Friday afternoon Steve Cohen received the required 75% of the vote by the MLB owners to officially become the owner of the New York Mets. Cohen, who was previously a minority owner reportedly paid 2.4 billion dollars to Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to assume a 95% control of the team. The Wilpons Sterling Equities group will retain 5% of the team. The sale does not include SNY which is the current TV home for the Mets and a network started by Sterling Equities.
The MLB owners approved Steve Cohen as #Mets owner
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) October 30, 2020
Mets New Owner
Cohen, 64 grew up in Long Island as a Mets fan and has an estimated net worth of 14 billion dollars. Reportedly New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was looking into the past of Cohen who’s S.A.C. Capital Advisors pled guilty to insider trading and was fined 1.8 billion dollars. Cohen himself received a two-year ban from managing outside money.
Citi Field is the home of the New York Mets and sits on city property and needed Mayor de Blasio’s sign off to make the sale complete. In what has become a hot topic around NYC, di Blasio reportedly had a team of lawyers vet the past of Cohen who has been a minority owner since 2002. Soon after Cohen received the necessary votes from the other owners, Mayor di Blasio officially approved the sale of the Mets.
The New York City Law Department has completed its legal review of the proposed sale of the @Mets. New York City has no objections and the Mets can now proceed with the transaction.#LGM
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) October 30, 2020
Cohen’s Statement
Shortly after the sale becoming official, new Mets owner Steve Cohen released a statement.
“I am humbled that MLB’s owners have approved me to be the next owner of the New York Mets. Owning a team is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility.
I would like to thank Fred Wilpon for inviting me to buy into the franchise in 2012. Fred is one of the game’s true gentlemen and I consider it an honor to be the new owner of this iconic franchise.
Most of all, I’d like to thank Mets fans for their unwavering support throughout this process.
My family and I are lifelong Mets fans, so we’re really excited about this. With free agency starting Sunday night we will be working towards a quick close.
Let’s Go Mets
The Cohen Effect
The Mets are headed into a very pivotal offseason. Cohen has pledged to bring the Mets back to the top of the baseball world. Most will speculate that Cohen will be very active in signing free agents. This is something that will make Met fans very happy. Sandy Alderson will be named the team president. Alderson will also look to hire two executives to run the baseball operations. What does that mean for current General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen or manager Luis Rojas?
The future of the New York Mets certainly seems very bright. With free agency about to start how much of an effect will Steve Cohen have in rebuilding the Mets. We will soon find out.
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