NY Mets' Owners Pitch for Queens Casino

Mr. Met

Oh, those wild and crazy New York Mets have created quite a story for the back pages. The tale begins with the Metropolitans, one of Major League Baseball's premier franchises, pleading poverty in the wake of the Bernie Madoff affair. Their solution to this dilemma, however, does not involve improving the baseball team. Instead, according to an article in today's New York Post, Sterling Equities has made a pitch to build a casino adjacent to the Mets' ballpark, Citi Field.

Sterling Equities is the "development arm" of the Mets' owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. They've made a deal with a local Native American tribe to operate the gambling parlor. (Native Americans have a monopoly on table gaming in the Empire State.) Now, inquiring minds may ask how an Indian reservation was found about two miles from LaGuardia Airport. Well, there isn't one. The New York State Legislature would have to amend current statutes to permit table gambling in the Big Apple. Unsurprisingly, there's been some initial discussion in Albany addressing that very topic.

Now, before you can say "round up the usual suspects," keep in mind that Major League Baseball is highly allergic to any association with organized crime -- excuse me -- organized gambling. Further, New York governor Andrew Cuomo appears cool to the idea of a "family-style" gaming oasis in Queens. Gotham's legal games of chance currently focus on horse racing. Of course, illegal gambling is a major New York business. Why would anyone want to legalize such a lucrative money pot?

It's more than a little sad to see Citi Field pathetically empty during the height of a baseball season. The way to fix that depressing atmosphere is for Wilpon and Katz to put a better product on the diamond, rather than putting their money on a fixed casino game.

New York Mets Hire Firm Specializing In Bankruptcy

Mr. Met

According to a story in today's The New York Times, the New York Mets have engaged the services of bankruptcy and financial restructuring specialist CRG Partners to "provide services in connection with financial reporting and budgeting processes." The baseball team immediately denied CRG was brought it to advise the team's besieged owners about how to navigate through dodgy fiscal issues, even though the firm handled the Texas Rangers' bankruptcy. Nope, the Mets just wanted some savvy numbers crunchers to join the party with Mr. Met in the House that Madoff Built.

The Mets, meanwhile, have reportedly been late on loan repayments to Major League Baseball. The baseball franchise will have a major bank loan payment due. There's no sign the team ownership has enough money to make the payments. In November, according to the Times article, the Mets laid off ten percent of its full-time staff. That's an astonishing act for a flagship baseball franchise in the nation's largest, most lucrative market.

It's no secret the Mets have traded away expensive players and did not make a bona fide effort to sign its star shortstop, Jose Reyes, at the end of the 2011 baseball season. He was merely the first Met to win a batting title. During the summer, the Met management made horse's asses of themselves by trying to get hedge fund sharpie David Einhorn to purchase a minority interest in the team. Einhorn, an outstanding poker player as well as a sharp value investor, didn't take long to walk away from whatever charm team owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz could muster.

Now, a once-proud franchise has been reduced to peddling pieces of the team to anonymous, presumably deep pockets. This turn of events is hard for me to swallow. When I was a young boy, I somehow talked the sponsor of our baseball team into naming it the "Mets." And, at one point in New York Mets history, a relative of mine was the team's general manager. Now, it's impossible for me to root for the team. Mets season ticket sales are evaporating. The Mets ownership may face a very tough court case with the feisty trustee representing victims of the Madoff scam. A bankruptcy specialist has been brought it, while employees are let go.

Who's next? Who knows. In the meantime, the team's song "Meet the Mets" takes on an ironic feeling, as there won't be anyone left at the Queens ballpark worth meeting. As for Mets fans, fuggedaboutit.