Despite very long odds, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have not given up on their hope of purchasing the New York Mets.
Lopez told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that she was still prepared to buy the Mets, and that she would be the one in control of the team. That’s a shift from the buying process, where Rodriguez was listed as the would-be control person on documentation. This would make Lopez the first woman and Latina woman to take on such a role. It also has the benefit of ensuring that owners to not have to vote on the still-controversial Rodriguez as a possible owner.
“It ain’t over until it is over,” Lopez told Sherman. “We are New Yorkers and we are not going to give up. We feel we have the best bid for the sport, the team and the city.”
Rodriguez would be heavily involved in baseball operations despite not being the controlling owner. He said that under their ownership, the Mets would aim to “compete for a World Series championship every year.”
The problem is Rodriguez and Lopez don’t really have a route to ownership right now unless something significantly changes. Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen has a deal to buy the team, and there have been no issues in his purchase so far. Essentially, the only hope for Lopez and Rodriguez is that Cohen fails to gain the support of 23 of the 30 MLB owners. It appears the Lopez-Rodriguez consortium is ready to be there as a backup plan. They may still have issues of their own, though.
