Month: August 2009

The big news over the last couple of days is the bombshell that Fred Wilpon lost so much money in the Bernie Madoff scandal that he’ll be forced to sell the team. The story originated from author Erin Arvedlund, who’s writing a book about the Ponzi scheme called “Too Good To Be True”. In an interview promoting the book, she confidently told Marketwatch.com that Wilpon’s losses will force a sale of the Mets as early as next year.

Richard Sandomir of the NY Times spoke to Wilpon from his vacation in Aspen, CO.

“I’m fine, my family’s fine, my business family’s fine,” Wilpon said

It’s a good read from Sandomir. He even gets some quotes from Bob DuPuy, the President of Major League Baseball. Of course, DuPuy says that Wilpon is financially sound, etc. What else would he say? DuPuy isn’t dumb enough to start a panic by telling a reporter that one of his owners is financially distressed, not to mention that he’d be devaluing the Mets franchise. DuPuy just finished dealing with one MLB owner in bankruptcy with the Cubs situation.

It’s hard to tell fact from fiction here. Arvedlund has an interest in making splashy headlines to promote her book. And Wilpon has an interest in denying financial distress to maintain the value of his assets like the Mets and SNY. Each has the motivation to act accordingly.

Only time will tell if Wilpon is forced to put the Mets up for sale. We’ll have to look at some potential buyers for the Mets in a future post here. Do you have an extra $900 million?