Travis Kelce, Brian Urlacher, DeMarco Murray join A-Rod's bid to buy Mets
Former MLB slugger Alex Rodriguez and his singer/actress fiancée Jennifer Lopez are trying to buy the New York Mets, but they can’t do it alone. They’ve been amassing investors to beef up their bid, and the latest group to join includes three NFL athletes.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher and former NFL running back DeMarco Murray have all joined A-Rod and JLo in their quest to own the Mets.
Kelce, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Chiefs in February, spoke to ESPN about joining the investment group. He was pretty jazzed about the opportunity and excited to be involved with Rodriguez and Lopez.
“This is a crazy opportunity,” Kelce told ESPN. “I had a chance to meet Alex Rodriguez a couple years ago and just told him how much of a fan I was as a kid of him. I’m very thankful for the success that I’ve had in the NFL, to have an opportunity like this come across the table. I couldn’t think of a more unique set of people to be in charge of this.
“Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are a star-studded couple that have gotten to where they are because they work their tails off. And they’re good human beings. I thank them for letting me be a part of this.”
Urlacher has similar feelings about Rodriguez, and told ESPN that he’s thrilled to be joining an investment group with other athletes.
“Being a former athlete and having a chance to be a part of a group trying to purchase a professional team, it’s pretty cool,” Urlacher told ESPN on Monday. “It’s especially cool to be involved with Alex. Alex is the man. You’ve got Kelce, Joe Thomas, DeMarco Murray. It’s great to be in a group with them.”
The group contains more athletes than just Kelce, Urlacher, and Murray. Former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas is part of it, as is Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards and Mason Plumlee of the Denver Nuggets.
First-round bids were due on July 9, and the A-Rod/JLo group (nickname: J-Rod) is reportedly still in the running. According to the New York Post, their $1.7 billion bid doesn’t equal the highest bid of $2 billion, which reportedly belongs to hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen. (Yes, the very same Steve Cohen who tried to buy the Mets for $2.6 billion last year before the deal fell apart.) But if the J-Rod bid is close to the top at decision time, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon would reportedly prefer to sell the team to them.
More from Yahoo Sports: