A group featuring 30-year-old private investment chairman and CEO, C.K. McWhorter, is expected to hear from Major League Baseball if they have been approved to pursue majority ownership of the New York Mets by Wednesday with an estimated $1.8 billion bid, a source with close knowledge of the situation told amNewYork Metro on Monday.
The group consists of three partners in total with the source adding that they have “garnered major support from all league executives and will have no problems with approval.” The other two other members of McWhorter’s group are unknown at this time.
On Thursday, the first deadline for initial bids for the Mets arrived with billionaire hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen reportedly offering $2 billion for the team and an additional $1.5 billion-$2 billion for SNY (h/t Laura Goldman) — the television station owned by the clubs’ owners, the Wilpon family. It remains to be seen if SNY will be included in the deal, but it is believed that the Wilpons do not want to let go of station that is one of the only aspects of the club that makes a profit. The Mets lose an average of $50 million per season under its current regime.
A group headlined by former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez and pop artist Jennifer Lopez is said to have placed a bid between $1.7 billion and $2 billion while the duo of Josh Harris and David Blitzer is believed to be around the $1.7 billion mark.
Per Thornton McEnery and Josh Kosman of the New York Post, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon would “prefer to sell the team to J-Rod if their offer is close to the best bid at the end of the auction, several sources said.”
According to the source, McWhorter’s group has a preparing bid of roughly $1.8 billion, but the group is hoping that their “intrinsic value is much more important than the omitted $200 million shy offer bid.”
McWhorter — the founder and CEO of the private investment company, CTRL USA — would become one of the youngest owners in professional sports history and would be the only Black owner in Major League Baseball, thus “connecting the game of baseball to today’s generation, which is a major incentive to the bottom line of the MLB.”
Even if McWhorter’s group is approved — which could be doubtful given the lack of public information about the 30-year-old — they would be perceived as a major underdog in the Mets’ sweepstakes if Cohen is fully back in the hunt as previously reported. His estimated combined (team, SNY) $4 billion offer would blow any potential bidders out of the water and given his $13 billion net worth, would have no problem raising the bar even if the Wilpons want to relinquish the team only.
There is still a certain amount of mystery surrounding McWhorter. His net worth is not officially known or listed amongst reputable sites such as Forbes or Bloomberg, though the source told amNewYork that it is at approximately $680 million, which would be close to Rodriguez and Lopez’s combined net worth.
That means McWhorter’s partners would need to possess some deep pockets if their pursuit of the Mets is a viable one.
AmNewYork was first notified of McWhorter’s interest in the Mets on Thursday.
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