Yankees Plan to Form TV Network

The New York Yankees intend to form their own television network next season and value their broadcasting rights at about $1.4 billion over the next 10 years.

The team disclosed its plans in a letter submitted Friday to Madison Square Garden Network, which holds the team’s television rights under a $486-million, 12-year contract that expires after this season.

MSG Network, a division of Cablevision Systems Corp., has a right-of-first-refusal in its current deal, and can block the Yankees from forming the network by agreeing before Sept. 18 to pay the team $1.4 billion over 10 years for the rights.

If MSG declines to match the offer, YankeeNets, the parent of the Yankees, would then be in position to start building its own network, one that probably one day would include broadcasts of YankeeNets’ two other teams, the Nets and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

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Cincinnati shortstop Barry Larkin had arthroscopic knee surgery to remove cartilage fragments from his left knee and probably will miss the rest of the season. . . . Colorado outfielder Larry Walker underwent surgery on his chronically sore right elbow. Walker, 33, had a bone spur removed. . . . Florida Manager John Boles signed a one-year contract extension to remain with the club through the 2002 season.