Bad News Adding Up For Mets Ownership

The financial woes of the Wilpon Family, owners of the New York Mets, continued to compound themselves this week as reports surfaced that the Mets received a loan from Major League Baseball to cover operating costs last November said to be in the range of $25 Million. This is only the lastest piece in a saga on financial insecurity stemming from the Wilpons involvement in the Madoff Ponzi Scheme that has resulted in the family being on wrong end of a lawsuit seeking up to $1 Billion for the Wilpons withdrawing fictitious profits.

As a result the Wilpons have been hoping to sell 20-25 percent of the Mets in order to facilitate their financial liquidity. Their agent in charge of finding potential investors, Steve Greenberg, has recently stated that they could be selling even more than that. The Wilpons maintain that they will not relinquish a controlling stake in the team which will likely inhibit to a high profile investor such as Donald Trump.

Somehow I can't see the Wilpons' situation in the near future (if ever) and depending on the outcome of the lawsuit it is entirely likely they will have to relinquish control of the team. The family continues to defend their financial stability and downplay the seriousness of the situation however that is the exact same approach they tend to take when describing the state of the Mets. The message that everything is under control is just a facade in my mind and for the sake of the team I hope they face the direness of the situation if it becomes untenable and sell a controlling interest in the team. While unfortunate I can't say I'd be unhappy if that were the case as new ownership will likely attempt to make a splash or two in order to regenerate fan fervor around the Mets that has been lethargic during the past few disappointing years.

Seriously would anyone not want to see Donald Trump in control of the team? For better or worse he would do everything in his power to attempt to unseat the Yankees at the top of New York. Even if he failed miserably it's not like the team would be in a worse position than when he took it over.