Comments on: Martin Luther King III confirms his interest in the Mets

By: kiwicricket

kiwicricket — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:45:22 +0000

But he’s just trying to ‘advance the vision of a more diverse ownership group in professional sports’ though……Right?

By: seeingwhatsticks

seeingwhatsticks — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:27:55 +0000

It does. Makes me think this is a PR move for one or both sides, but also reminds me what a racket big churches can be and makes me think maybe we need to re-examine the tax exempt status they all enjoy. I suppose it’s possible that MLKIII has invested his money incredibly well but I don’t recall his father being a tremendously wealthy individual and even though the MLK Jr estate has licensed use of some of his works I don’t think they’ve done it a lot, at least not enough to be able to afford a large chunk of a NY based sports franchise. Like I said, just a little unsettling on a lot of fronts.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Hater!

By: ta192

ta192 — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:40:37 +0000

Does make you think, doesn’t it!

By: nc1616

nc1616 — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:29:17 +0000

Let me start by saying I really like this blog. I have a minor nit, however, on these Mets/Madoff posts. You’ve indicated a few times that the Mets are facing suit, or somehow owe money to, “the governement” related to the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Unless I missed something, that’s not the case. Obviously, one could argue that a bankruptcy trustee fills some kind of quasi-governmental role, but that’s a far cry from the Mets being suied by the SEC, DOJ etc…, which the langauge in some of these posts (unintentially, I suspect) indicate. Thanks.

By: sdelmonte

sdelmonte — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:54:32 +0000

My prediction is that someone offers the Wilpons enough money for everything that they sell the whole team. I honestly don’t know who has that kind of money and wants to own a baseball team – Warren Buffett and Steve Jobs don’t see like prospective owners, do they? But even with the Great Recession, there are enough really rich people in New York who could do it.

By: Jason @ IIATMS

Jason @ IIATMS — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:52:15 +0000

How a minor interest could be worked:

1) It contains an option that triggers when the elder Wilpon passes away
2) The investor gets first right of refusal if Wilpon needs to raise addition money, effectively giving the investor a majority stake
3) The Wilpons find several 5% owners in lieu of one group who buys 20-25% in one block

By: BC

BC — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:49:23 +0000

Maybe Cuban could just buy Major League Baseball.

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:20:27 +0000

I hope Bud tries to forbid MLK3 from owning a baseball team (or more likely a group including King). Maybe that will finally get the public irate enough to force him out of office.

Cuban should recruit King to be part of his ownership group. Selig can’t say no to Martin Luther King III?

By: BC

BC — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:16:39 +0000

Can someone get Mark Cuban on the horn and just fix this thing?

By: seeingwhatsticks

seeingwhatsticks — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:16:33 +0000

I find it kind of, unsettling that a man whose main jobs include running a non-profit and being the head of a church (also a non-profit) would have enough money to be a major investor in a Major League Baseball team. Either the non-profit world has a lot more profits than I thought it did, or the Mets really are worthless.

By: bloodysock

bloodysock — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:14:29 +0000

His father had a dream. Owning the Mets recently seems like more of a nightmare.