Alex Rodriguez, Jennifer Lopez push on with Mets bid, reportedly add horse owner Mike Repole
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are inching closer to buying the New York Mets and have added a billionaire from Queens as their partner.
Mike Repole — who co-founded Glaceau, known for Vitaminwater, and BodyArmor — has joined the partnership group, per reports by The Action Network’s Darren Rovell and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
The ARod/JLo group trying to buy Mets is said to have Mike Repole, a Queens Village native who went to Holy Cross in Flushing and St. John’s, aboard as partner. Repole has “real money.” Founded Glaceau (Vitaminwater), which sold to Coke for $4B. @darrenrovell 1st mentioned Repole
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 22, 2020
Repole’s estimated net worth is approximately $1 billion — “real money” as Heyman quotes it. Rodriguez and Lopez are reportedly willing to put in “hundreds of millions” of their own money to make the deal and were working with senior bankers at JPMorgan Chase to possibly match with a billionaire to fill out a bid.
The Wilpon family previously agreed to a $2.6 billion deal with minority owner Steve Cohen that ultimately fell through. They are reportedly now more eager to make a sale given the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.
As of an April report by Forbes, the Mets are valued at $2.4 billion.
Who is possible Mets owner Mike Repole?
Repole, 51, is a native of the Middle Village neighborhood of Queens and earned a sports management degree from St. John’s. He has shown interest in owning at least part of the Mets for nearly a decade now. He told the New York Times in 2011, when the team was seeking “strategic partners,” that it “definitely is something that interests me, definitely something that intrigues me, and I want to have a meeting with them.”
Repole co-founded Energy Brands, also known as Glaceau, in 1999. The company created Smartwater and Vitaminwater and was sold to Coca-Cola in 2007 for $4.2 billion in cash. Retired star third baseman David Wright was a spokesperson for the drink in the early 2010s.
The entrepreneur also founded BodyArmor, a sports drink targeted toward athletes and that counted Kobe Bryant as an early investor. Coca-Cola invested in BodyArmor in 2018. He has been a long-time chairman for Pirate’s Booty, known for its cheese puffs.
Repole is also a thoroughbred owner through Repole Stables. His horse Uncle Mo was named the American Champion Two-Year-Old in 2010 and sired Nyquist, which went on to win the 2016 Kentucky Derby.
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