The New York Mets’ mystery international bidders have been revealed. The London-based Reuben brothers have entered the race.
David and Simon Reuben have to be considered the frontrunners to purchase the New York Mets right now. Scott Soshnick of Variety is reporting that the London-based brothers are exploring a bid for the Amazins’, and that should scare other potential buyers.
The brothers are worth a combined $14 billion — that’s more than Steve Cohen. If they bought the Mets, the Reubens would become the wealthiest owners in MLB. That kind of wealth makes it hard for bidders like Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez to come out on top. Any bid they put together could easily be topped.
Harris and Blitzer were looking to buy the team on a discount due to the Wilpons and the Mets’ debt. With the Reubens involved, that doesn’t seem likely. They could put together a bid near $2 billion and would barely dent their fortune.
This shocking news comes about a week after Thornton McEnery and Josh Kosman of New York Post first reported that mystery international bidders have joined the race. Shortly after that McEnery and Kosman reported that a mystery bidder was gaining steam. It seems like the Reuben brothers are those mystery bidders.
According to Soshnick, the Reuben brothers are primarily interested in Citi Field. One of his sources told him, “The brothers are likely drawn to the team because of the real estate development possibilities around Citi Field.”
This sounds like if the Reubens purchase the Mets, they might have some interest in building up the surrounding area. It would be nice for fans to have a few places to go before games rather than just having the option of McFadden’s or tailgating.
That also brings up the question of how much the brothers would be willing to spend to make the team great. If they’re buying the team for real estate development rather than a love of the team or the game, it complicates things.
Fans knew that Cohen was going to spend to make his childhood team great. They know that if J-Rod buys the team, then Rodriguez is going to do everything in his power to make his childhood team competitive. It’s hard to tell if the Reubens would be willing to spend to make the team great in the same way.
They certainly have the money to do it, but do they have an interest in making the team great? Only time will tell.
