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Yankees get richer with Man U alliance
Updated: Friday February 09, 2001 5:24 PM
George Steinbrenner is no fool. He hears the rumbling in the distance, knows his fellow baseball owners are clamoring for increased revenue sharing, and sees his window of opportunity closing. So before baseball gets around to setting new ground rules, if it ever does, Steinbrenner is mining every possible source of outside income for his New York Yankees. That, more than anything, is what's behind The Boss' latest master stroke, the "strategic alliance" announced earlier this week with soccer dynasty Manchester United, class of the English Premier League. The arrangement will start slowly with shared marketing ventures. But you can see where this is headed. A global broadcasting network is a likely goal in the near future, with the bulk of the programming going to Yankees baseball and Man U soccer, two of the most popular sports entities in the world. The Red Devils' Web site draws eight million hits per day. Man U merchandise flies off the racks in places like Singapore and South Africa. Now that Yankee caps and jerseys will be displayed side by side in such exotic locales, Steinbrenner can truly say the sun never sets on his empire. YankeeNets now has its tentacles in virtually every major sport: baseball, soccer, basketball (New Jersey Nets), hockey (New Jersey Devils) and football (shared marketing with the New York Giants). There is talk of sponsoring a NASCAR team as well. What's next, a majority stake in an XFL franchise? The other 29 teams in baseball greeted this latest news with a collective shrug. Having been outfoxed, both on the field and off, in so many different ways over the past five years, they seem almost beyond outrage. "What else is new? It's the haves and the have-nots, the rich getting richer," one baseball executive said. "I don't blame the Yankees. If we had the chance to do it, we'd do the same thing." But the most troubling aspect of the Yankees' off-field creativity is that it threatens to undermine whatever sort of revenue-sharing improvements Bud Selig manages to implement (with Players Association approval, of course). Say Steinbrenner finally allows his fellow owners to dip into his stash of local broadcast revenue, a sum of $55 million annually that is expected to soar past $100 million in 2002. So what? The Yankees can dip into Man-U's pockets to make up the difference. "Baseball has a huge problem, more so than any other sport, unless they get [meaningful] revenue sharing," says Michael Megna, a Milwaukee-based sports economist who has studied these trends for the past 40 years. "Teams like the Yankees would have to admit they can't function without the [small-revenue] teams, and that's not going to happen. After Steinbrenner dies, maybe, but for that to happen now is not realistic. I find it hard to understand anybody dreaming that it could happen."
Conflicts of interestThe strange happenings at SFX Entertainment could have implications that range far beyond Mariano Rivera's postponed arbitration hearing. While veteran agents Jim Bronner and Bob Gilhooley fight their recent firings with a $60 million federal lawsuit, the messy controversy could trigger a feeding frenzy on their former clients.The list includes Rivera, Pedro and Ramon Martinez, Larry Walker, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, Andres Galarraga, Rafael Palmeiro, Moises Alou and Pedro Astacio, along with dozens of others. Having already lost Juan Gonzalez to rival agent Scott Boras last summer, Bronner and Gilhooley face the prospect of a non-compete clause that runs through February 2006. That clause was one of the conditions when SFX purchased Chicago-based Speakers of Sports one year ago for close to $30 million. Baseball players can change agents as often as they like. The Players Association requires only that they file a designation form listing their choice of a certified agent. So in no way are any players beholden to SFX. Then there's the question of an alleged conflict of interest involving Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks. Hicks is also vice chairman of Clear Channel Communications Inc., which purchased SFX Entertainment last August for a reported $3.3 billion in stock. Clear Channel also owns small shares of the Rockies and Devil Rays, which creates a tangled web of questionable alliances. Galarraga, for instance, signed as a free agent this winter with Hicks' team. Considering the SFX tie-in, the Big Cat was already playing for the Texas billionaire even before joining the Rangers. His new teammates, Palmeiro and Rangers reliever Jeff Zimmerman (another Bronner client), share that double-connection. One baseball official expressed doubts about the legitimacy of such an arrangement. "I don't see how that gets approved," the official said. "I don't understand that. There's got to be something wrong with that."
Clipping their wingsFew teams could survive the loss of someone like Mo Vaughn for the year. Anaheim certainly isn't one of those teams.The Angels are trying to put forth a brave face and talk about the newly signed Jose Canseco and Wally Joyner as well as minor league veteran Larry Barnes chipping in to make up for Vaughn's loss following biceps surgery. Canseco will DH, not play first, but the Angels are still in deep trouble. After all, even with the Hit Dog pounding out 36 homers and driving in 117 runs a year ago, the hard-luck Angels still finished a distant third in the AL West. Last place seems more likely this year. "Mo comes up with so many big hits. He likes the pressure," one player personnel man said. "Larry Barnes is an extra player. He doesn't have power. Wally doesn't either, although Wally is really good defensively. I don't see where they can contend in that division. It's always this way with the Angels. It's like they're jinxed. Their guys are always hurt."
Lefties linger in L.A.Remember Jim Morris, the West Texas chemistry teacher turned 98-mph fireballer with the Devil Rays? Now 37, the lefty reliever has signed with the Dodgers as he comes back from "Tommy John" surgery. His new locale makes sense. Pre-production has begun on a movie based on Morris' life, with Dennis Quaid in the lead. What, they couldn't get Russell Crowe?Then there's Jesse Orosco, the ultimate survivor. The ageless left-hander recently hooked on for a second tour with the Dodgers, for whom he last pitched in 1988. That, incidentally, was the last time the Dodgers won a postseason game, much less a playoff series. Orosco, entering his 22nd season in the big leagues and looking to pad his all-time appearances record, turns 44 in April. Mike Berardino covers baseball for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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