Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are making another attempt to buy the New York Mets, although this time they’re bringing several current and former professional athletes along for the ride. Included in the group of potential buyers that have pooled their money to offer up $1.7 billion for the Major League Baseball team are Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher.
Vaughn McClure of ESPN reported on Monday the group has officially submitted its bid for the Mets to the team’s current COO Jeff Wilpon. The $1.7 billion bid is reportedly not the highest bid the team has received. Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen is said to have offered $2 billion, but Wilpon reportedly prefers the Rodriguez-Lopez group.
McClure said people had told him the Mets could be dealt to the Rodriguez group if their final offer was close to whatever Cohen ended up leaving on the table.
Rodriguez and Lopez are said to have put $300 million of their own money forward in the sale. They then went and amassed an impressive group of current and former professional athletes to get a large chunk of the offer price together. In addition to Kelce and Urlacher, the bunch includes former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas, two-time NBA All-Star Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets star Mason Plumlee, and former NFL running back DeMarco Murray.
Kelce talked to McClure on Monday about how excited he was about the opportunity to be a part-owner of the Mets.
“This is a crazy opportunity. I had a chance to meet Alex Rodriguez a couple of years ago and just told him how much of a fan I was as a kid of him,” Kelce said. “I’m very thankful for the success that I’ve had in the NFL, to have an opportunity like this come across the table. I couldn’t think of a more unique set of people to be in charge of this. Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are a star-studded couple that have gotten to where they are because they work their tails off. And they’re good human beings. I thank them for letting me be a part of this.”
Urlacher expressed similar excitement about being part of the opportunity and specifically pointed to being involved in a business deal with the likes of Kelce as something that only added to his interest.
While the report stated that Rodriguez and Lopez contributed the $300 million to the Mets offer, the specific financial contributions of the other group members is not currently known.
