Possible sellers include Comcast and Charter through their investment in the team’s broadcast network, SNYGETTY IMAGES
At least 10% of the Mets is "going up for sale," as three minority owners, and possibly others, are "selling their stakes," according to sources cited by Scott Soshnick of BLOOMBERG NEWS. The sellers "include Comcast and Charter through their investment in the team’s broadcast network, SNY, which is the official owner of their stake." The companies "remain investors" in the RSN. The sale is "being run" by N.Y.-based Inner Circle Sports. A source said that Comcast and Charter "never really wanted to own any part of the team." Investments made by the media conglomerates in '12 were "more of a favor" to Mets co-Owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. By selling its stake, Charter "resolves a conflict" for Liberty Media Chair John Malone, whose company also owns the Braves. Sources said that Wilpon and Katz are "entitled to buy any offered shares at their full value but are unlikely to do so" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/20). In N.Y., Carleton English noted in addition to getting a 4% stake in the team, buyers were "entitled to six years" of 3% interest payments, compounded annually. But the minority owners did "not get a say in how the team is run." Without a say in the team's direction, it is "likely the stakes will fetch well less than their fully appraised value" (N.Y. POST, 7/21).
BLAME GAME: In Newark, Steve Politi writes under the header, "The Mets Are Cosmically And Comically Cursed." The Mets have an "almost unprecedented combination of bad karma" and "bad management." Adults "aren't supposed to get hand-foot-and-mouth disease," but somehow, P Noah Syndergaard did while "attending a youth clinic during the All-Star break." This being the Mets, Syndergaard's illness "barely cracks the top-five ugly developments over the weekend" against the Yankees. The biggest issue with the Mets is the "leadership vacuum." However, the problem "goes straight to the top, straight to Jeff Wilpon and the merry team of yes men around him" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 7/23). On Long Island, David Lennon notes this weekend in the Bronx "was an unmitigated disaster for the Mets." There is "no one person to blame." That is the "beauty of three acting" GMs, a system "put in place by the Wilpons to fill the power void left" by Sandy Alderson's leave of absence for cancer treatment. Yet on Saturday, after LF Yoenis Cespedes "floated the idea of season-ending surgery," and P Jeurys Familia was "dealt to the A’s, the team failed to produce even one front-office executive to explain what the heck was going on" (NEWSDAY, 7/23). MLB Network's Ken Rosenthal said the Mets have "lost the benefit of the doubt with their fanbase, and it happens with every transaction, every injury." Rosenthal: "People scream, and until they get their house in order, people are going to continue to scream. ... They’re not one-time occurrences. ... This does not happen to other big market teams. Again, it’s one thing after another" (“MLB Tonight,” MLBN, 7/22).
