The Wilpons have made it clear that despite a global pandemic and an already previous deal with a minority owner that fell through, the owners of the NY Mets are still moving ahead with their plans to sell the team. Mets fans finally have some good news in the fact that the Wilpons, who are looked at as one of the major reasons for the NY Mets lack of success are still moving ahead with putting their team on the market. REJOICE! On the flip side the names of the group looking to make a move on the NY Mets is none other than the power couple of AROD and JLo.
The previous deal that fell apart with minority owner, Steve Cohen, valued the club at $2.6 billion. A main part of the deal would have had the Wilpons still retaining control of the team for a five-year phase out period. With the value of the club being so high, it’s no surprise that the power couple seeking ownership has sought help for financing their purchase. Their combined net worth, per variety, is just a mere $700 million. The two would most certainly become the face of the franchise if they are able to lead a group to buy the Mets, but it will take some big financial help to make this dream become a reality.
I believe that ARod has been planning this for awhile now and he was just waiting for the right opportune moment to start putting things in motion. ARod has been a sort of controversial player in MLB, but you can’t deny the fact that the man was incredibly talented at the game of baseball and his baseball IQ is off the charts. After he retired ARod headed straight for the booth serving as a broadcaster for Fox Sports 1, a cast member of Shark Tank, and in 2018 ESPN announced that he would be joining the broadcast team of Sunday Night Baseball. In 2003 he formed the ARod Corp, where their main focus is to identify, originate and manage investments across the board of array of industries. These industries include real estate, sports and wellness, media and entertainment. You can see that even in 2003 ARod was looking at other opportunities outside playing the game of baseball and the dream of owning a MLB team doesn’t seem that far off. Without the connections and support of JLo I don’t believe that Arod would have the assets in order to purchase a team at this point.
Love or hate the guy, ARod loves to dream big and there’s not much bigger than owning a professional sports team. The fact that no matter what the NY Mets have done in the past to successfully compete in the MLB, there always seemed to be something or someone getting in the way of that success. Many have turned to the Wilpons for answers, not understanding why in some cases a team that has the ability to spend money wouldn’t in certain situations. ARod is a guy who knows baseball and knows what it takes to build a successful team. I believe that he’s at the edge of his seat to get the opportunity to call the shots of a MLB team. It may have even been the fact that long time Yankee teammate, Derek Jeter became the CEO and part owner of the Miami Marlins in 2017 that influenced his decision as well.
ARod has purposely stayed close to the game and loves being involved in many of aspects of it. He has founded a corporation early in his career because he saw the value of looking at business opportunities outside of playing the game of baseball. In my opinion here’s no greater business opportunity than owning a sports franchise. He understands what it is like to play in NY and embraces the pressure of delivering a successful product. Yes he was apart of the rival Yankees but the assets he possesses would be invaluable for any MLB club he would be apart of. I think he is above managing or anything like that, he wants to be the guy at the top making the decisions and be the one to build a championship caliber team for the Mets. Maybe it’s him trying to make up for some of the scandals he’s been apart of in the past and he wants to leave a better impact of the game of baseball than he previously had. You’ll definitely not see many players have win a World Series as a player then win another one as owner of a MLB team. Is that Hall of Fame worthy?
The Washed Up Athlete 