As you may have heard, Steve Cohen recently put in a bid for a minority stake with the Mets. Should he be successful, the SAC Capital founder's partial ownership will please a great many people- the organization, which needs the money, the players, who need the discipline, the SAC employees, who will have the honor of taking turns filling in for Mr. Met when his performance is deemed shit and most of all, the fans, who stand to benefit the most from Steve's leadership, as you don't win rings without having a guy around who will light a fire under everyone's ass. It'd unquestionably be a win-win situation for all. And yet.
A coupla guys named Brad and Brett are worried. Worried that Steve will lose focus. Worried that he won't be able to handle owning a Major League Baseball team and running SAC Capital.
"Owning a team can be a function of ego, it is very high-profile, and it could prove to be a distraction," says Brad R. Balter, head of Boston-based Balter Capital Management, which farms out money to hedge funds. "As an investor, I have to consider that." Words to bear in mind for Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund manager who is bidding for a minority stake in the New York Mets. Investors such as Balter are watchful for signs fund managers have become less attentive to their day jobs. "We don't begrudge managers getting rich, but we want to invest with people who are motivated and are concentrating full-time on managing money," says Brett H. Barth, a partner at New York-based BBR Partners, which invests in hedge funds.
The little brains on Brad and Brett-- most likely not SAC investors though they'd kill a man in cold blood for the privilege-- seem to think that it takes constant monitoring of all markets as well as an extreme attention to detail to run an ultra successful hedge fund manager, and that were Steve to start going out on school nights and not put in 100 hours a week keeping up with his stocks, that the whole thing would fall apart. What they fail to get? Is just how easy this is for SC. Trading these markets? It's a fucking joke to him. He could do it from the dugout during the 8th inning of a Johan Santana no hitter, whereas Brad and Brett could be given could be given an order to cover a short position and all they'd do is fumble around and fuck it up.
When Hedge Fund Owners Invest In Sports Teams [BusinessWeek]
