NY Mets: Steve Cohen's Championship Plan

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Friends,

Steve Cohen, the new deep-pocketed owner of the New York Mets, held his introductory press conference yesterday.

Simply put, it was amazing.

Introductory press conferences for new ownership typically bring a sense of optimism, stability, and relief to struggling fan bases, but this one actually seemed to have substance.

To be clear — I’m not a Mets fan, nor do I have a vested interest in seeing them succeed, but I think the dynamic of a hedge fund manager, who also happens to be one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, buying his childhood team and running it like a business is fascinating.

What am I talking about?

Let’s run through a few of the most interesting takeaways from yesterday.

(📸 / Bleacher Report)

First up — Steve Cohen’s financial commitment.

In case you haven’t noticed, NY Mets fans expect Steve Cohen to spend….a lot.

Throughout his 42-year career in finance, Steve Cohen has built up a $15 billion net worth, which is more than the next three MLB owners combined.

Top 10 MLB owners by net worth (Source):

In a league with no salary cap, having an owner with deep pockets and an emotional connection to the team is a dangerous combination.

The best part?

Steve Cohen didn’t back down from it.

Sure, he said things like “we’re committed to developing talent from our farm system” and “you build champions, you don’t buy them”, but his willingness to spend was obvious. Not just on players, but on any “resources” his organization deemed necessary to win.

Don’t believe me?

Check out these two quotes:

Given almost half the owners in Major League Baseball appear to own a team for the financial benefit of an increased valuation, not to mention the Wilpons (Mets previous owners) cited their dwindling fortune as a reason for their lack of spending in the past, these kind of assertions from Cohen must make Mets fans extremely excited.

This video summaries his thoughts on spending vs. building extremely well.

In the end, Steve Cohen intends to treat the NY Mets just like he runs his business — hire the right people, put processes in place, provide them with the necessary resources, but ultimately, get out of the way and let them do their jobs.

Here’s what I mean:

Outside of bringing a blank checkbook and a hands-off approach, Steve Cohen will have one major advantage — he’s new.

While the rest of MLB owners are reeling from the financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve Cohen is not.

Not only was Steve Cohen’s business not impacted in a significant way, but the Mets financial losses from last year were presumably baked into his purchase agreement.

Sure, there are dim forward looking revenue estimates if fans can’t return to seats this summer, but the point is — Steve Cohen is in a completely different mindset than all the other owners right now.

Think about it this way — While MLB owners saw their teams collectively lose $3 billion last year, or $100 million each, Steve Cohen didn’t. That’s an advantage.

So what is Steve Cohen’s ultimate goal?

Championships.

When it comes to that, I’ll let him do the talking.

Only time will tell if Steve Cohen is able to bring championships back to New York, but for an owner that has $15 billion and has been going to Mets games since the 1960’s, I certainly wouldn’t bet against him.

After all, he already has the two most important things: financial ability & emotional desire.

This should be fun.

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Extra Credit

Rather watch than read?

Here is a 5-minute highlight version of Steve Cohen’s press conference from yesterday.

If you want to watch the full 1:30 video, including Mets President Sandy Alderson, you can check it out here.

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