The Yankees and Cablevision "are close to an agreement"
that will launch a new RSN around the team, according to
Matthew Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER, who writes that
the deal "is likely to be in place" before the beginning of
the 2000-01 NHL season. Sources close to the talks said
that the deal "is being driven by one undeniable factor":
Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner and Cablevision Chair
Charles Dolan "need each other too much to go forward any
other way." Former CBS Sports VP/Programming Jay
Rosenstein, on a potential deal: "I've always felt it would
be very surprising if these two parties decided to go their
separate ways." Futterman adds that for the Yankees, the
deal "could boost" broadcast revenue from $50M this year to
"more than" $75M next year. Sources tell Futterman that
"the structure of the arrangement" remains to be decided,
but the "most likely scenario" would allow MSG to produce
Yankees games and sell commercial time for the team, "even
though the games would appear on a competing" sports net.
Futterman notes that Steinbrenner "would retain his right to
decide" who announces the games and MSG "would take a cut of
sales" for Yankees games and "may even be allowed to
continue its practice of packaging" the team's commercial
time with the Knicks and Rangers (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 8/22).
