YES Network may be worth more than Yankee team

This article came out 8/21/06. I saved it at the time as it has the most details about YES Network ownership. Opening here suggests eligible time frame for sale of 40% stake is in effect:

"By the end of this year (2006), Goldman Sachs & Co. and Providence Equity Partners will have gained the right to sell their 40% stake in the regional network, without the approval of the Yankees or any other shareholder, according to several executives in the sports-programming industry.

Estimates of the value of the network created March 22, 2002, range from $1.2 billion to $3 billion. The higher number and potential sale was first reported by the New York Post on Aug. 11.

Parties who might be interested in buying the 40% stake in YES Network currently owned by Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity Partners:

Verizon: Gives it a chance to burnish its new FiOS TV brand with that of the Yankees — and horse trade with Comcast and other operators of sports networks.
Comcast: Gets operating efficiencies. Owns six regional nets now. Big question: What would it do with its 10% interest in SportsNet New York, which features the New York Mets?
Fox Sports Net: Gets to put the No. 1 market in the country into its lineup of 21 owned and affiliated regional sports networks. And drive traffic to Fox's non-sports networks.
Time Warner Cable: Already big in New York, this would make it bigger.
Yahoo: Would say it has arrived as serious video player, as Fox did with its landmark deal for NFL broadcast-TV rights in 1993.
NBC Universal: Got back into the NFL this season, after eight years on the TV sidelines. Might go to bat for a hoped-for homer in baseball.
Viacom: King of content. And Yankees are kings of summer.
SOURCE: Multichannel News research If accurate, that would make the Yankees' regional sports network more valuable than the team. In April, Forbes valued the ball club at $1.03 billion, the first Major League Baseball franchise to cross the billion-dollar mark. Goldman and Providence put an estimated $340 million into the network at the outset. According to the Sports Business Journal, the investors last year may already have been paid a dividend that makes them essentially whole on their original stakes. Now, the two financial investors' stake in the Yankees network could be worth between $480 million and $1.2 billion. Fox, though, has no interest in acquiring a stake in YES, according to one industry executive. One potential issue: The fact that Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity hold a minority stake in the network. The other 60% is split between the Yankees, run by team owner Steinbrenner, and a group led by Ray Chambers, a former owner of the New Jersey Nets, whose National Basketball Association games appear on the network during fall and winter months. That could put Chambers in the catbird seat. If a sports programmer such as Comcast or Fox wants to gain majority control, in order to operate the network as it sees fit, that company will need to buy out Chambers. “You're absolutely right,” said Ed Stier, chief executive of the Community Youth Organization, which holds the Chambers stake in the network. But, Berke noted: “it's good to have content these days. It's good to own content. If you can offer up content, branded content, then you've got a card to play. “And I would assume that he's likely to going to go out there and figure out whether to play that card,” Berke said. Stier did not rule out selling out if a serious buyer emerged. “We're investors, just like Goldman Sachs,” Stier said." From the article in Multi-Channel News, 8/21/06, "Steinbrenner May Get New Partners in YES," by Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

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