First is was billionaire hedge funder, Steve Cohen. Then came power couple Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez. Now, as per Variety, the New York Mets have a new suitor in the potential sale of the team.
The co-owners of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are rumored to be “among the suitors” for the Mets, though neither Harris nor Allen & Co. — the firm dubbed by the Mets to handle the sale of the club in February — opted to comment on the situation.
Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, and Blitzer, a high-ranking executive at Blackstone, a private equity firm, purchased the Sixers in 2011 and the Devils in 2013.
Since then, the two have formed Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (2017), which also holds an interest in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees Triple-A affiliate) and Crystal Palace FC, a Premier League team based in South London.
The $2.6 billion deal Cohen had in place for an 80 percent stake in the Mets fell through in January — reportedly due to transfer-of-power issues — and did not include the team’s regional sports network, SNY.
Rodriguez and Lopez’ initial bid to raise capital hit a snag in early May, but per the New York Post last week, the duo is “working closely with very senior bankers at JPMorgan Chase on a new bid” — one that reportedly includes SNY.
The economic downturn that accompanied the COVID-19 global health pandemic hasn’t just decreased the value of the ballclub ($2.4 billion with SNY), it’s painted the current ownership group into a corner.
With capital calls and loan payments presumably stacking up from lenders, the Mets’ owners may be forced to switch gears from wanting to sell the club to needing to sell the club.
We’ll keep you posted with new information as it becomes available.
This article was edited to correct an author’s error. The story incorrectly stated Harris and Blitzer hired Allen & Co.
