Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez trying to buy New York Mets, reports say

Couple has an estimated combined net worth of $700m

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez are trying to buy the New York Mets (Getty)

The baseball season may be postponed, but that hasn’t stopped Jennifer Lopez and her fiancé Alex Rodriguez from expressing interest in purchasing the New York Mets.

On Monday, the pop star and former New York Yankee have retained JPMorgan Chase to raise capital for a bid on the Major League Baseball team, according to Variety.

While details of the partnership are still unknown, the outlet states that the couple is working with managing director Eric Menell, co-head of North American media investment banking for Chase.

Currently, the New York Mets are owned by the Wilpon family, who, in December, were in talks to sell the baseball team to billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen for more than $2.5bn before the deal fell through.

According to The New York Times, a provision of the proposed deal that stated the Wilpons would maintain control of the franchise for five years was largely the reason the sale was not successful.

After negotiations ended in no deal, Cohen said he was “very disappointed” that he and the Wilpons could not come to an agreement.

“I’m very disappointed we couldn’t work out a deal,” he said in a statement, adding: “I gave it my best shot.”

As Variety points out, Lopez and Rodriguez, who are both from New York and are worth an estimated combined net worth of $700m, would require financial partners to purchase the team.

However, the celebrity couple wouldn’t be the first to purchase a sports team with supplemental financial help, as Rodriquez’s former teammate Derek Jeter purchased the Miami Marlins for $1.2bn with help from venture capitalist Bruce Sherman in 2017.

According to NBC, Jeter contributed $25m to the purchase.

Rodriguez’s former team, the New York Yankees, are worth an estimated value of $5bn, according to Forbes.