The New York Post broke the story last week that Mets owners Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon and Saul Katz dodged a rather large bullet. Remember that big debt payment that was hanging over their heads? It was due in June? $250 million? Well, they don’t have to pay that in June. They don’t have to pay it in July. Heck, they don’t even have to pay it before New Year’s Eve. They were allowed to do a massive restructuring and refinancing on the debt. So, now y’know when they have to pay it? Not until 2021! And they don’t have to pay down a single penny of principal or interest between now and then. So we fans can rest easy, knowing that our beloved Mets team will continue to be run in the same efficient, modern, fan-friendly, Mets-centric way we’ve been enjoying since time immemorial.
You’ll excuse your intrepid columnist if he feels the need to lie down.
Far and wide, this has been hailed as “good news” for the fans, because – supposedly – under this restructuring, the financial restrictions placed on the team have been removed. The claim is that the restrictions had been a stipulation of the original loan, at the insistence of the team’s creditors. WAIT! Hold the phone! So, it wasn’t Irving Picard – the trustee overseeing the payouts to Bernie Madoff’s victims – who told the Mets they couldn’t spend any money. So, it wasn’t Sandy Alderson’s idea to squeeze every nickel until Jefferson screamed. So, it wasn’t Fred and Jeff and Saul themselves pocketing whatever meager profits were flowing into Citi Field, rather than investing them back into the on-field product. It was big, bad JP Morgan Chase or Bank of America, after all.
You’ll excuse your intrepid columnist if he greets this news with a healthy dose of skepticism.
My friend Brian Joura and I had a brief e-mail exchange on the subject in real time.
CH: The Post reported that the Wilpons will be able to refinance the $250 mil. loan that was supposed to come due in June. Now it’s not due until the year 2021, & they don’t have to pay anything down between now & then. May as well face it: we’re gonna be stuck with these clowns until we die, aren’t we?
BJ: There’s still the $600 million due in 2015 on the loan against SNY. But the banks have not shown any reluctance to refinance in the past, so I’m not sure why they would do so next year, either.
CH: As I said…
So there it is. For those of us who were hoping against hope that these looming loan payments would sound the death knell for the Wilponian Epoch, this news is a crushing disappointment. Current Mets ownership has been granted a seven-year-long stay of execution. Having failed to take on a financial partner with some muscle, the Wilpons are now left to their own devices, intelligence and wiles to put together a winning on-field product.
You’ll excuse your intrepid columnist if he is less than sanguine at this prospect.
The debt is dead! Long live the debt!
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You can keep kicking the can down the road, but eventually the creditors are going to come calling, and the Wilpons are going to need to pay up.
How are the Wilpons going to repay their minority owners in a few years when they barely have enough resources to maintain a 90 million dollar payroll? Ask uncle Bernie for a loan? As a human being I can sympathize with their situation. Being complicit and ignoring all the red flags they brought it upon themselves and have no one to blame except the man in the mirror.
The Wilpons don’t *have* to repay their minority owners. They sold them a portion of the team, they didn’t borrow from them.
Google Wilpons sell minority shares and scroll down to the seventh listing for ESPN and Adam Rubin’s story on this. In essence the minority owners have the option to recoup their original 20 million dollar shares at 3% interest in 6 years or they can leave their investment and maintain minority ownership.
The Wilpons *have* been paying up.
Gulp! Slash Wrist…
I have a feeling the 25 million dollars Citi was to pay annually for naming rights is being waived privately between the 2 parties. That comes out to 200 million dollars. Charlie there’s still hope. The SNY loan is also due. Much larger than the team loan. So cancel SNY and listen on the radio!
I can only hope (dream), the new commissioner will kick them out – Owner Financially Able to Perform. Bud Selig created this mess, by make allowances for his friend, Fred Wilpon. Selig should have thrown the bums out, as soon as the Madoff scandal hit!
Not going to happen. Nor should it.
The fact is, this team should be a cash cow and it isn’t. The Wilpon’s should be making a profit, increasing their payroll accordingly and appropriately, and expanding their fan base; but their not. Poor fiscal management, marketing and public relations along with poor roster choices and signings has hurt this franchise. Although I don’t agree with many of Sandy’s moves I respect that he has a fiscal plan and follows it. I shudder thinking about the day when Sandy and Fred are gone and Jeff is running the team.
It will be just like Dolan running the Knicks. And we know what a genius he is.
The end is not going to be “bitter.”
it’s going to be bittersweet