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MIKE REYNOLDS
Having reached a one-year accord that will keep the New York Yankees on Madison Square Garden Network in 2001, the regional network and the ball club are continuing to take swings at a longer-term deal.
Nov. 16, the parties agreed to a one-year, $52-million pact that followed a similar offer the previous week by the International Management Group. Under the 12-year, $493.5-million contract that expired with the 2000 season, MSGN held the right to match IMG's offer. The one-year pact secured by MSGN, owned by Cablevision Systems, does not contain such a renewal option and remains a bone of legal contention.
"We're anxious to move forward. We continue to negotiate and have demonstrated our desires," says Harvey Schiller, CEO of YankeesNets, declining to elaborate on the latter point.
A spokeswoman for MSGN says "discussions are ongoing about a longer term deal."
Failing that, though, MSGN and the Yankees could be heading to court early next year to determine if a contractual addendum would afford the regional the right to match offers beyond the 2001 season. A trial date has been set for Feb. 9.
Such a case would wind up before State Supreme Court Justice Barry Cozier, who, in July, ruled that MSGN could not match the terms of a new network the Yankees were planning with IMG. In September, the Yankees then asked MSGN for either $1.3 billion upfront or $2.4 billion over a 10-year period, rates the regional deemed excessive. The Yankees withdrew that offer.
Long-term contract prospects aside, insiders fully expect that the Yankees 2001 schedule will be drawn along similar lines to last year, with MSGN carrying 100 games and a local broadcaster picking up 50 games. (The balance of the 162-game slate will wind up on national carriers Fox and ESPN.) WNYW-TV aired 50 Yankees games, largely on weekends. WNYW paid about $350,000 per game to MSGN for Yankees rights. Calls to the station were not returned.
Beyond The Glory, Fox Sports Net's new documentary series, will go prime time with "Prime Time," when it debuts Jan. 7.
Bringing life to the person beyond the story through original interviews and fresh footage, Beyond The Glory kicks off with a look at two-sport star and current Washington Redskin "Neon" Deion Sanders. FSN, through a co-production with AthletesDirect.com, a division of Broadband Sports, will air 26 one-hour programs in 2001, centering on contemporary sports figures. FSN executives say the series will be long on personality and, in contrast to traditional biographical documentaries, will be light on chronicling the athletes' on-field achievements.
Director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump and Cobb) will serve as executive consultant.
Among the athletes to be profiled this year: Isiah Thomas, Lawrence Taylor, Roy Jones Jr., Karl Malone, Bill Buckner, Pete Rose, Derek Jeter, Kurt Warner, Kobe Bryant and the U.S. women's soccer team.
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