So far, the returns on Steve Cohen’s purchase of the Mets on the team’s fans have been pretty meager. To be sure, being rid of the Wilpons and their parsimonious and maddeningly petty ways, and to have in their place a responsive and shockingly empathetic-seeming billionaire who might actually get it is, to a Mets fan, priceless. Still, James McCann behind the plate in place of Wilson Ramos is not quite the sort of upgrade they probably had in mind when they suddenly found themselves possessed of the sport’s richest owner.
There’s another group for whom Cohen’s arrival can’t be said to be priceless. Indeed, it can be rather precisely priced. But that group looks poised to enjoy more significant and meaningful returns on their actual—rather than emotional—investment thanks to the Big Guy’s arrival in Flushing.
Moody’s Investors Service Thursday put the ballpark’s Baa3-rated debt on review for an upgrade based in part on Cohen’s purchase of the team, “resulting in a sizable increase in ownership liquidity and balance sheet strength….”
“Steve Cohen’s purchase of the New York Mets and Queens Ballpark Company LLC is credit positive for Ballpark that currently relies on equity support to make its PILOT, rent, and installment purchase payments owing to the material interruption of revenues amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” Moody’s said. “Cohen is expected to continue to provide liquidity support to Ballpark, if needed, because of the stadium’s long-term revenue generation potential that contributes to the high franchise value of the team.”
Steve Cohen Give Mets Fans and Bondholders Something to Cheer [Bloomberg Quint]