Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen found himself striking out when his contract to buy
the New York Mets baseball team fell through.
“I’m very disappointed we couldn’t work out a deal,” said Cohen.
According to NBC Sports and The New York Post, the deal fell through due to the unwillingness
of the current owners (Jeff and Fred Wilpon) to break ties with the company completely. But
because of non-disclosure agreements, the public does not know the full story.
“As spring training begins, on behalf of ownership, we would like to share more information
explaining why the proposed transaction has ended; however, due to confidentiality and non-
disclosure agreements we are unable to do so at this time,” said Wilpon.
The deal states that the Wilpon brothers will keep the roles they currently have as managing
partner and chief operating officer until 2030. Not only will they stick around until then, but they
will have complete control of the Mets until 2025. According to an article by The Post, control of
the team is where the deal fell through, and now the Wilpon brothers have to find another
billionaire die-hard Mets fan, but the brothers seem confident they will find a buyer.
“We would like to assure our fans that we will continue our commitment to winning in 2020 and
beyond,” said Jeff Wilpon, “and we’ll work hard to earn and maintain everyone’s confidence and
trust. We’ll be moving forward to find a new transaction. We will not be giving details or
updates on the timeline or process until we are prepared to make a public announcement.”
Cohen hits a curveball as Mets deal comes to a dead end
