By Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez Bet $100 Million That the Mets Will Win the World Series in the Next 10 Years
The power couple isn't giving up on their dream to buy the New York baseball team just yet.
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez aren't giving up their dream of owning the Mets so easily.
On August 28, Lopez announced on Instagram that she and her fiancé would no longer be bidding to purchase the team, but she later deleted that announcement, telling the New York Post on Tuesday, "It ain't over until it is over." The singer added, "We are New Yorkers and we are not going to give up. We feel we have the best bid for the sport, the team, and the city."
The couple has updated their offer so that Lopez would now be the control person for the team, making her the first Latina to hold such a position in MLB. It would also remove the obstacle of getting owner approval for Rodriguez, who could face some difficulties as he has a history with performance enhancers and was suspended from the league in 2014. The couple said their bid was similar to or better than the $2.35 billion bid made by Steve Cohen, the art collector currently in negotiations to buy the team. Lopez and Rodriguez also said they would donate $100 million to New York charities if the team didn't win a World Series within the next decade and would raise the payroll to the $225 million range so as to "compete for a World Series championship every year. That is what New York fans deserve," according to Rodriguez. The Mets have won the World Series twice, in 1969 and 1986.
According to the Post, however, the Mets deal with Cohen is still moving forward and is now just a matter of hammering out the language in the contracts for tax reasons. A possible complication is if the collector can't obtain the necessary 23 out of 30 owner votes to gain control of the team as his company paid a $1.8 billion fine for insider trading and is facing sexual discrimination litigation. (In 2018, Cohen's investment firm, Point72, released a statement saying, "The firm emphatically denies these allegations and will defend itself in a more appropriate venue than the media.")
The couple said that, if chosen, they've already assembled their "dream team," according to the Post, with Rodriguez handling the baseball, Lopez dealing with branding and entertainment, the Patriots-owning Krafts would advise on stadium operations and events, Walmart executive Marc Lore helping with technology, and Vitamin Water cofounder Mike Repole and Florida Panthers owner Vinny Viola advising on how to grow the team.
"This is a big moment in the history of baseball and the Mets to have the first Latina owner of a Major League Baseball franchise," Lore told the outlet. "It would be a really big win for racial and gender equality in this country and the world."
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Emily Kirkpatrick
Emily Kirkpatrick is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, specializing in all things pop culture. Her weekly newsletter, "I <3 Mess," rounds up the best of the worst celebrity fashion. You can find more of her many opinions on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
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