According to Mike Ozanian of Forbes, soon-to-be Mets’ owner Steve Cohen will reportedly have 30 days after the sale of the team is finalized to place an exclusive bid on SNY.
As Ozanian noted, the regional sports network is worth $1 billion and has an annual equity of $150 million. However, SNY is said to be currently sitting at $850 million in debt.
Back in July, it was reported that Cohen placed $2 billion on the Mets and $2 billion on SNY in the first round of bidding, but the network was not included in the final bid.
It now appears that Cohen will be able to purchase SNY exclusively at a discounted price, as he did with the Mets.
The Wilpon family owns 65% of SNY and they have been reluctant of selling their share in the past due to the network’s profitability. Be that as it may, SNY is still in tremendous debt and Cohen can relieve them of this financial stranglehold by making an offer they cannot refuse.
Cohen won the final bid to take over majority ownership of the Mets on August 28th. The deal will not be finalized until he gains approval from the rest of the league’s owners’ by receiving 23-out-of-30 “yes” votes.
While there is said to be some owners, who are not in love with the deal, Cohen is still expected to be approved by their November ownership meetings, where the official vote is set to take place. Following this occurrence, he will have 30 days to place an exclusive bid on SNY.
