By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The man of mystery is back.
The mystery bidder who wants a piece of the New York Mets is none other than Las Vegas’ own Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire tycoon who owns the Venetian and Palazzo here in Sin City and also bought the local newspaper in town in 2016 in a process that was shrouded in — you guessed it — mystery.
The 86-year-old Adelson, founder/CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, is coming off the bench to join a group that wants to buy the Mets, the 1962-born MLB team based in Queens that is valued at $2.4 billion, according to Forbes.
I was working at the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper in 2016 when a mystery buyer emerged to buy the local daily paper.
It turned out the mystery man was Adelson.
Now, Adelson was the mystery bidder for the Mets, my childhood baseball team.
A Denver friend, Mark Obmascik, cracked on Facebook to my Adelson-Mets bidder post: “Sorry, man. He is the dark cloud that follows you.”
Adelson joins a group that includes Josh Harris, who owns the NBA Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL New Jersey Devils with business partner David Blitzer, according to the New York Post report.
Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese denied Adelson is involved.
“Did not submit a bid to buy the Mets and has no interest in doing so,” Reese said in an email to LVSportsBiz.com Wednesday afternoon.
Adelson was the driving force behind the state of Nevada approving $750 million in 2016 to help build the Las Vegas Raiders’ new stadium, but then the casino tycoon withdrew his own personal $650 million investment in the stadium in June 2017.
Adelson bought the Review-Journal four years ago, but did not identify himself as the owner until the newspaper itself had to dig into the matter and report that it was Adelson who had purchased the daily publication.
There are several groups vying to purchase the Mets, which are being sold by Fred and Jeff Wilpon. Other contenders to buy the team are billionaire Steve Cohen and a group that includes retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez, movie star Jennifer Lopez and several NFL players.
The New York Post, which broke the story Wednesday, wrote, “Adelson is a sometimes divisive figure who comes out of the gambling world and could possibly have a difficult time getting through the approval process by MLB owners. Being a limited partner would give him a stake in a team without the headache of approval.”
The Mets have an interesting link to Las Vegas as the Amazins had their Triple A team at Cashman Field until 2018. Chatter of Adelson being involved in an attempt to acquire the Mets has already fueled speculation on where the Mets would play if Adelson tried to move the team to Las Vegas. Adelson’s taking of his $650 million off the table for the Raiders stadium would not likely make Allegiant Stadium an option (especially after the Raiders fled a two-sport stadium at the Alameda Coliseum in Oakland.) And the Triple-A minor league 10,000-seat ballpark in Downtown Summerlin was not designed to expand into a Major League Baseball park of 35,000-40,000 fans.
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