The House That Steinbrenner Is Building
By KEN BELSON
Published: July 23, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/business/yourmoney/23george.html
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http://mylifestream.net/scrapbook/2006/07/yankees-attendance-from-nytimes.html
IT’S another June evening in baseball and the Boston Red Sox are visiting New York for the latest showdown with their archenemy, the Yankees. As it is at every meeting between the teams, the stadium is packed and crackling with energy....That perennial drive is a big reason, analysts say, that the Yankees have broken new financial ground on the field and off. Bankers, analysts and others familiar with the team’s finances say the franchise is now worth about $1 billion, nearly 70 percent more than the next most valuable team, the Red Sox, and nearly three times more than the average major league team is worth. Making the most of a winning tradition and their home in the nation’s biggest city and media market, the Yankees generate nearly $300 million in annual revenue, according to an individual with knowledge of the team’s finances. He requested anonymity because of his continuing professional relationship with the team....Set for a 2009 debut, the stadium, including building costs and debt payments, will carry a $1 billion price tag. To pay for it, the Yankees will need to generate an additional $50 million to $60 million a year in revenue, according to analysts. Mr. Levine declined to discuss how much money the team expects to earn in its new digs, though he ruled out selling the naming rights to the stadium....Even with all that spending, the Yankees haven’t always maintained a lock on winning. While it currently has a $195 million payroll, the biggest in baseball by a wide margin, and has advanced to the playoffs every year since 1995, the team has not won the World Series since 2000. In 2003, the Florida Marlins — a team with a payroll one-third the size — beat the Yankees in the World Series. Analysts also say that money alone does not explain Mr. Steinbrenner’s success. They note that he has surrounded himself with creative marketers, as evidenced by the team’s deal in 1988 to broadcast its games on cable television — a page taken from Ted Turner, who did the same with the Atlanta Braves. In 2002, an investment group that included the Yankees formed the YES Network, further leveraging the team’s brand. YES brought in $257 million last year, surpassing MSG to become the country’s top regional sports network for the first time, according to Kagan Research.
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