Sports Beat

The passing of former NBA Commissioner David Stern on New Year’s Day unleashed a flood of tributes. Many called Stern, who was at the helm of the NBA from 1984 through 2014, the most important commissioner in professional sports history. For my money, longtime NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle deserves that title, but there is little doubt that Stern was very influential in making the once distant third professional sport in America into the biggest one on the international stage.

Based on what I read about him and my experiences, Stern wasn’t easy to deal with, as he would always challenge you. The first few times I met him I found him to be dismissive.

It was very surprising when the Mets issued a press release last week stating the team’s owners, the Wilpon family, were negotiating with hedge fund entrepreneur Steven Cohen to sell their majority interest in the franchise. Fred Wilpon has had an equity stake in the Mets for nearly 40 years, since he and Nelson Doubleday purchased the team from its original owners, the Payson family, for $20 million, which seemed like a lot of money for a sports franchise. That was before the cable TV explosion, which would be followed by the advent of satellite radio and streaming services.

The scuttlebutt surrounding the sale seemed to be that Wilpon, 83, didn’t want to do it but was facing familial squabbles about the future of the team and who would be heading it. Fred’s oldest son, Jeff, has been the Mets chief operating officer for years and would seem the obvious choice to be the next CEO. Apparently there was opposition from Fred’s brother-in-law, team President Saul Katz, and from Jeff’s siblings: sister Robin and younger brother Bruce. This is an age-old story that is currently the plotline of HBO’s popular drama “Succession.”