The owners of the New York Mets plan to make an initial payment of $16 million by Wednesday to return profits from Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.

A recent revision of the original court settlement defers another $45 million owed, which should give the Wilpon family more maneuverability to operate the team and its other businesses without being cash-strapped.

The sides stipulated that the Wilpons lost $176.6 million in certain Madoff funds, while making $162 million from other funds, according to an original 2012 court settlement.