Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and fiancée, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez, have reportedly begun exploring a bid to buy the New York Mets.
According to sources, the A-List power couple has retained JPMorgan Chase to begin raising cash to purchase the team with Chase co-head of North American media investment banking, Eric Menell, as the project’s lead man, Variety reported.
The bid is still hush-hush, but neither Rodriguez nor Lopez have pockets deep enough to buy the team outright, so they will have to assemble a cadre of investors who would become co-owners of the team if the deal comes to fruition. The couple’s estimated net worth is around $700 million, but no MLB team is rated as worth less than one billion.
The last deal to invest in the Yankees fell apart, But it would have seen hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen purchase an 80 percent stake in the team for $2.6 billion. Cohen was working to buy the stake from the Wilpon family, the current owners of the team.
The Wilpons bought control of the Mets in 2002 when the team was worth only $391 million. But sources also say that the next owner should expect annual losses of up to $50 million a year.
The Manhattan-born Rodriguez had a 22-year MLB career playing with teams including the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, and the New York Yankees. He was a 2009 World Series champion and a 14-time All-Star player.
Lopez, born in the Bronx, New York City, has a wide-ranging career in entertainment including acting in television and motion pictures, as well as a hit-making recording career.
Coalition purchases of major sports franchises are not unheard of. For instance, former MLB player Derek Jeter is a part owner of the Miami Marlins which sold for $1.2 billion in 2017. Jeter’s group was led by venture capitalist Bruce Sherman, who became a controlling owner. Jeter himself went on to take control of business and baseball operations after succefully completing the purchase of the team.
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