|
"I am excited to have reached an agreement with the Wilpon and
Katz families to purchase the New York Mets," Cohen said in the
brief statement.
A spokesman for Cohen declined to comment beyond the statement.
Newsday reported that Cohen will own 95% of the franchise, with
the deal valuing the club at about $2.475 billion, a record
amount for a North American sports team.
Fred Wilpon and his brother-in-law, Saul Katz, purchased their
first stake in the team in 1980.
The 64-year-old Cohen, who is a New York native and a lifelong
Mets fan, currently owns 8% of the team. He had tried to
purchase a majority stake last November but the deal fell
through. He is now poised to become baseball's richest owner.
Former New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez and his pop star wife
Jennifer Lopez led a group that had also made a bid for the team
but last month said they were no longer interested in purchasing
it, clearing the way for Cohen.
An infusion of cash from Cohen could help the Mets become World
Series title contenders. The franchise, which was founded in
1962, has won two titles, the last one coming in 1986.
The deal will require the approval of at least 23 of the other
29 team owners when MLB holds a vote, which could come at the
owners' meetings in November, Newsday reported.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru, Svea
Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles;
Editing by Arun Koyyur, Tom Brown and Richard Pullin)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
