Steve Cohen tweets he hopes to close on Mets purchase by Friday
A general view of the national anthem before Opening Day between the Mets and the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on April 4, 2019. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Wilpons’ ownership of the Mets is down to its final hours.
Incoming owner Steve Cohen wrote on Twitter on Thursday that he is hoping to close on his purchase of the team Friday, followed by an introductory news conference Tuesday.
A source familiar with the process said that is more than just Cohen’s hope and the plan indeed is for the sale to be completed Friday.
That is within the timeline Cohen and the Mets provided last week, when Major League Baseball and New York City signed off on the deal, which values the Mets at about $2.475 billion. They said they expected to close on the sale — which is the last thing that needs to happen before Cohen officially is in charge — within 10 days. That window ends Monday.
Either way, Cohen is close to being the Mets’ majority owner. In the meantime, he is spending some of his time on Twitter, interacting directly with fans, whom he called the "most knowledgeable fans around."
Might he stop tweeting if and when the Mets lose?
"Not going to change," he wrote. "If anybody can take the heat, it’s me."
The post-closing news conference will be the first time the public gets to hear from Cohen at any significant length about his plans for the Mets. Since December, when the Mets first announced that Cohen was in talks to buy a majority stake of the team, there have been rumors, scuttlebutt and grand expectations about what Cohen, with an estimated net worth of $14 billion, might do. But he hasn’t actually said very much.
He did, however, write on Twitter last week that after the sale becomes official, "then it’s off and running." That echoed a sentiment in a statement he released last week.
"With free agency starting Sunday night," he wrote, referring to this past weekend, "we will be working towards a quick close."
That Cohen is still waiting to take over and make decisions should not negatively affect the Mets’ offseason. Baseball free agency, unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, moves very slowly. That is expected to be especially true this year, after months of pandemic-induced low revenues for clubs. The Mets, suddenly wealthy, appear poised to be one of the few clubs willing to spend significant money this offseason.
