Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are not giving up on their efforts to acquire the New York Mets. The Mets current owner, Jewish real estate mogul Fred Wilpon, recently made headlines by accepting a $2.35 billion bid made by investor Steve Cohen. But now the New York Post is reporting that the duo has come up with new ways to try and sweeten their own offer for the Mets.
First Alex Rodriguez has been dropped from the head of the group of investors making the Mets bid and only Jennifer Lopez would be involved in actually running the team. A sale on any club requires the approval of three quarters of Major League Baseball’s 30 team owners.
Alex Rodriguez, who played 22 big league seasons with the Yankees, Rangers and Mariners, finished his career with 696 home runs and was considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. But he was suspended for a full season after being caught using performance enhancement drugs and was accused of interfering with MLB’s official investigations into the matter. MLB owners are not likely to want to have him as a colleague.
But Steve Cohen may have his own problems with the owners due to an insider trading scandal in which his Point72 investment firm was forced to pay a $1.8 billion fine.
Now JLo and ARod are offering the New York Mets a guaranteed $200 million fee if their bid is approved, but Major League Baseball owners decline to approve of the sale. Rodriguez and Lopez have also vowed to raise the NY Mets annual payroll to $225 million. And they have also promised to give $100 million to New York area charities if the Mets do not win the World Series in their first ten years of ownership.
Lopez told the New York Post last week, “It ain’t over until it is over. We are New Yorkers and we are not going to give up. We feel we have the best bid for the sport, the team, and the city.”
New York is my city.🗽💛 Wearing #CoachxBasquiat, @Coach’s new collection featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat’s iconic artwork (he captured NYC in a way no one else did). #CoachFamily #coachny pic.twitter.com/R3EHDKD9Lb
— jlo (@JLo) September 8, 2020
Vanity Fair is reporting that Walmart executive Marc Lore is helping Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez with technology, and Vitamin Water co founder Mike Repole and Florida Panthers owner Vinny Viola advising them on how to grow the team.
“This is a big moment in the history of baseball and the Mets to have the first Latina owner of a Major League Baseball franchise,” Lore said. “It would be a really big win for racial and gender equality in this country and the world.”
