Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Facilities

Mets Owners Propose Casino Next To Citi Field To Recoup Cost From Ponzi Scheme

Mets Owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz “want to roll the dice on building a Las Vegas-style casino next to Citi Field to recoup some of the $162 million for which team brass are still on the hook following the Bernie Madoff Ponzi-scheme debacle,” according to Rich Calder of the N.Y. POST. While team owners are “still having trouble opening their tight pockets for high-priced free agents, that didn’t stop their development arm, Sterling Equities, from betting on a proposal that called for bringing a massive casino with gaming tables and slots, a 500-room, full-service hotel, 1.8 million square feet of retail and other amenities to the Willets Point development site in Queens.” The development team’s proposal showed that the Long Island-based Shinnecock Indian Nation “signed on to operate the casino, and the Wilpons and partners even offered the city $100 million for the 62-acre site.” Wilpon’s team has “lowered payroll to about $93 million this season, down from $143 million” in ‘11. The revelation that the Mets owners “want a casino comes as the state Legislature is considering a constitutional amendment to allow Las Vegas-style table gaming.” New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has “begun talking up a casino at Willets Point or Coney Island.” But sources said that city officials “pulled the casino from the Willets Point plan partly because they thought the government-approval process would take too long.” A city spokesperson “declined to comment when asked if the city would push for a casino there if the state Legislature eventually backs it.” An MLB spokesperson said the league would “need to get all of the details of the agreement." The spokesperson added that it would “ultimately be Commissioner Bud Selig’s call” (N.Y. POST, 2/5).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/02/05/Facilities/Mets-Casino.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/02/05/Facilities/Mets-Casino.aspx

CLOSE