagine the Wilpons are the only ones who came out alright, why are they being singled out, is it because it will get more media attention then sueing some random rich guy. This thing seems like a witch hunt to me. I could be wrong though.