Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are reportely no longer interested in a possible bid to be owners of the New York Mets.
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are reportedly no longer interested in buying the New York Mets.
In April, Variety reported that the couple retained JPMorgan Chase to raise capital for a possible bid and were working with managing director Eric Menell, the bank’s co-head of North American media investment banking. TMZ also reported that aside from Rodriguez and Lopez using some of their own cash, they were looking for big investors to put up between $25 million and $50 million, and then planned to get financing from a bank to come up with the remainder of the money for the bid.
However, according to a New York Post report, Lopez and Rodriguez's negotiations with potential partners didn't materialize after talks with their chosen money partner, billionaire Wayne Rothbaum, didn't pan out.
The Mets are currently owned by the Wilpon family. According to the new report, the Wilpons also aren't willing to sell the team for the $1 billion price Rothbaum wanted.
TMZ reported last month that Rodriguez was more interested in working with the players as opposed to running the business part of the team, which he reportedly wanted to pass off to those with more experience.
JPMorgan didn't comment on the report. ET also reached out to reps for Lopez, Rodriguez and the Mets.
Rodriguez is, of course, known for playing 12 seasons with the New York Yankees during his legendary baseball career. Lopez is also from the Bronx, which is home to the Yankees. TMZ reported that 44-year-old Rodriguez's interests in buying the Mets was "strictly a financial decision," as opposed to a vanity purchase.
Meanwhile, ET recently spoke with Rodriguez via video chat, and he talked about how he and 50-year-old Lopez have had to adjust their future plans amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"We had a meeting on Zoom with our core [group of people], kind of just going over what the next 12 months look like and we have three or four different variations of how that can look," Rodriguez shared, adding that the meeting touched on everything from wedding plans to "going on tour next summer" or even movie projects that they might have in the works.
"It's such a fluid world," he added. "Usually when you underwrite a year -- whether [in terms of] scheduling or financially -- you never think that it's going to just stop like this. So we're having to be very fluid, think on our feet and just think very proactively."
Watch the video below for more:
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