Yankee Global Enterprises, LLC, formerly YankeeNets, LLC, is an American

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

(LLC) which owns the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team, along with a plurality stake in YES Network and a 20% and 10% stake in New York City FC and AC Milan

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

clubs, respectively. It was formed in 1999 and is controlled by

the family A family is a domestic or social group. Family or The Family may also refer to: Mathematics *Family of curves, a set of curves resulting from a function with variable parameters *Family of sets, a collection of sets *Indexed family, a family wh ...

of George Steinbrenner. Other investors, including Lester Crown, Donald Marron and

Jerry Speyer Jerry I. Speyer (born June 23, 1940) is an American real estate developer. He is one of two founding partners of the New York real estate company Tishman Speyer, which controls the Rockefeller Center. Early life and education Speyer was born in M ...

, own minority stakes. The company was originally created as YankeeNets, through a merger between the Yankees and the New Jersey Nets (now known as

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

History

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, the

had their most successful season in modern history, winning a combined total of 125 regular season and playoff games, culminating in a

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

championship. The team was in discussions to be sold to

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

, who at the time owned the broadcast rights to every

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), and

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) team in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

. The proposed deal fell through because the two sides could not come to an agreement that would include George Steinbrenner continuing to run the team and Cablevision's other pro teams,

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

of the NBA and

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

of the NHL, for the new owners. After the proposed sale fell through, the Yankees and New Jersey Nets of the NBA agreed to merge business operations, creating a combined holding company. This was done to increase the negotiating power of both teams for future television contracts and stadium and arena construction deals. The Yankees' local broadcasting rights with Cablevision's

MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider ...

were expiring at the end of 2000 season and the Nets' deal with Fox Sports New York would end with the 2001–2002 season. Steinbrenner began considering his own regional sports cable channel. Primary Nets owner Lewis Katz was mainly interested in a new arena. The pre-merger owners would continue to control their teams, with a minority interest in the other team. This arrangement was approved by both Major League Baseball and the NBA.

Harvey Schiller Harvey Wallace Schiller (born April 30, 1940) is an American sports executive whose many varied positions have included Executive Director of the United States Olympic Committee, Chief Executive Officer of YankeeNets, President of Turner Sports, ...

was hired as chairman and chief executive officer of the company in October 1999. The

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

of the NHL was offered for sale to YankeeNets at the end of 1999. With the company and Nets team unable to take on more debt, Katz and

Ray Chambers Raymond G. Chambers (born August 7, 1942) is a philanthropist and humanitarian who currently serves as the World Health Organization Ambassador for Global Strategy. Chambers' philanthropic efforts are diverse, with major focus areas in global heal ...

formed Puck Holdings as an affiliate of the company to acquire the Devils for $175 million. Bonds were issued in March 2000 to pay for Steinbrenner's share of the Yankees. With the Yankees' television contract with Cablevision expiring in 2001 and the Nets' contract expiring after the 2001–2002 season, the teams negotiated together with potential cable partners for the next contract. They spoke to

about remaining on their networks. After an IMG proposed partnership channel, an MSG/Cablevision lawsuit and a termination payment by September 2001, YankeeNets had cleared the way to start its Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network with 40% outside ownership. Since the founding, the two ownership groups had clashed over team management, players' contract, purchasing the Devils and YES Network. Additionally, Steinbrenner would not subsidize the loss from the Devils. On December 8, 2003, the two sides agreed to split with the Nets owners selling the Nets and giving up their part of the Yankees. The Nets sale did not include the team's stake in the YES Network, which remained with the pre-merger owners. After a reverse stock swap in 2004, the Nets were sold to Brooklyn Basketball LLC, which was controlled by

Bruce Ratner Bruce Ratner (born January 23, 1945 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American philanthropist, real estate developer, and former minority owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. Family and education Ratner was born into a Jewish family in the Cleveland metro ...

, and 38% of Puck Holdings was sold to an entity controlled by Lewis Katz and Ray Chambers.

Yankee Global Enterprises

In 2004, with the exodus of the Nets and Devils complete, the company changed its name to Yankee Global Enterprises LLC, keeping the Yankees and the YES Network as separate entities owned by the same company. Steinbrenner named

Steve Swindal Stephen Whitfield Swindal is an American businessman. He is the chairman of Port Tampa Bay. Swindal was a general partner of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball from 1998 through 2007, and in 2005 had been chosen as George Steinbrenne ...

, his son-in-law, to be chairman of Yankee Global Enterprises and his successor as boss of the Yankees in June 2005. When Swindal and Jennifer Steinbrenner divorced in 2007, the Yankees bought Swindal out of his financial stake in the team, with Hal Steinbrenner succeeding Swindal as chairman of Yankee Global Enterprises. In April 2008,

Legends Hospitality Legends is a food, beverage, merchandise, retail, and stadium operations corporation serving entertainment venues and companies. Formed in 2008, Legends is a joint venture of Yankee Global Enterprises and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys. On Oct ...

Management won the

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

concessions away from

Centerplate Centerplate, Inc. is a food and beverage corporation serving entertainment venues in North America, and the UK. Centerplate, formerly known as Volume Services America, Inc., was originally a division of Canteen Corp. In 1995, it was sold to Flags ...

. With no known history, Legends was revealed on October 20, 2008 to be a new stadium hospitality company evenly owned by the Yankees and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

and a third owned by some combination of

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

and CIC Partners. In November 2012, News Corporation agreed to terms on acquiring a 49% stake in YES. As a consequence, each of the network's previous owners had their ownership stakes reduced with Yankee Global's new holdings to be 25% share. As a result of the sale to Fox, the Yankees agreed to keep their games on the network through 2041, which would be the network's 40th year of existence. In March 2014, Fox Sports acquired 32% of the YES Network leaving Yankee Global with only a 20% stake. In the agreement, Yankee Global has the right to purchase YES Network if Fox puts it up for sale. With Disney acquiring most of 21st Century Fox, Yankee Global began considering purchasing back the share of YES Network it did not own. On June 27, 2018, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

gave antitrust approval to Disney under the condition of selling Fox's 22 regional sports channels, to which the company has agreed. Yankee Global Enterprises confirmed it would repurchase a majority stake in YES Network on March 8, 2019. On August 30, 2022, it was announced that Yankee Global Enterprises acquired a 10% stake in Italian soccer club AC Milan along with RedBird Capital Partners.

References

{{MLS owner navbox YES Network Sports in New York City New York Yankees Brooklyn Nets New York City FC A.C. Milan American companies established in 1999 Entertainment companies established in 1999 Joint ventures Sports management companies Companies based in New York City 1999 establishments in New York City Mass media companies of the United States

History

Yankee Global Enterprises

See also

References