Shareholders approve sale of Syracuse Chiefs to Mets

Shareholders of the Syracuse Chiefs met today to approve the sale of the team to the New York Mets. The shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of the deal, and it easily cleared approval from the two-thirds majority necessary to finalize the sale.

It was reported back in October that the Mets bought the community-owned team for $18 million, but approval from shareholders was still necessary to complete the deal. The sale could be seen as a win-win for both parties. The shares of the Syracuse Chiefs will now be valued at $1,300 a piece when they were initially bought for $10 back in the 1960s. The Mets have also committed to keeping the team in Syracuse through the year 2025.

As for the Mets, they get to move their Triple-A team out of Las Vegas and have them both closer to home and to their Double-A team in Binghamton. They will also have complete control of the team which will make it easier to deal with any issues that could arise.

The Triple-A team will move to Syracuse in 2019 and end its six-year run in the desert. After a long run in Norfolk that ended in 2006, the Mets bounced around to New Orleans and Buffalo before settling in Las Vegas. That move setup an untenable situation with the long distance travel, and the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League made it hard for the team to evaluate prospects.

Hopefully the investment into the Chiefs will be the start of a long relationship that will help stabilize the minors.