The New York Mets are looking into purchasing a Major League Soccer club after completing construction of Citi Field, the new $600 million home the baseball team will move into for the 2009 season, said David Howard, the club's executive vice president for business.
Howard said an MLS team likely would play in a different venue that would give the team a chance to host other events as well.
``We're not resting,'' Howard said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio's ``On the Ball'' program, airing Sept. 13. ``Before even Citi Field is completed, we're looking to see what might be next for us. There's a lot of opportunity and potential.''
The Mets, currently atop the standings in the National League East division, are the second-most-valuable team in baseball behind the New York Yankees, according to Forbes magazine. With Citi Field on the horizon and their regional sports network, SportsNet New York, in its third year of operation, the team's value rose 12 percent to $824 million in the magazine's most recent rankings.
``Our vision is not to be just a successful baseball team, but to be a world-class sports and media entertainment company,'' Howard said. ``We're a lot closer to that goal than we were five years ago.''
Expansion Plans
Major League Soccer has 14 teams throughout the U.S. and Canada, and plans to expand to 18 by 2011. The Seattle Sounders will start play next season, with a yet-to-be named team in Philadelphia in 2010.
A team owned by the Mets could be one of those 2011 teams, Dan Courtemanche, MLS's senior vice president for communications and marketing, said in a telephone interview.
The league is looking at markets in the U.S. and Canada, and is accepting applications until Oct. 15. The minimum price for an expansion team will be $40 million, Courtemanche said. An announcement regarding the new teams could be made as early as the end of this year.
The New York area has an MLS team in the Red Bulls, who are owned by closely held Red Bull GmbH of Austria. The Red Bulls play their home games at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and are building a new arena in Harrison, New Jersey, that is scheduled to open for the 2009 MLS season.
New York Rivals
The league would welcome another New York team, Courtemanche said.
``We've had preliminary discussions,'' he said. ``A second team in New York would provide a true local rivalry for the Red Bulls and increase the overall popularity of the league in the area and nationally.''
Los Angeles, where former England national team captain David Beckham plays for the Galaxy, is the only city that has two teams. Chivas USA shares the Home Depot Center with the Galaxy.
The Mets and owner Fred Wilpon wouldn't be the first to expand their sports holdings by moving into MLS.
Robert Kraft, owner of the National Football League's New England Patriots, also owns MLS's New England Revolution; Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment owns the National Basketball Association's Toronto Raptors, the National Hockey League's Maple Leafs and MLS's Toronto FC; Stanley Kroenke, owner of NHL and NBA teams in Colorado, also has MLS's Colorado Rapids; and Lew Wolff, owner of baseball's Oakland Athletics, also has the MLS's San Jose Earthquake.
(Source: Bloomberg)
