Ever since the team’s creation during the expansion period of Major League Baseball, the New York Mets have always sat in the shadows of their cross-town rivals, the New York Yankees. However, it should be a sigh of relief to fans that this is about to change.
From 2002 to the present, the Mets have been majority-owned by the Wilpon family. Through the years, the Wilpons have been best known for meddling in team affairs, needing to be involved in every single baseball decision and for stinginess with spending on the payroll. Recent news has revealed concerning the dysfunction of the ownership, although Around Dec. 4, it was confirmed by multiple news outlets that the Wilpons were in the process of selling approximately 80 percent of the team to billionaire Steve Cohen over the course of the next five years, granting him majority owner of the team.
Forbes magazine lists Cohen as having a net worth of $13.6 billion, the highest of any current owners of the 29 other teams in the game. He owns a personal art collection that has been rated at being worth approximately $1 billion back in 2015. On top of that, he grew up a Mets fan on Long Island.
This is not a purchase that a multi-billionaire who grew up rooting for the team makes in order to turn a profit, this is someone who will put his own personal money into the team and will strive to win no matter what. He has already been compared to former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who was well known for his free-spending ways and not taking no for an answer if it was a little reckless sometimes.
For Mets fans, this could be the gateway towards a guaranteed winner.