Cablevision Reportedly Has Agreement to Buy Yankees

George Steinbrenner reportedly has reached an agreement to sell the New York Yankees baseball team to Cablevision Systems Corp. for $550 million to $600 million.

As part of the sale, Steinbrenner would remain in charge of day-to-day operations of the 1998 World Series champions.

NBC Sports said an agreement reached Thursday called for Steinbrenner to turn over full ownership of the team for $600 million.

A source told the Associated Press no deal has been agreed to. The source said any sale would involve only Steinbrenner’s limited partner shares and that he would retain his shares as managing general partner.

The managing general partner has control of a team’s operations.

The New York Daily News reported Cablevision would buy 70% of the team for $550 million. It said the sale would be completed after Jan. 1 for tax reasons.

Steinbrenner, 68, led a group that paid $10 million to CBS for the Yankees in 1973.

Cablevision President James Dolan, whose father is chairman of the company, refused to comment on the reports. He said Cablevision “maintains an active interest in the future of our relationship with Mr. Steinbrenner and the Yankees.”

Steinbrenner’s representatives also would not confirm the reports. He has been talking with Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan but there was nothing to announce, said Howard Rubenstein, who handles public relations for Steinbrenner.

“We’ve been hearing this for weeks,” said Arthur Richman, a senior advisor to Steinbrenner. “He’s never told us.”

At either of the reported prices, it would be a record price for a baseball team and the second-highest price paid for a sports franchise behind Rupert Murdoch’s pending $1-billion purchase of the English soccer team Manchester United.

Earlier this year, Murdoch paid $311 million for the Dodgers. Last month, Alfred Lerner paid $530 million for the rights to an NFL expansion team in Cleveland.

Charles Dolan and his brother, Larry, were finalists for the NFL team with a bid of $500 million. Earlier, Charles Dolan became a major player in sports with the purchase of Madison Square Garden and that arena’s two pro teams, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers.

Part of that purchase included Madison Square Garden Network, which holds broadcast rights to the Yankees in a 12-year, $486 million deal that expires in two years.

Cablevision, the country’s sixth largest cable company, also owns Radio City Music Hall, a chain of New York City home appliance stores and the Broadway show “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Since Cablevision now owns the Madison Square Garden Network, if the purchase is approved it could carry Yankee games at no cost and without fear of being outbid for television rights when the contract expires.

Talks have gone on for some time between the Yankees and Cablevision and Steinbrenner reported on them to his limited partners during two days of meetings in Cleveland last week.

Steinbrenner has seen the value of the team zoom, particularly with two World Series championships in the last three years and a record 125 victories last season.

At one time, it was thought Steinbrenner wanted to keep control of the Yankees within his family but his sons, Henry and Hal, have expressed little interest in running the team.

A sale would shift the burden of the Yankee Stadium dispute from Steinbrenner to Cablevision.

Steinbrenner wants a new ballpark, complete with luxury boxes and more parking, to replace the 75-year-old stadium in the Bronx.

The stadium lease expires in 2002 and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has supported Steinbrenner’s demand for a new park on the West Side of Manhattan.

The owner also has talked with New Jersey representatives about moving the franchise there if he does not get a new stadium.

Giuliani said it was “too early to say what impact a sale might have on possible plans for a new stadium.”

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Free-agent pitcher Randy Johnson hopes to agree to a new contract within a week.

Johnson traveled to Southern California to visit the Angels and Dodgers during the weekend and planned to talk to the Texas Rangers today.

“We’re starting to narrow down our focus, probably to three or four clubs,” one of the pitcher’s agents, Barry Meister, said.

Johnson, who lives in Paradise Valley, Ariz., also has been courted by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Houston Astros, the team he finished the season with, also want to re-sign him.

Johnson’s other agent, Alan Nero, says the San Diego Padres have made a bid.

“We may make another visit or two in the early part of the week,” Meister said.

Johnson, a 35-year-old left-hander, was traded from Seattle to Houston on July 31 and became the National League’s most dominating pitcher during the final two months of the season.