Comments on: Meanwhile, Fred Wilpon gets $700 million in loans

By: speedyloansearch

speedyloansearch — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 10:08:58 +0000

If this new loan comes with additional time built into it, that does give them some more leeway to figure out some other way to raise well over a billion dollars. Perhaps SNY's value will continue to skyrocket, and they can borrow against that new collateral. Otherwise, whatever the term of the new loan is will be the next realistic date the Mets' owners might be able to increase spending on the team in a significant way.

By: sidelineshot

sidelineshot — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:51:03 +0000

A good example of a dumb sh*t, which happens to own a team that dissapoints fans every single year.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 04:56:00 +0000

IIRC neither Dodger Stadium nor whatever name the SF stadium has this year were financed with public money.

By: mazblast

mazblast — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 04:54:49 +0000

Props for the “Star Trek IV” reference.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:20:10 +0000

That isn’t actually how it works, and people don’t loan us money because we pay them back — they loan it to us so they can get interest. It benefits them if we just keep paying them interest and never pay off the debt. That is what A-hole Hamilton had in mind.

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 23:05:37 +0000

Pretty much but this also subscribes that the free market can actually affect sports ownership which it doesn’t. The days of forcing out bad owners via attendance and it’s related factors is long gone. I would point to this article highlighting the Buffalo Bills and the NFL subsidizing bad ownership

http://freemarketsports.com/2013/01/02/ralph-wilson-incompetency-defined/

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 23:02:50 +0000

The Mets aren’t the only MLB team to benefit from sports welfare, in fact only the Red Sox and Cubs have stadiums that were built with their own money.

By: chill1184

chill1184 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 23:00:02 +0000

Actually its called cronyism but thanks for playing that weak excuse.

By: seeingwhatsticks

seeingwhatsticks — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 22:20:25 +0000

That’s true, but I think it’s reasonable to wonder how much of that is due to the Wilpons getting help from Bud and MLB and other owners. Is Bud helping the Wilpons secure additional financing when he was unwilling to do so for McCourt?

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:45:46 +0000

We’ve never not paid it back. Never. That’s why people loan us money.

I don’t know what anyone is implying with thumbs up and thumbs down here. We’re a rich country. We borrow lots of money. We pay it back.

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:17:25 +0000

In this equation assume David Wright=Giancarlo Stanton. ie 1 good player=1 good player

By: albertmn

albertmn — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:30:09 +0000

Too big to fail?

By: bigmacmantle

bigmacmantle — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:19:59 +0000

I wonder how Standard and Poor determines on-field play will get worse. Yeah, on one hand I know it is the Mets so one can just assume they will get worse but I seriously wonder how they go about this. Do they have a baseball evaluation department? Poll a bunch of baseball expert consultants?

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:09:35 +0000

Actually…

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:08:12 +0000

At the very least because Wilpon hasn’t actually failed to pay his bills yet. He also hasn’t attempted to mortgage the future of the Mets to further line his own pockets, yet. McCourt had no money, no non-Dodger related income, and was using the team as a personal piggy bank. McCourt is just a guy that is mortgaged to his eyeballs in a bad economy because he was allowed to “purchase” anything he controls with very little money down and now his liquid assets are cut after the Ponzi scheme was busted.

The situations have absolutely nothing to do with each other…..so far.

By: flosox

flosox — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:38:02 +0000

number42is1 – In a way, yes. However, a better way to look at it is that an interest has been “pledged”; mortgages relate strictly to real estate. No real estate is pledged with Mezz debt.

The note and loan documents would include a security agreement that would describe the “pledged” assets; in this case a certain ownership percentage in the entity that owns the Mets. The security agreement would work much like a mortgage in that a mortgage describes the property being pledged as collateral.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:36:18 +0000

Clarification: down here in Macondo we sacrifice goats all the time. Chickens, too. Occasionally – and with the indulgence of SCOTUS, no less – a bull as well. Perhaps you can dislodge the Wilpoons with a mere goat.

We, however, are trying to figure out how to sacrifice a baleen whale in an effort to rid ourselves of Scrooge McLoria. Anyone got enough transparent aluminum handy to build a tank?

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:33:38 +0000

…you SACRIFICE GOATS and pray these clowns are preparing to sell at the end of 2013.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:32:42 +0000

…you PRAY these clowns are preparing to sell at the end of 2013.

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:31:34 +0000

Asshole buddy bias.

By: mianfr

mianfr — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:31:18 +0000

BB is still investment grade.

By: number42is1

number42is1 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:13:22 +0000

thank you for the clarification. so effectively its a mortgage against the team?

By: washburn1000

washburn1000 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:45:47 +0000

sdelmonte- how can you be a Mets fan and not want them gone? Do you realize how bad they’re going to be this year? They literally don’t have one proven outfielder and have done nothing to improve the team. Crazy Freddy is a scumbag and needs to be forced out of MLB

By: flosox

flosox — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:43:31 +0000

Most likely its Mezzanine Financing; meaning the collateral pledged is ownership interest in the Borrower as opposed to some sort of real (aka real estate) or personal property. In the event of default by the Borrower, the lender would actually obtain the ownership interest pledged as collateral.

Whether or not a controlling interest was pledged remains to be seen. However, if we assume the Mets are worth what the Dodgers sold for, you could assume a 35% interest was pledged (also assuming the $700M loan isn’t subordinated to other debt).

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:25:51 +0000

…you HOPE these clowns are preparing to sell at the end of 2013

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:24:04 +0000

The government’s been running a deficit almost every year since the Republic was founded. It makes sense, because we pay it back.

By: cur68

cur68 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:17:41 +0000

Wilpon·i·an
/ˈWilponēən/
Adjective
Relating to or influenced by Fred Wilpon and his methods of fucking up, esp. with reference to big market, high profile, can’t-lose-money Baseball Teams in New York.
Susceptible to massive losses and direct evidence of unconscionable cronyism by Selig.

See also “McCourting” & “Loria-ising”.

eg: “In spite of massive, Wilponian financial losses, the McCourting of The Mets was allowed to continue by Selig. It would only be a matter of time before the team was Loria-ised”.

By: skeleteeth

skeleteeth — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:14:24 +0000

East. Coast. Bias.

By: dadawg77

dadawg77 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:14:02 +0000

The simple answer is because greater the risk the greater the return and people love rewards.

But it probably boils down to two things, one the price the Dodgers fetched and two the amount of new TV money entering baseball. The lenders realize in a worst case scenario the Mets will fetch a large price if sold thus they are likely to get repaid. In the meantime, with the downgrade have increased interest rate charged.

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:09:36 +0000

“Which for Mets fans, has to be rather depressing”

Isn’t being depressed part of the mystique of being a Met’s fan?