The New York Mets' sale to Steve Cohen is all but complete, although prospective purchaser Alex Rodriguez isn't going away quietly.
The three-time MVP, who teamed up with fiancee Jennifer Lopez to put together a bid for the franchise, is reportedly fuming over losing out to Cohen and believes the sale was rigged, sources told Josh Kosman and Thornton McEnery of the New York Post.
A consortium led by A-Rod and JLo made it to the second round of bidding along with a Cohen-led group and a third organized by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. The second round of bids was set to be due by the end of August, but the Mets reportedly entered exclusive negotiations with Cohen on Aug. 28, days before the deadline.
On that same day, the Mets' banker - Steve Greenberg of Allen & Co. - apparently requested a look at what the A-Rod/JLo group would be offering. Cohen's group reportedly offered a $2.35-billion bid, while A-Rod's was $2.3 billion.
As a result, the 14-time All-Star is apparently convinced the Mets leaked the other two bids to Cohen so the billionaire hedge-fund manager could increase his offer and the sale could move forward.
Rodriguez issued a statement expressing the consortium's collective disappointment shortly after news broke that Cohen had effectively won the right to purchase the franchise from the Wilpon family, reiterating that its bid was "a fully-funded offer at a record price for the team."
Terms of the sale from the Wilpons to Cohen still need to be finalized. The other 29 owners would also need to ratify the sale by a three-quarters majority.
