Report: Cohen Deal For Mets Will Not Include SNY

According to Newsday (Tim Healey, Neil Best, and David Lennon contributed to the report), billionaire hedge fund owner Steve Cohen’s pending investment increase and eventual majority ownership stake in the New York Mets will not include SNY.

SportsNet New York, the Mets-owned regional sports network, will remain an entity of the Wilpon family, as per Newsday’s sources.

“Through their Sterling business entities, Mets owner/chief executive officer Fred Wilpon and relatives own a controlling interest in SNY,” the article notes. “It is possible they also pursue a sale of their stake in the network, but that would be separate from their negotiations with Cohen.”

On Wednesday, the team announced that Cohen, 63, would be increasing his stake in the team from a minority holding to a controlling interest over the course of a five-year span, with Fred Wilpon and his son, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon, relinquishing a reported 80 percent stake in the organization to Cohen by 2024.

Cohen, whose net worth is currently valued at $9.2 billion by Bloomberg, has already been confirmed as a minority owner by Major League Baseball.

As per the report, MLB owners likely will not vote on Cohen’s approval as the majority owner (a three-quarter majority vote is needed) until he takes over as the Mets’ “control person”, which appears to still be a quite a ways off.

We’ll keep you posted as new information becomes available.