After negotiations with potential investment partners "failed to materialize," Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are no longer interested in exploring the idea of buying the Mets, reports Thornton McEnery of the New York Post.
According to McEnery, Rodriguez and Lopez's efforts hit a roadbloack when talks with Quogue Capital founder Wayne Rothbaum -- a potential investor they were interested in having join their group -- went south due in part to his desire to "exert more control" over the team than Rodriguez and Lopez were comfortable with.
Rothbaum, who bid on the Marlins three years ago before they were sold to a group including Derek Jeter, had reportedly submitted an application to Major League Baseball, saying that his preference would be to serve as an investor in the team and not the controlling partner.
According to Variety, Rodriguez and Lopez were working with JPMorgan Chase in recent weeks to "raise capital for a possible bid" on the team.
Rodriguez, who grew up a Mets fan, confirmed reports in March that he might be interested in buying the team, saying on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, "If the opportunity came up, I would certainly look at it."
"Here's what it is: I love New York City," he said. "A lot of people don't know this, but growing up I was a big Mets fan. And with the exception of my daughters' birth, both of them, the best years of my life were 1986 and 2009 when we [the Yankees] won."
The first report in February from the Post about Rodriguez's interest in the Mets came after a potential sale to Steve Cohen fell through. Mets COO Jeff Wilpon later said in a statement that the team would be "moving forward to find a new transaction."
On Feb. 6, after Cohen announced that his deal to become majority owner had fallen through, Sterling Partners released a statement citing the "highly complicated" transaction they had been attempting with Cohen and adding that Sterling intended to "pursue a new transaction and has engaged Allen & Company to manage that process."
A report in the New York Times shed light on the snag the potential deal had hit.
MLB -- non-Mets -- sources with knowledge of the Cohen negotiation said in February that it wasn't the five-year transition of power that was at issue, SNY's Andy Martino reported, saying that part of the transaction was a done deal in writing months ago.
Soon after the deal with Cohen fell through, Bloomberg reported that in the wake of the failed negotiations with Cohen, there would be "no preconditions regarding control of the team" as part of the next attempted sale, meaning whoever becomes majority owner would likely have full control once the sale is complete.
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