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Dan Lewis at Amazin' Avenue makes sense of the Mets' finances so you don't have to. Essentially, they're fucked independent of Bernie Madoff, and everything the team could conceivably sell is mortgaged. Makes you yearn for a couple months ago, when the team was a fuzz less fucked, but still fucked. [READ »] More »
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David Einhorn, the baby-faced assassin who would be extorting the snakebitten Wilpons all the way to the bank, will not be controlling the Mets for a dollar. He will not, in fact, own any part of the Mets. More »
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Every Friday, SportsFeat picks a few great weekend reads for Deadspin. In honor of Frank McCourt, the lockouts, and James Dolan's never-ending flirtation with Isiah Thomas, here are five of the best stories ever written about terrible owners. More »
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When we last touched on the terms of the new Mets ownership deal, there was enough information to make fun of the Mets, but a key detail was missing. We knew that David Einhorn had essentially agreed to loan the Wilpons $200 million dollars in exchange for a third of the team until the loan was paid back, a guaranteed one-sixth stake regardless, and the potential to buy a majority stake. What we didn't know was how much more than the $200 million it would take to purchase majority ownership from the Wilpons, and whether the Wilpons would be amenable to the scenario. It seemed as though the most Einhorn-friendly scenario possible was that he would pay for the additional shares at the same scale that he purchased one-third of the team, and get 51 percent control for a total of $350-400 million. More »
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Ecuador and Greece drew 1-1 in a Flushing friendly. Writes ESPN New York, "While the Mets were away, Citi Field played host to its first soccer match — a 1-1 draw between Greece and Ecuador. It attracted 39,656 spectators, outdrawing all but the Mets' home-opener crowd of 41,075." More »
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Mets fans—and, really, anyone looking for an MLB owner that's just the least bit interesting—squealed with joy last week over the team's new partner, David Einhorn. He made some smart bets as the economy was collapsing, finished 18th in the 2006 World Series of Poker, and, most importantly, was never a member of Fred Wilpon's family. More »
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The cash-strapped Mets are in talks to sell a minority stake in the team to hedge fund manager David Einhorn for $200 million. Normally, minority shareholders aren't news, but these Mets aren't in a normal situation. With more than a billion dollars at stake in the Bernie Madoff lawsuit, the team hemorrhaging money to the tune of $70 million this year, and already in debt to MLB, it's not unforeseeable that Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz need to sell the whole damn team just to remain personally solvent. And it's not unlikely that David Einhorn would be there waiting to buy everything. More »
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There's a lot of chatter today about some choice Fred Wilpon quotes in this week's New Yorker that find the Mets owner trashing his team the way, oh, everyone else does. Seriously — he sounds like Joe from Farmingdale, dialing into WFAN an hour after last call. And damned if there isn't a part of me that thinks he's doing it on purpose. More »
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It's "un-American," Frank McCourt would say. But so are monopolies, and baseball enjoys a one-of-a-kind antitrust exemption, thus Bud Selig pretty much has the power to do whatever the hell he wants. Why not flex those muscles and save the Mets from their owners? More »
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Grant Wahl of SI chatted with MLS commissioner Don Garber on Thursday, and New York's most beloved and comically destitute real estate barons came up in conversation. More »
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On Friday, we learned that the Mets had received $25 million in funding from Bud Selig's secret piggybank, on top of $75 million they'd already borrowed from Major League Baseball. Surely this meant the Wilpon family would finally have to explore selling the team. Or at the very least turn themselves into a sort of Royals-on-the-East River. More »
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It's official, everybody: the Mets are broke. Wait, you knew that already. But now they're officially really, really broke. They're so broke, they just put all their CDs and VHS tapes up for auction. Where else will you find Jungle 2 Jungle and its soundtrack in one place, both lightly used? Well, Bud Selig must really love Jungle 2 Jungle. More »
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Things cannot get much worse for the Wilpons. On Friday, a judge unsealed the complaint against the Mets owners filed on behalf of victims of Bernard L. Madoff's giant Ponzi scheme. Turns out the Mets really need a couple bucks, but they'll pay you right back, swear to God. More »
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Somehow, some way, long after Bernard Madoff began his 150-year prison sentence, the Mets are still being made to look foolish with their money. More »
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So what if the New York Mets have finished fourth in the NL East in back-to-back seasons? So what if Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo are due a combined $19 million this year? The Mets are baseball's best at timing Ponzi schemes. More »
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Madoff Ponzi scheme case scuttles sale of Newcastle United to "two rich Americans." Hmm. They couldn't be referring to a certain couple of Mets owners, could they? [SportsbyBrooks] More »
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