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Cuban: I’ll listen if the Wilpons want to sell me a chunk of the Mets

New York MetsWith the finances of the New York Mets increasingly under siege, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he’s interested in investing in the team — but he needs to be sold by the Wilpons on the move. That’s sure to impress MLB owners.

From the New York Post:

“If they want to sit down and sell me on it, I can be a willing buyer and a willing customer,” Cuban said before his Mavericks crushed the Knicks, 113-97, last night at the Garden. “But I’m not going to be a bidder on anything.”

The 51-year-old, whose net worth is $2.3 billion according to Forbes, said he hasn’t heard anything from the Mets. Cuban said he hasn’t done any research to know if he would have a legitimate interest in the Mets, but he still has a desire to own a baseball team.

“For any baseball team, I’m not going to chase after it,” Cuban said. “If someone sees me as a potential owner, I’ll take their call and discuss a deal. I’m not going to get into a bidding situation ever again. I’m not going to be in a situation where I make the proposal and they just go through with it.

“Obviously, I feel like I’d be a good team owner in baseball, but I’m not going to go through the same process I did with the Rangers and the Cubs.”

In his defense, it sounds like Cuban was speaking off the cuff to a reporter and wasn’t seeking to promote himself. But if the Wilpons really wanted to piss off MLB they’d go after Cuban as an investor: he first raised the ire of MLB officials by making an unsolicited play for the Pittsburgh Pirates — and lobbying fans from the bleachers — when the team was clearly not for sale. After throwing his hat in the ring for the Chicago Cubs and going through the normal bidding process, he then irritated MLB officials with a bid for the Texas Rangers with Jim Crane after Tom Hicks and the Ryan/Greenberg group had already settled on a price for the team. At the end of the day, all Cuban did was drive up the purchase price in bankruptcy court. Owners remember things like that.

(h/t SportsNewser)

RELATED STORIES: Creditors raise more objections to Rangers sale; judge to hear new arguments today; Rangers to auction; Cuban in the mix?

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