Dolans interested in buying Yankees?

I don't follow baseball close as some of you guys but I found this interesting. Thought I would share.

Heirs to the throne?
Dolan family has keen interest in buying Yankees
Posted: Friday April 27, 2007
12:47PM; Updated: Friday April 27, 2007 1:58P

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_heyman/04/27/dolans.yankees/index.html


With age creeping up on George Steinbrenner and his team's succession plans seeming unsettled, it was only a matter of time before someone surfaced with interest in buying the Yankees. And the first new name to be heard in quite awhile is an old name: the Dolans, owners of Madison Square Garden, the Knicks, Rangers and cable-TV behemoth Cablevision.

Industry insiders say the Dolan family, which nearly closed a deal on baseball's most historic team and its TV station nine years ago, has made periodic runs at the franchise since then. Those same insiders say the Dolans are again showing signs they'd like to be first in line should the Yankees come up for sale. The Dolans retain interest in expanding their sporting empire in a big way, and the Yankees are not only in their backyard, but also right up their alley.

"There's been no offer, and the Yankees and the YES Network are not for sale. The Not-for-Sale sign is up," Steinbrenner spokesman Howard Rubenstein said on Thursday. Pressed as to whether there's been any sort of recent overtures by the Dolans, Rubenstein said he was unsure about that.

Regarding any current interest by the Dolans in the Yankees and YES Network, Madison Square Garden spokesman Barry Watkins said they would "politely decline to comment."

While the Yankees aren't fielding offers now, industry experts said a sale can't be ruled out eventually in light of Steinbrenner's advancing age (he's 76) and declining condition. Some close to him say he's "struggling" and that the pace he's kept has slowed dramatically in the past couple years. ("He's fine ... he seems in decent shape," Rubenstein, the high-powered P.R. man, insisted.) There's also the matter of his succession plans, which fell apart in March with the decision of his daughter, Jennifer, to divorce the heir apparent, Steve Swindal.

Swindal's impending ouster has given rise to parlor games as to who will succeed Steinbrenner. The favorite at the moment appears to be elder son Hank, whose main business was the family thoroughbred farm until six months ago, when he began reporting to a Yankees office at the team's Legends Field facility, by his father's. Whether Hank's presence portends an ascension remains unknown. Steinbrenner's sons, unlike their famous father, prefer to stay out of the spotlight.

Any renewed interest by the Dolans could be unrelated to changes within the Yankees' hierarchy, as industry insiders say the Dolans' interest in baseball has never waned. In addition to their 1998 talks with the Yankees that nearly resulted in a sale for an estimated $600 million (which would have been a steal), the Dolans tried hard to buy the Red Sox and NESN in late 2001, bidding around $400 million for those entities plus Fenway Park before losing out to John Henry, a former Yankees limited partner and Marlins owner. Charles Dolan's brother Larry currently owns the Cleveland Indians.

Jim Dolan has shown one similarity to Steinbrenner (at least the old Steinbrenner) in his manner of running the Knicks in that his payroll knows no bounds in his lust to win. However, unlike the Yankees, who have won six World Series titles during Steinbrenner's reign and become practically a postseason certainty (though things look iffy at 8-12 early this season), the Knicks have floundered during Dolan's tenure, occasionally to the point of embarrassment. Jim Dolan's time at the top of the Knicks' hierarchy has been marked by misplaced faith, a rotation of big-name coaches and ill-conceived rosters, but mostly by wasted dollars

Even if Steinbrenner decides to sell, the Dolans may have a tough time wresting the team from him, anyway. If the idea of Jim Dolan, who has had his share of documented difficulties trying to make the Knicks a winner, scares Yankees fans, the idea of the Dolans may elicit a similarly negative reaction from Steinbrenner, industry insiders say.

 

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If Steinbrenner doesn't want to sell, word is he particularly doesn't want to sell to the Dolans, with whom he's had disputes in the past. The Dolans refused to carry Yankees games on Cablevision for the entire 2002 season, following Steinbrenner's launch of the highly successful YES Network, which replaced the Dolans' MSG Network as the Yankees' main station. The Dolans didn't carry the games, in fact, until after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg interceded.

Experts think that it would be more feasible for the Dolans to simply buy the YES Network, which by some estimates could be worth almost as much as the team itself. The reasons are that Steinbrenner has less control over the network and is far less emotionally involved.

The Yankees were recently estimated by Forbes magazine to be baseball's most valuable franchise, at about $1.2 billion, but that guess may be short. Even so, that represents a 120-fold increase over the approximate $10 million Steinbrenner paid CBS for the team in January 1973.

Experts have estimated the team's TV network to be worth close to as much as the team, meaning possibly another $1.2 billion.

Announcer Socks it to 'em


Sorry, but I believe TV announcer Gary Thorne's first story, the one where he said Doug Mirabelli told him Curt Schilling used paint to heighten the effect of heroism in the 2004 ALCS. Though it should be pointed out that no matter what substance was on Schilling's sock, it didn't help him pitch that day and he still deserves kudos for being a terrific big-game pitcher.

But I think Mirabelli must have told him. The new cover stories of Mirabelli and Thorne just don't add up.

Thorne's new story is that Mirabelli was kidding when he told him, while Mirabelli's story is that he said, "Yeah, we got a lot of publicity out of that." That doesn't sound like any sort of joke I know.

That comment alone also doesn't sound like anything that would lead Thorne to conclude, or certainly say aloud, that Schilling used paint.

It's possible Thorne got the story wrong. But I doubt that.

It's also possible Thorne knows he shouldn't have named Mirabelli, and just wants to get along. I think Mirabelli assumed that he was either speaking off the record or that Thorne wouldn't attribute the paint story to him.

In any case, there may be a way to clear it all up. Someone should get the sock out Cooperstown and analyze how much of it is blood and how much of it is bull.

Around the Majors
• John Smoltz didn't stay mad at the Braves for long. Smoltz was upset that Atlanta quickly gave Bob Wickman an extension last summer but waited until the last minute to pick up his bargain $8 million option. And yet, Smoltz, who knows he's signed under-market contracts before to star as a Brave, signed an extension that will pay him $14 million in 2008, plus a $12 million vesting option for '09 if he reaches 200 innings in '08 and a club option for $12 million or $13 million in '10 depending on whether he pitches 200 innings in '09.

• Braves GM John Schuerholz is making sure he gets his best players under contract before he tries to solve the toughest one, Andruw Jones, who's expected to seek $20 million-plus per year. Like Smoltz, Jones would have to take a major discount to stay at home. That's something he's said he will not do.

• Wilson Betemit's struggles are such that even the nice folks of L.A. are starting to complain. One solution could be to use James Loney at first base and move Nomar Garciaparra to third, but the Dodgers probably feel that moving Garciaparra could be a risk to his health.

• Magglio Ordonez is back in form. In the past three games, he is 9-for-11 with seven RBIs.

• The Yankees were right the first time. Phil Hughes isn't ready. Hughes was given decent reviews for his debut. But he faced a Toronto lineup in the 6-0 defeat that didn't include Troy Glaus or Reed Johnson, and as the New York Post's Joel Sherman pointed out on his blog, Hughes held Adam Lind, Jason Smith and Jason Phillips to 0-for-7 with all five strikeouts but allowed the more accomplished six hitters to go 7-for-13.

• And even when Hughes is ready, he's still no Homer Bailey.

• Mets top pitching prospect Mike Pelfrey (7.90 ERA in three starts) may not be ready, either.

• I hear Barry Bonds hasn't decided what hat to wear into the Hall of Fame, 7 1/4 or 7 5/8.