Sportico reports that Josh Harris and David Blitzer, the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, are putting together a bid for the New York Mets. Talks are reported to be in the early stages and no one is giving public comment yet.
Last December the Wilpon family said they were in negotiations to sell up to 80% of the team to Steve Cohen at a valuation of $2.6 billion. Talks broke down, however, after it became clear that the Wilpons wished to maintain day-to-day control of the team for five years. Another wrinkle: the Wilpons own the network SNY, but in previous reports were said to not be including the network in the sale. That seems like it’d be a dealbreaker for most suitors -- TV is where the money is -- but it’s possible the Wilpons have changed their tune on that.
More recently there have been rumors that a group fronted by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are interested in the team but so far that has seemed more like sizzle and less like steak.
We’ll likely hear more soon enough. The upshot, though, is that the Mets are still very much for sale.
