16
2011
Mets Seeking A Four-Month Extension To Repay MLB Loan
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Josh Kosman and Kaja Whitehouse of the NY Post and FOX Sports, have been covering the ongoing Madoff/Wilpon/Picard storyline since it’s inception and today they are reporting that the extension the Mets are trying to work out for paying back the $25 million dollar emergency loan from MLB, is actually a 4-month extension.
“The Mets are seeking at least a four month extension,” they write, as they continue to work on closing the sales of minority stakes in the franchise.
The loan was originally due to be paid back in November after they were lent the money because they could not afford to make its revenue-sharing payment last Winter.
The deal for an extension has yet to be approved, but the Commissioner is making calls to “other team owners to rally support” a source following the situation said.
Last week, during the aftermath of Jose Reyes signing with the Marlins, Mets GM Sandy Alderson cited that the Mets have lost $70 million this year. After nearly a year of saying the Madeoff/Picard case would have no bearing on the team, it was the first time he mentioned the team losses so specifically since taking over.
Whitehouse concludes that part of the Wilpons’ plan is to sell more than five stakes at the same time so they can raise enough money to put it on “firm footing for at least a few more years.”
Both the Mets and MLB declined comment on the extension.
Additionally, Bob Klapisch of FOX Sports, says the Wilpons are in way over their heads:
The Wilpons owe $430 million in principal of a loan against the team, due in 2014. They owe $450 million in principal of a loan against SNY, due in 2015. They owe an estimated $600 million, due in $25 million increments every six months, on the ballpark.
And we haven’t even mentioned the collateral damage from the Madoff lawsuit, which currently stands at $83 million. That is, unless Judge Jed Rakoff’s recent ruling, which was favorable to the Mets, is allowed to stand. If Rakoff’s calculations are reversed on appeal, the Wilpons could be on the hook for hundreds of millions more.
He concludes that “The Wilpons are no longer able to finance a big-market team.”
Matt Cerrone at MetsBlog however cautions Mets fans, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”, he writes. “In other words, there is no guarantee that a new majority owner will be any worse or better than what we’ve known in the past.”
Personally, I can’t envision a new ownership group being worse than anything we have going now, but that’s my own opinion.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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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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Bud Selig, stop your buddy buddy relationship with this crooks, tell them to pay NOW!!!!!!! or else run them out, people are already starting to notice!
How can Cerrone think another owner would be worse than the Wilpons? I guess saying otherwise would revoke the executive bathroom privileges?
LMAO!!!! Stuckin, are you banned yet?? saying anything bad of cerrone in this blog can lead to that…
I’ve got nothing against Matty, but come on. When you have Kim Jong Il, you can’t really say “nah, I’ll stick with Kim because I’m worried we’ll end up with Fidel or Mussolini or Sadam or…”
Best comment of the day! LOL
That is so NOT true! The only reason I banned someone was because they attacked him personally and with vulgar language. I don’t hardly agree with Cerrone on many issues and I’ll confront him on those issues, but I will not attack him or any other fellow Mets blogger or Mets site personally just because we have a difference of opinion.
Yet you let Bayonne attack your loyal readers with the same,if not worse vulgarity.
bayonne stifles intelligent discussion on this website by making every comment he disagrees with into some kind of personal internet flame war instead of simply stating the reasons he disagrees with the previous posters opinion.
It’s like trying to have an rational discussion with an adult while a six year old with cotton candy all over their hands, face and hair is jumping up and down in between the two of you with just one thing on his mind……….more cotton candy.
And your incessant Second Guessing and living the failures of your life out here through the Mets is like someone scratching their finger nails against a chalkboard.
- the last 25 years
- Schoenweiss
- Moises Alou
That’s all you ever talk about. Sure the Mets front office lost all those games on the field that could have changed the Mets destiny. You’re excuse making and lack of accountability is the perfect storm of Second Guessing. Everything you say is years after the fact and NEVER based on honesty, only based on your own version of how things SHOULD have been.
And you’ve been proven undisputed liar here too.
Cerrone also thought it was a “no brainer” to tender Pelfrey. Huh?
Dies anyone know if Citi Field was privately funded at any level? I hate that most stadiums are funded by taxpayers. But all this debt makes it sound as if Citi Field was completely financed by the Wilpons. I didn’t think that was the case. Anyone know?
***Does anyone know…
I thought it was mostly private, but maybe with guarantees?
I don’t care who put the money up, if the owners have to pay it back, they are funding the place.
Seriously, I do recall articles at the time showing how the Mets were actually paying more for the new statium than other teams did, including the Yankees.
And I don’t count the money spent by the gov’t on infrastructure like the new train platform.
no, in this case, I doubt we could find worse. The concept is valid only to the extent that there is no guarantee a new owner will jack up payroll right away, but overall? No, it could not be worse.
I also think at this point MLB almost has to let it ride, they are in so deep, since if they try to pull the team now it is likely to be an even bigger mess than what you see already.
Lets just consider this “loan” a gift. MLB is never getting that money back…at least not until they sell this team. $70 million in the red last season…they better cut more payroll, because 2012 is going to be closer to $100 million in losses for the Mets.
How could it be worse? Ask a Dodger fan.
Oh yeah, it’s worse being a Dodgers fan, what watching them actually be able to KEEP their own home grown superstar. Maybe McCourt is worse in some ways than Fred and Jeff, but really, what’s the difference? A rotten owner is a rotten owner. The only reason the Wilpon name is still on the owner’s title of the Mets is because of their “Good ‘ol boy” friendship with Bud Selig. If this were the Tampa Bay Rays owing $25 million to MLB do you think they’d get an extension? Or how ’bout the Padres or Diamondbacks? Would they get that kind of treatment? Doubtful.
I have to wonder why Selig doesn’t realize the jig is up when it comes to the Wilpons fiasco and that the public knows how bad things have gotten in Flushing. Therefore it’s time to oust them from power. Maybe Bud is just embarrassed that a team in MLB’s largest market is on the verge of being bankrupt.
Let me know when you actually put your health and safety in danger by going to a Mets game.
Well, it’s not Fred I cringe at. Fred made some horrible mistakes and is generally a loyal man to a fault. Much the way Leon Hess was when he owned the Jets. There is no doubt he is a good businessman, and like those who were left with nothing in the great depression, he was a victim of the times, circumstances, and overwhelming bad luck. Commercial real estate still hasn’t come back. As a person, I have no problem with him owning the Mets.
Let’s turn to the son, shall we? I am sick of these sons of owners who were born on third base and think they hit a triple. We have the well documented most despised man in baseball running the operation. He can boss people around with no repurcussion. When has this guy ever had to hold a real job in his entire life that depended on his success? Never, that’s when. Yet the COO and head of the operation is more akin and certainly more qualified to possibly be a head of cabbage- what with his education (none) and career pedigree.
When it comes to Fred Wilpon, I feel for him. But for our Mets, this is a more than welcome development. We unfortunately haven’t been blessed with the son of Wellington Mara or even Hal Steinbrenner. An argument can be made that even Jimmy Dolan is far more gregarious and respected than Jeff Wilpon.
Why do people keep giving the Wilpon’s money?!
Incriminating pictures?
Anyone else kind of pissed off that this is going to be the story of the off season rather than retooling for 2012 and beyond? Sigh….
This really is the story of the off season though unfortunately.
This situation influences everything we can or could be able to do and it all comes down to the FO every year attempting to make up for the work left undone, or done poorly 5-10 years beforehand.
It’s not just the 13 1st, 2nd or 3rd round draft choices riding off into the sunset and leaving nothing behind since 1998. It’s also the players those draft picks we didn’t keep could have turned into and it’s also the insistence on adhearing to slot in the later rounds of the draft that has prevented us from infusing the minors with the necessary talent to compete year in and year out.
This is the reason for the constant defficiencies and lack of depth on the roster. No other team in MLB has to re work their entire bench and bullpen every year AND sift through whatever other sources are available for AAA depth and a position player or two.
The best starting pitcher we have developed in the last 25 years is either Pelfrey, Niese or Gee unless you count Kazmir but he started for someone else. The best reliever we’ve developed in the last 25 years is Isringhausen but he didn’t do it for us. After him is Aaron Heilman.
The best position players we’ve developed in the last 25 years are Reyes, Alfonzo, Davis, Ordonez, Wright and Hundley. IFA’s and 1st or 2nd rounders, exactly the picks we’ve been giving away every year in order to attain the modest success we have.
You have to turn good young productive players into other good young productive players, not into guys who retire or turn into salary dumps and leave you starting from scratch again.
We really lucked out when Atlanta signed Glavine or we wouldn’t have Ike here now and maybe Havens later. Hampton turned into Wright and Heilman. Hell Jerry Koosman turned into Jesse Orosco. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have had the money put aside for Reyes, we absolutely should have but most of the picks we give up turn into dust the moment the player we gave away the pick for leaves. The value chain ends and that’s why we have so many “holes to fill” every year.
Guys that we could have selected with picks we gave up would either be up here right now or would have been exchanged for other guys who are on their way up or already here AND prevented us from making yet ANOTHER mistake in free agency. All these free agents were originally drafted or signed as IFA’s and 99% of the time the team that got the best play from them was their original team. 99%!
Now if you insist on giving up your 1st or 2nd round pick every year to correct a talent shortfall in your roster then you absolutely have to go high end in the IFA arena and overslot on later rounds to make up for it or your just going to wind up with too many holes or too many one dimensional maybe’s filling those holes.
Without the ability to outspend our mistakes we’re now forced to make due with whatever is available on the cheap because we’ve had much less true talent entering the system (that remained here) than mostly anyone. Luckilly Minaya did provide some credible talent in the minors but the trick is to ADD to it, not subtract from it or we will forever be held hostage to whoever “we can get” every year to fill in where we’re short and on for another 25 year period where we’re out of it 18 times and among our best seasons will be one’s in which we fell short before the playoffs even began.
As usual more second guessing. Forget the fact that the Mets have had plenty of chances to change their destiny on the field and the Mets LOST.
SO GET OVER IT. THE METS HAD CHANCES AND THEY LOST! MOVE ON!
and of course he never mentions all the good moves made over the years that actually helped the Mets get into the playoffs or be in a position for the playoffs.
All pure second guessing after the fact. His posts are all the same as if they were one constant copy & paste. Making the right moves for that period of time using hindsight makes you look good though even though it means nothing.
Didn’t you promise me that you would leave Agee alone? That you would ignore him no matter what and keep the peace?
I don’t remember that, but the last few posts he’s the one coming after me and antagonizing and in turn, each time he does that i’m gonna come after him and call him on his blatant second guessing and unfair treatment of this team’s past few years and he NEVER mentions that at that same time good moves were made to put them in a position to contend in the first place. C’mon, you know that’s complete nonsense and he’s second guessing.
But he’s the one trailing me for the most part lately. If he does fine, i’ll keep calling him out on his BS
So, they still have to make revenue sharing payments even though they were under cap and lost money?
Revenue sharing is based on the team revenue. The Mets are one of baseball’s top earners. They own a cable network, sell tons of merchandise and have some of the highest ticket prices among all the teams. Their problem is that it all gets paid out to debts, bad contracts, interest on loans, etc. They are bleeding more than they take in. That’s not baseball’s fault, that is Wilpon’s fault though Selig must also shoulder some blame. Read my newest post for more on this.
And what makes MLB think a four month extension means they’ll get their money back? Not a chance. These guys learned from Madoff how to scam people. Anybody giving these guys money is like p…..g it down the drain.
I’m really curious to know what happens if the Mets default on the Bank of America loan.
I keep imagining Bank of America owning a sizable chunk of a team that plays in Citi Field.
if they essentially are getting forclosed on they will have to declare BK is my guess.
in any case, the team will get sold if that starts happening. And logically, once MLB has to step in and the team goes on the block, the creditors will just be on hold until the deal goes through, then they will pick over the carcass that used to be the Wilpons and Sterling Mets.
My wonder though is how it shakes out if the team (and S-M) declares BK? Not the same situation as the Dodgers either. that was the owner personally declaring, this could actually be the team (or more accurately, the corporation that technically owns it, which is not the Wilpons).
Rob, I’m a relative newcomer to your site having heard of it. but never actually visiting. I am impressed by the extensive coverage you provide and I’m glad my brother in law linked me to it tonight. I have a question I hope you can answer for me. What if the owners decline the extension? I know that probably won’t happen, but what if Selig cant the votes he needs to approve it? What would happen next? Is the $40 million loan insurance in case the extension is denied? Also was there no interest on that loan, plus the fact it’s already more than two months late? Thank you.
A very interesting read indeed. If I understand the indebtedness, it seems to add up to more than $1.5 billion and that’s without weighing in the potential Madoff clawback! I would think it’s pretty obvious that the team is just not worth that much. So if they sell the team off, they will not be able to extricate themselves from the debt. Bringing in minority owners will only “kick the can down the road” and delay the inevitable. MLB needs to come to grips with this and take action regarding the financial house of cards the Wilpons have built. Our team deserves better and needs an owner who is actually fiscally sound. This is a serious problem that needs a serious solution.