6/10/2023 0 Comments Mets on tv today![]() ![]() Meanwhile, Wilpon and Katz have loaded down the profitable SNY with more than $800 million in debt over the years, creating yet another sales hurdle because they cannot lower the price below what they need to pay off the debt. APīut the sale comes as the business of RSNs come under significant pressure because they rely on sales to cable customers, who are dwindling daily thanks to the growth of streaming video. Viewership for the Mets, whose home stadium is Citi Field in Queens, is rising. ![]() And it still makes plenty of money, generating about $150 million a year in pure profits, sources said. There was a time SNY was the crown jewel of Wilpon’s sporting empire. Viewership for the Queens team is also on the rise with the Mets having averaged 237,000 viewers per game through through June 20 - a rise of 22 percent from pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to Nielsen. The strikeouts are happening even as the Mets rise to first place in their division as billionaire Cohen beefs up the team, including the signing of All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor. Mets owner Steve Cohen has little incentive to bid for SNY. And as The Post reported last week, the auction would include an 8 percent stake in SNY owned by Comcast, NBC’s parent company. Sinclair’s snub comes despite the fact that the broadcast giant has signaled interest in expanding its troubled sports business by bidding for NBCUniversal’s seven RSNs. Sinclair Broadcast Group - the nation’s largest owner of regional sports networks, or RSNs - is not interested, said a source. The entity that owns exclusive rights to broadcast Yankees games, known as the YES Network, also looked and passed, sources said. APĬable giants Charter Communications and Comcast, both minority investors in SNY, were granted first dibs but said no, a source said. Fred Wilpon, seen at left with businessman son Jeff Wilpon, isn’t having luck unloading SNY. In February, SNY’s parent corporation, Sterling Equities Sports Group, which Wilpon controls together with his long-time partner Saul Katz, sent out sales books seeking roughly $1 billion for SNY, sources said. Wilpon last fall scored $2.475 billion - the most ever paid for an MLB franchise - when he sold the money-losing Mets to long-time fan and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen.īut now, sources say, the 84-year-old real estate developer is having trouble offloading the entity that owns exclusive rights to broadcast Mets games - called SportsNet New York, or SNY - despite the fact that it still makes money hand over fist. He may have sold the New York Mets for a record price last year, but Fred Wilpon is striking out when it comes to selling the sports channel behind the Major League Baseball team, The Post has learned. Robinson Cano decision shows what Mets’ most valuable weapon really is Mets owner Steve Cohen has placed hedge fund execs in key roles at team: report ’86 World Series MVP at Old-Timers’ Day: ‘I love the New York Mets, I don’t like the Wilpons’ Goal! Adams kicks off plan for new soccer stadium in Queens ![]()
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