YankeeNets Chair & CEO Harvey Schiller said that if the
state of NJ decides to sell Continental Airlines Arena,
Giants Stadium or Meadowlands Racetrack, YankeeNets "will
bid for some or all" of the complex, according to George
Jordan of the Newark STAR-LEDGER, who wrote that the arena
"is expected to lose" the Devils and Nets to a proposed
Newark arena scheduled to open in 2003. But a spokesperson
for the NJ Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA), which
currently runs the complex, said that "none of its
properties is for sale." Jordan added that it was "unclear"
how YankeeNets would pay for any involvement in the complex,
or "what it would do with the properties" if it owned them.
But Schiller said that YankeeNets was "eager to become
partners with" ISC on a race track to the Meadowlands
(Newark STAR-LEDGER, 4/15). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote
that YankeeNets "have requested the financial information"
of the Meadowlands Racetrack from the NJSEA, and the company
is "among four to six suitors," including Magna Int'l Chair
Frank Stronach, who have "asked for information about" the
Monmouth Park and Meadowlands racetracks (N.Y. TIMES, 4/16).
TOTAL OVERHAUL? In Newark, Burke & Jordan wrote that
YankeeNets plans a "top-to-bottom purge of the front office,
and implied" that Nets President Michael Rowe and GM John
Nash will "lose their jobs." YankeeNets execs "fear a
losing team will hurt" the TV network they want to launch
next year, and they are "determined to have a winning team
in place by" 2003 (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 4/16). In N.Y.,
Chris Broussard writes that a "high-ranking" YankeeNets
official said that Rowe "would be offered a position" as an
Exec Dir of the Newark arena (N.Y. TIMES, 4/17).
