Source: J-Rod could wind up lo$ing control of Mets bid
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez may soon be at an inflection point.
Fred Wilpon’s Mets by the end of July will start management meetings with the four remaining bidding groups in which the organization will give detailed financials. No party, including favorite Steve Cohen, appears ready to offer enough to end the Mets’ sale process at this point, two sources close to the situation said.
That also means there will be another round of bidding to see who might offer more than
$2 billion.
So far, the Wilpon-controlled SNY sports network is not part of the sale, sources said.
J-Rod’s richest backers — Vincent Viola (worth about $5 billion) and Mike Repole (worth $3 billion) — are willing to put up more money so the J-Rod group can raise its offer and possibly win, a source close to the situation said.
But Viola and Repole have only invested approximately $300 million combined so far, and if they put up much more money one of them may want to be leading the investment group instead of taking a backseat to A-Rod, the source said.
In that scenario, A-Rod would
likely be
CEO but not the controlling Mets owner.
A-Rod, so far, has not indicated whether he is willing to forego his current role as being the leader of the bidding group, sources said. Major League Baseball recognizes only one control person per team, and it is supposed to be the party who has the most invested in the club.
The control person has the final word on all baseball decisions.
“It could make sense for Vinny to be the control person,” one of the two sources close to the situation said.
A-Rod and J. Lo presently have $225 million-$300 million committed to the bid, according to The Athletic. That is in the same range as what Viola and Repole have committed.
However, A-Rod and J. Lo are likely tapped out, sources close to the situation said.
A-Rod has been in a similar situation before.
The former All-Star was forming a bidding group in 2017 to buy the Marlins, a source who was approached by A-Rod at the time told The Post.
Initially, A-Rod was going to be the control person, but as the auction moved forward he was willing to take a lesser position in the bidding group to attract potential investment partners, the source said.
Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter won a bidding war over the A-Rod group and others to buy the Marlins for $1.2 billion.
There are a few MLB control owners who are not the biggest investors in their teams, though it is the exception and not the rule.
Most notably, Terry McGuirk is the control person for the Braves, though Liberty Media is the biggest investor. San Francisco Giants control person Larry Baer also does not have the most invested in his team, sources said.