The New York Mets’ new prospective owner Steve Cohen intends to hire Sandy Alderson as the team’s president provided the sale goes through.
Ownership approval could come as soon as November and is dependent on at least 23 of the current 30 owners signing off on the agreement.
If approved, the $2.47 billion purchase price would be the richest for a North American sports franchise. Joseph Tsai bought the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets for $2.35 billion in 2019, and another hedge fund manager, David Tepper, paid $2.275 billion for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in 2018.
“If I am fortunate enough to be approved by Major League Baseball as the next owner of this iconic franchise, Sandy Alderson will become president of the New York Mets and will oversee all Mets baseball and business operations,” Cohen said. “Sandy is an accomplished and respected baseball executive who shares my philosophy of building an organization and a team the right way. I am excited to have Sandy in a key leadership role with the Mets if my purchase of the team is approved.”
Alderson, 72, served as the Mets general manager from 2010-18. He took a leave of absence from the team in the summer of 2018 while battling a recurrence of cancer before opting to step down as the club’s GM.
Alderson was hired by the Oakland Athletics in January 2019 as senior adviser to baseball operations.
Alderson previously spent 17 seasons with the Athletics, starting with the title of general counsel in 1981. He was named executive vice president of baseball operations in 1983 and guided the team to three consecutive World Series (1988-90) with the team winning the title in 1989.
