Report: Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez end bid to buy the Mets
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez’s quest to be come minority owners of the New York Mets has come to a close, according to the New York Post.
The celebrity couple reportedly decided to end their bid after they failed to find the partner they’d need to afford an MLB team in the league’s largest market. With a combined net worth of less than a billion dollars, the pair were going to need hefty financial backing to buy the team from the Wilpon family.
Any deal that resulted in Rodriguez and Lopez joining the team’s ownership would have likely resembled that of Derek Jeter and the Miami Marlins, where Jeter owns a small stake in the team while working as the face of an ownership group led by financier Bruce Sherman.
According to the Post, Rodriguez and Lopez’s chosen financial partner was Long Island biotech billionaire Wayne Rothbaum, but that pact was clearly ill-fated after it became clear he was only interested in a play for the team if the price was $1 billion.
A previous deal between the Wilpons and minority owner and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen had valued the team at $2.6 billion.
The Rothbaum pact also reportedly fell apart after he signaled wanted more control of the team than the couple was interested in giving:
“The Rothbaum thing soured fast,” a source familiar with the J-Rod/Rothbaum relationship told The Post. “He was not their first choice, but he was the first to agree to next steps.”
The future of the Mets remains up in the air as the Wilpons signal they’re ready to sell the team, but with various reported terms and conditions. The Cohen deal reportedly soured after a dispute over team control with the Wilpons, and the inclusion of the SNY television network in a potential sale is also a reported sticking point with the family.
There’s also the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has caused teams to lose out on millions as the MLB season remains shut down.
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