The New York Mets look to be in big trouble

We have been following the fallout of the New York Mets owner’s involvement in the Bernie Madoof scandal for quite some time. It is closely mirrors the trouble that Tom Hicks got the Texas Rangers into that there seems to be little doubt that the outcome of this will be the Wilpon family having to sell the team. They may try to fool us for awhile, but we already know how this story ends.

Word is beginning to leak out that the Mets are deep in the red, that the Wilpon family may be out of cash, and that they are taking out big loans to keep the team afloat. We know they borrowed a chunk of cash last year, and that seems odd as revenue should have gone up as they moved into a new stadium. That loan was for about 430 million dollars, and we know MLB loaned the team another 20 to 25 million last fall to cover operating expenses.

Now it looks like the Mets through JP Morgan Chase are looking to borrow more money. That is very bad, that a team with a brand new stadium up is that much in the red. It seems to indicate the Wilpon family have more serious money issues, and that maybe MLB should step in and stop the bleeding.

I would seriously doubt any bank would be willing to give money to a team, the owns its own cable network, that is having this hard a time raising revenue. More to the point MLB needs the Mets to be successful and it does not look like the Wilpon family is capable of doing that. Having a big market team have this many problems is bad for the sport, and Bud Selig really should do something about that.

Related Links:

• New York Mets news and notes
• The Business of Major League Baseball
• Joshua Lobdell.com