Master Index of Archived Threads


Wilpon May Have to Sell The Mets

MFS62 Aug 28 2009 07:30 AM

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/market ... ts-coming/ Madoff Author Sees Sale Of N.Y. Mets Coming Jon Friedman MarketWatch NEW YORK -- Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets, will be forced to sell the baseball franchise as soon as 2010 after incurring heavy Bernie Madoff-related investment losses. So says Erin Arvedlund, author of "Too Good to Be True," a new book from publisher Portfolio that has gotten a big buzz in its first few weeks by detailing the evil deeds of the disgraced New York hedge fund manager. Madoff, who is serving a prison sentence, has become the poster child for Wall Street's excessive corruption, greed and all-around sleaziness. "You can quote me," Arvedlund said of a possible sale of the Mets. "It's a matter of when. It could be as soon as next year." Arvedlund estimates the Wilpon family may have lost as much as $700 million on Madoff-related investments that went awry. Mets management has been criticized for failing to acquire such stars as Manny Ramirez -- and many fans suspected that the team couldn't afford to obtain such high-priced players. "As I understood it, they knew each other from way back when," Arvedlund told me. "Wilpon was one of the big real-estate magnates who was a Madoff investor." A Mets spokeswoman said on Thursday by e-mail: "The numbers speculated continue to be inaccurate. We refute what has been reported. As we have said on numerous occasions, losses incurred by the Sterling Partners do not and will not affect the day-to-day operations and long-term plans of the Mets organization. The team is not for sale in any respect." Wilpon's Sterling company controls the Mets franchise. Still, the media have speculated about Wilpon's prospects. The New York Times (NYT: 7.96, 0, 0%) has written: "Perhaps most troubling is the possibility that losses incurred by Sterling Equities could put pressure on Wilpon to raise money by selling other assets. Because Sterling invested money directly with Madoff, Wilpon may have to come up with money to reimburse some of his own investors for losses. That may cause him to sell valuable assets, including a portion of his ownership in the Mets." In April, Forbes pegged the Mets to have a value of $912 million. The Mets ranked as the second-most valuable baseball franchise, trailing only the New York Yankees. See Forbes story. 2001 article Arvedlund understands Madoff well. In 2001, she wrote a story while working for Barron's that helped lift the veil on his secretive investment practices. (Barron's, like MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal, is published by Dow Jones and owned by News Corp. (NWS: 12.99, 0, 0%) ) In her book, Arvedlund is shying away from the sociological implications of the scandal and concentrating on explaining to readers how Madoff turned his once-legitimate business into a huge fraud. "The two missing pieces were finding the really old people" who could talk about the origins of the fraud "and how (the company) produced these phony statements," Arvedlund said. What resulted was a page-turning narrative. Like many authors, Arvedlund became happily obsessed with her work. This kind of drive can help authors persist when they feel discouraged by the weight of the work or head cold or family distraction. Of course, it also can result in a strange way of life for the author. "I talk about these people like they're my family," Arvedlund laughed. She set aside a specific part of her Philadelphia home where she would be free of Madoff, at least for a moment or two. "My husband and I had a no-Bernie zone in our apartment," she chuckled at her fixation. "I had an office there but I had to have a Madoff-free zone." Ponzi scheme The Madoff story exploded last December. Madoff stunned Wall Street when he admitted to running a $65-billion Ponzi scheme, unraveling his carefully constructed mystique. In the glittering world of New York high society, Madoff had been a beacon of the investment community because of his philanthropic work. To his employees and business associates, he could seem imperious. He was a complex man, and book publishers jumped at the chance to tell his story. Adrian Zackheim, president of Portfolio, a division of Penguin Group, knew instinctively that Madoff would be a compelling subject. "It broke before Christmas and got more and more outrageous," Zackheim told me. "I thought pretty early on there would be books about this. We were hoping that we'd come out first, or early, and were looking for someone who had some relationship with the story before the coverage started." Arvedlund had written about Madoff on Portfolio.com, the Web site of the now-defunct Conde Nast business magazine. "One of (my) assistants found a blog on Portfolio.com and it mentioned that Barron's piece," Zackheim said. "That seemed like a good argument," Zackheim said. He promptly called Arvedlund. "She was much more likely than anyone to be on the story. She had a lot of sources already and got up to speed right away." Resonates elsewhere Zackheim is confident that Madoff's saga will resonate outside Wall Street and New York City. The Madoff story is "being covered all over the country," Zackheim said. "It's a major national news story everywhere. Even people who weren't connected to any of this think it's kind of exotic." It's a challenge for a journalist to write a book about a subject who is living and whose story is fluid and constantly changing. In a Wall Street Journal column about the many Madoff books that have been published so far, David Weidner noted that "Too Good to Be True" was "thoroughly reported." But critics say that the Madoff books fail to answer a fundamental question: What did Madoff do with his fortune? Madoff's followers appreciate the fine storytelling but they want to understand how he could have been so evil. Plus, were his wife and family members truly innocent? Any discussion of Madoff inevitably raises as many questions as it answers. Zackheim said Arvedlund's book has sold several thousands of copies in its first few weeks. "She is definitely selling nationally," Zackheim noted. "Our marketing strategy is to get her in front of her as many people as possible," Zackheim said. Is this a publicity stunt to sell books, or do you think this is real? LAter

TransMonk Aug 28 2009 07:40 AM

I've got $47 in my wallet right now. Let's pool our resources and make him an offer.

metirish Aug 28 2009 07:45 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 28 2009 07:52 AM

I can't read past this Mets management has been criticized for failing to acquire such stars as Manny Ramirez -- You can quote me on this.... Wilpon may sell the team............or he may not.....intrigue in Queens I've got $37 and a september unlimited metro card with train connection in my wallet...that's worth $153

Benjamin Grimm Aug 28 2009 07:49 AM

Let's get Jerry Seinfeld involved! He has all the money. (At least, whatever money Oprah doesn't have.) Really, though, I'm very skeptical about the claims that the Madoff thing hasn't hurt the Mets finances. If that's true, why are they "cash strapped?" (That is, assuming that they really are "cash strapped.") Bad economy? Sure, but that should affect all 30 teams more or less equally. And wasn't SNY and Citi Field supposed to increase their cash flow? Find a billionaire Mets fan and sell the team to him. If the Wilpons are at a point where they'd rather spend less and win less, then it's time for them to go. They've achieved their dream of rebuilding Ebbets Field, and they got to preside over the place for a year. Maybe they'll have to settle for that.

Ashie62 Aug 28 2009 07:57 AM

Hell..I got trashed in may for posting Wilpon will sell the team before the end of year and Reyes will never play another game as a Mets It's at least a push for now.. Fred W..you're 75..your kid has little business sense..Sell the freakin thing You are bleeding money from every orifice

metirish Aug 28 2009 08:09 AM

Jeff in an interview after the Madoff scheme broke scoffed at money problems and talked about how he had diversified his portfolio... JCL memorably said Jeff is the guy that gives other millionaires a bad name.... Here's the quote from Jeff "How is that possible? We have other money. Just because you guys don't know how much money we have, we have other money and other funds outside of (the Mets). "It's called diversification." Wilpon

Ashie62 Aug 28 2009 09:04 AM

Note to Jeff-- I hope you "diversified" your commercial real estate holdings That shoe hasn't dropped yet. You may be selling things you never deemed imaginable

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 28 2009 11:53 AM

The knee-jerk rebut to the knee-jerk reaction to Madoff-and-the-Mets seems to have been something like: "Yes, but if you think personal losses affect the finances of the team, then I'm afraid you don't understand accounting." This is a cogent argument... if the losses were exclusively personal. The more we find out about this, the more it seems that every entity the Wilpons touched was invested in the Cult of Bernie. And I've got $23.87 in my hand right now. But I have a LOT of Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma gift cards.

Nymr83 Aug 28 2009 12:02 PM

I'll offer 75 cents, do it now Fred, before the franchise value plummets when everyone learns that Santana is actually done for good.

Ashie62 Aug 28 2009 12:40 PM

Mets issued a press release regarding the CNBC report that the Mets are for sale. "Totally false and irresponsible reporting" It's kind of surreal that 2 childhood friends are in a situation where later in life one may have actually "stolen" the others baseball team. Wilpon money, Sterling Mets money....only the accountants know how it is set up. and if they don't maybe Bernie Madoff can tell them?

Kong76 Aug 28 2009 12:51 PM

There is no press release on the official site. Last one is dated 8/26. Guess they can't afford to pay the web-guy.

Mex17 Aug 28 2009 03:08 PM

What's the over/under on ol' Nelson rising from the ashes?

Edgy DC Aug 28 2009 09:50 PM

That's a terribly written article and this is clearly the author using the Mets to generate publicity for her book.

PiggiesTomatoes Aug 28 2009 11:06 PM

[quote="Edgy DC":2vprjgpn]That's a terribly written article and this is clearly the author using the Mets to generate publicity for her book.[/quote:2vprjgpn] Amen. Article = Book pimpin'

metirish Aug 31 2009 08:43 AM

Real or imagined there is plenty of talk about the Mets and money , or lack of it. Mets beat Cubs, 4-1; where do they go from here? Barring a complete meltdown, the Mets are not likely to end up in the cellar of the National League East this season, and they helped their cause with yesterday's 4-1 victory over the Cubs to avoid a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field. Nelson Figueroa had a career-high 10 strikeouts in seven-plus innings, the Mets piled up 12 hits and Francisco Rodriguez earned his 28th save, his first since Aug. 21. It was a rare day of good news for a franchise in turmoil. But as the Mets try to fix what went wrong this year, there is no avoiding the bottom line, and that is something the team continues to deal with in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal. The most recent estimate of the Wilpons' losses from the Ponzi scheme is roughly $700 million, as Erin Arvelund details in the book, "Too Good to Be True." The author insists the family will be forced to sell the Mets, perhaps as early as 2010. The Mets denied that is the case Friday with a statement that said: "The author of the book has no knowledge or facts related to the Mets business operations or finances. Her speculation that the Mets - or any part of the team - is for sale is completely false and is irresponsible." But the Mets, whose $140-million payroll this season is second only to the Yankees, still are likely to think differently about how they do business in this post-Madoff world. There already is evidence of that. The Mets have canceled their Instructional League, held annually in Port St. Lucie, and instead will have a "modified" program at their baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, according to general manager Omar Minaya. The GM said other teams also have considered scrapping their instructional programs, usually conducted in September when the minor-league seasons have finished, and the amount of money at stake is substantial. One person familiar with the situation said the Mets will save roughly $250,000 with the move, or a little more than half the major-league minimum salary for one player. Former Mets GM Jim Duquette spoke Sunday about the team's decision to cancel the Instructional League on his Sirius XM radio show. "It gives you a chance to extend the development of your young players, of your prospects," Duquette said, "and they're not gonna have it. They have canceled it for this fall. And to me, being a development guy, that's big news. If you're development-oriented, it's not a good decision, in my opinion." In a statement late last night, the Mets defended the move, saying: "We believe that by housing our minor-league players in the Dominican, we will have more opportunities to have competition against opposing teams that have training facilities nearby. Over the past few years in Port St. Lucie, the competition has predominantly been among our own players as a result of other teams leaving the area." The Mets also pointed out that the Cardinals, located 45 minutes south in Jupiter, have canceled their Instructional League program and that the Marlins, who share that facility with St. Louis, have cut back to a minicamp in September. Another cost-saving move could involve the Mets' limited plans for their September call-ups; Minaya does not anticipate a big influx of minor-leaguers for the final month of the season. The only certain addition appears to be Double-A catcher Josh Thole, who is expected to arrive Tuesdaywhen the roster expands, but few players will follow him to the majors. There are 40-man roster implications to those decisions, but there also is money involved. Each September call-up earns roughly $70,000 for the month. That may not seem like much in the big picture, but for a team going nowhere and looking to tighten the budget, it's an easy way to trim costs. Even as the Wilpons repeatedly deny a need to sell the Mets, how they operate the team will come under more intense scrutiny in the months ahead, especially during what many feel will be a thrifty offseason for them in the free-agent market. One of the factors in keeping Minaya and the front office intact is the financial cost of cleaning house. The Wilpons are reluctant to swallow more than $10 million in management contracts to start over again. The Wilpons already have told Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel that they will be back next season, but it remains unclear what more ownership is willing to invest in 2010 to cover up the stench left by this terrible season.

Edgy DC Aug 31 2009 08:55 AM

That's a game report? I think some journalists had their writing skills invested with Madoff.

MFS62 Aug 31 2009 09:12 AM

Edgy, look at the bright side. If the Mets don't bring up too many players after Sept 1, it will make your roster updates easier. Later

Edgy DC Aug 31 2009 09:36 AM

I don't care one way or the other about how many callups they have. Writing, "Another cost-saving move could involve the Mets' limited plans for their September call-ups..." has nothing to do with reporting what is going on but could trigger prejudice by readers led to believe that whatever number they add --- nobody adds the full allowed number of 15, ever --- is some sort of evidence. It misleads the reader and attempts to put the Mets in a defensive posture. Should they call up 10 just for PR now?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 31 2009 09:39 AM

Most of the likely Sept. callups are already with the org.

Gwreck Aug 31 2009 09:42 AM

I think there's Carlos Muniz and Eddie Kunz if we wanted a couple of relievers. The only position player on the 40-man who is not already in NY is Argenis Reyes. I guess they have to clear a 40-man spot for Thole but I presume that can be done by moving someone else to the 60-day DL who's not already there (Santana, Nieve, Perez are all on the 15-day).

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 31 2009 10:12 AM

So... does Duquette study with Steve Phillips formally, or has he just decided to adopt him as an informal role model, discussing-past-employer-wise?

Gwreck Aug 31 2009 08:02 PM

Courtesy Adam Rubin's blog, here's the author and Dave Howard going head-to-head on Fox Business (!)* network. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2 ... sitio.html --- * Never heard of this network before. Who are they supposed to compete with? CNBC? Or is it some new niche market?

Edgy DC Aug 31 2009 10:07 PM

Wow, Howard's come down so hard on her that he's got Jim Duquette backpedaling too.

Gwreck Aug 31 2009 10:46 PM

She held her ground just fine until the very end of the interview when she seemed to back off a little bit. I guess we'll know in 2 years who was right.

metirish Sep 01 2009 08:22 AM

The Mets have abandoned Spring Training next year and will instead have an informal gathering the weekend before the season kicks off, a meet and greet session .

G-Fafif Sep 01 2009 09:15 AM

Howard: You're inaccurate. You're wrong. You're a liar. Author: No I'm not. Duquette: I should backtrack in case the Mets aren't broke and are hiring. Fox Business Channel is indeed a CNBC competitor. Not on a lot of cable systems. You can see their logo on the Citi Field ribbons now and again in the course of a game when you're not watching the Mets who will not be sold, so you better be nice to Jeff Wilpon's kid.