The Mets' Wilpon family will "begin to field first-round bids on the team in July with an eye toward locking in a buyer by Oct. 1," but bidders now are "aware the Wilpons must find a buyer in the coming weeks in order to close a deal by the end of 2020," according to sources cited by McEnery & Kosman of the N.Y. POST. The October timeline "gives the Wilpons just enough time to sign off on a pact and submit it" to MLB for approval before '20 turns into '21. Potential buyers Josh Harris and David Blitzer are offering $1.4B for the club "without the team's revenue-generating TV network SNY." McEnery & Kosman write considering the Wilpons "pulled out of an almost identical deal" with hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen that would have made them $2.6B in February, the team "appears to be on the market at a coronavirus discount." However, a source "pushed back on the idea" that the Wilpons' deadline is a "signal of financial desperation, saying a December closing would give any new ownership time to make decisions on payroll and roster changes" for the '21 MLB season. Closing the deal before the end of '20 also means the new owner "would be on the hook" for the $44M in "debt payments owed on Citi Field" in '21 (N.Y. POST, 6/25). BodyArmor co-Founder & Chair Mike Repole reportedly joined Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez in their bid for the franchise, while David and Simon Reuben reportedly are exploring a bid for the team (THE DAILY).
