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Let's hope Steve Cohen isn't a disciple of James Dolan, because this might get me banned from Citi Field.
Steve Cohen bought the Mets in 2020 for $2.4B. It may seem counterintuitive, but this purchase is an incredible tax avoidance mechanism. Villanova offers a perfect breakdown of the benefit to Cohen:
>To illustrate the concept of amortization, imagine purchasing a sports team for $2 billion.[12] About ninety percent of that original purchase price ($1.8 billion) is amortizable; therefore, the tax system views it as an asset that will lose value over time.[13] That $1.8 billion “expense” is dispersed over fifteen years, so each year the owner of the team can deduct a $120 million expense.[14] Now, considering the income side of the equation, imagine the owner has two sources of income: $50 million from the sports team and $150 million from another source, totaling $200 million of income.[15] That large sum of money equates to a large tax burden; however, the team owner can subtract that $120 million expense from the $200 million total, and will only have to pay taxes on $80 million of income.[16]
Add to that more losses and you get more tax savings. For example, in 2025 the Mets lost roughly $350 million, leading the league in losses (hey, at least we're leading in something). Add to that a casino that is set to open in 2030... that's a nice way to offset the tax bill through 2035!
You're about to comment, "Would he really sabotage the season to lower his tax bill?" Well, why is a man worth $11B currently fighting the IRS over a $10M tax bill? And a mere google search brings up several examples of insider trading allegations. There's no honor among thieves.
The saddest part of this: Because elected officials refuse to tax billionaires at an effective rate, they are more willing to approve projects like Metropolitan Park because gambling is an attractive way to bring in tax revenue.
Forget the sage, it's time to sacrifice a bucket of KFC.