Mets Owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, "needing cash and unable to turn to Major League Baseball for more financial help, received a $40 million loan from a major bank in the past six weeks," according to Schmidt & Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. A source said that Bank of America provided the loan. The team "described the arrangement as a bridge loan, meant to aid the team as it tries to raise money through the sale of minority stakes in the club." The loan marks the "second time in a year that the Mets have received an infusion of cash." Wilpon and Katz last year "received a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball, but they have not been able to repay it." The recent $40M loan "suggests that the effort to sell minority shares in the team was not generating the cash that the owners needed in the near term." The implications of the team’s "latest outside financing are not easy to forecast," but sources said that if a "full lineup of minority stake investors was not in place by next spring, and cash not in hand, Wilpon and Katz might have to confront the prospect of selling the team entirely." Sources added that the owners "had firm commitments from at least seven investors interested in buying a small share of the team for $20 million apiece.” But until "all are sold, none of the investors have had to turn over cash" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/13). The Mets in a statement yesterday said, "The bridge loan was approved by Major League Baseball and the syndicate of lenders to the Mets. The process for the sale of minority shares in the team continues to go very well” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/13). In N.Y., Josh Kosman notes the Mets on Thursday “must pay the New York City Industrial Development Agency $26 million for interest on bonds sold to build Citi Field.” A source said that the bridge loan “was borrowed for working capital, and an interest payment to the city would qualify” (N.Y. POST, 12/13).
