Bank Whores

Of course, good news like Ronny Paulino being gone … minuscule good news that it is … is trumped by more news from the financial sector:

The owners of the Mets, needing cash and unable to turn to Major League Baseball for more financial help, received a $40 million loan from a major bank in the past six weeks.The team described the arrangement as a bridge loan, meant to aid the team as it tries to raise money through the sale of minority stakes in the club.

A bridge loan? As in the one I’m about to jump off? 

The loan marks the second time in a year that the Mets have received an infusion of cash. A year ago, the team’s owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, received a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball, but they have not been able to repay it. Meanwhile, Sandy Alderson, the club’s general manager, said last week that the organization had lost $70 million in 2011 alone. (…)

The implications of the team’s latest outside financing are not easy to forecast. But two people with knowledge of the team’s finances said that if a full lineup of minority stake investors was not in place by next spring, and cash not in hand, Wilpon and Katz might have to confront the prospect of selling the team entirely.

Don’t tease me, New York Times. Don’t f***ing tease me. Because even if Wilpon and Uncle Saul confront the idea of selling the team, they’d probably confront it with guns and shoot it down. Or they’ll do what they always do, mortgage Park Place, Ventnor Avenue, and Water Works. Oh, and sell David Wright to EZ Pawn in hopes of raising the revenue to buy him back by Opening Day.

And the funniest part of all of this is that even with Citi as their primary sponsor, the Mets had to go to Bank of America to get another loan. This of course is the same Bank of America that was a finalist in The Consumerist’s “Worst Company in America” bracket just this past year. Lending $40 million to a team that is already millions in the hole to Major League Baseball and who’s only shot at incoming revenue is to include cocaine in the secret dressing on the Shake Shack burger dressing? Well this makes them the Duke of bad compaines, giving them the inside track at the title in 2012.