Can Yankees Deal With News Corp, Bring Good Tidings To Mets Fans?

They say it takes money to make money, and nobody does that better than the New York Yankees. Those suits running the Bronx Bombers and the YES Network are always on the move  – looking to make more money and win more championships. They have one of the best brands in all of sports, but never sit on their laurels.

This latest deal with billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is just the latest coup for the Yankees who just never cease to amaze.

Under the terms of the deal, which was announced last week, News Corp. will pay about $1.5 billion for a 49% stake in the YES Network, the home for Yankees baseball and Brooklyn Nets basketball games. After three years, News Corp. has the right to increase its stake to 80%, according to a statement released by the company. The deal, which will keep Yankees baseball on YES through 2042, allows Goldman Sachs, which was an early investor in YES and owns 30% of the network, to cash out some of its stake.

So who cares right? This is a Mets blog…

I got an email from one of our readers, Hank, last week alerting me to this and asking whether this is something the Mets should pursue.

I say why not?

It would make a great deal of sense in my opinion, and it would give the Mets owners an opportunity to rid themselves of all their debt and get a new lease on life with the Mets.

It would be their “Get Out Of Jail Free” card, but mostly it would enable the team to once again act like a big market club as they did before all of this Bernie Madoff mess came to light.

It would be nice again to have a team whose every decision wasn’t always bogged down by financial indifference. It would be a breath of fresh air to go after a player who you know is exactly what the team needs, but can’t afford.

No longer would the Mets be on the sidelines with the Royals, Astros and Pirates while they watch the Phillies, Braves, Nationals and Yankees build their teams without want or need.

If the YES Network is valued at $3 billion, at the very least SNY would be in the $2 billion or more range. Like the Yankees, the Mets owners don’t own all of SNY, 65% to be exact with the other 35% held equally by Time Warner and Comcast. Who knows, after news of this deal broke, I bet that Time Warner may already be considering taking on a larger stake in the Mets and maybe getting the Wilpons out of their hair in the process. There’s no love lost between Time Warner and News Corp, I can tell you that.

We already know that when the Wilpon have money they spend it, almost to a fault. No team in the National League spent more than the Wilpons did from 1990 until 2010. Over $2 billion dollars in Mets payroll during those two decades, with nary a World Championship to be seen. (Sad, I know.)

But apparently the Wilpons can make good decisions, that’s what many are calling this front office (even though it wasn’t Fred or Saul’s decision).

Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz are not going anywhere. They are entrenched (Hat tip to Sandy).

So why not have a rich ownership that can spend freely again, rather than a poor ownership whose hands are tied because of all the still remaining and substantial debt?

Hey Fred, whaddaya say?