I can’t catch a break!
My country is going to hell and so is my favorite team in sports—the New York Mets. Does anybody know how to run a country as well as a ballclub?
However, there is a big difference between country and team. The U.S. can foolishly print more money, the Mets can’t.
So it’s time for the owners of the Mets, Fred Wilpon and Sal Katz to cut bait, sell the team, and give a small segment of the citizenry cause for hope. The country thing? That’s more complicated.
The New York Yimes reports the finances of major professional sports teams exist largely as the secrets of privately held companies, except for the community-owned Green Bay Packers, who report their profits without a hint of resistance.
But elements of the Mets’ finances have emerged publicly in the last year that show fans and potential investors how unprofitable the Mets are and also how deeply in debt the operation is.
Sports teams do not always make money, and debt is a legitimate way to fuel their growth, as it is in real estate, where Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the Mets’ owners, made their money and reputations.
But the Mets worry Major League Baseball enough to be seen as a troubled franchise on a short tether. Their $430 million loan on the team is due in 2014. Their $25 million loan from M.L.B. is past due and repayment has been extended. They recently borrowed $40 million from Bank of America.
Their valuable network, SNY, is also heavily leveraged, to the tune of $450 million, a loan that must be repaid in 2015. And the Mets’ Citi Field bond payments leapt from $19 million last year to $43.7 million.
That is a lot of borrowing for a team that lost $70 million last season and had faltering attendance.
“It seems inconceivable they’re going to hold onto the team for the long term when you look at the incredible hurdles they face in 2014 and 2015,” said Howard Megdal, author of an e-book, “Wilpon’s Folly,” in which he details the financial pressures on the team.
More here
It’s just a matter of time before the Wilpons have to sell the Mets. But Fred, why make Mets fans suffer for you mistakes? Sell the team tomorrow!
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