The New York Yankees want to buy controlling interest in the YES Network back from Fox and Disney. Fox purchased controlling interest in YES Network from Yankees Global Enterprises in 2012. The two sides agreed to a clause in the deal that would allow YGS to buy back the network in the event Fox sold to a select group of companies, including Disney. Yankees Global Enterprises currently owns the team and a 20% stake in the YES Network separately.
Bloomberg reports that negotiations to buy controlling interest in YES Network back have begun at Yankees Global Enterprises. The contract calls for the group to pay fair market value to Fox. Industry analysts have set the value of the entire package of 22 Fox-owned regional sports networks between $15 billion and $25 billion, and the value of YES Network at $5 billion on its own.
Yankees Global Enterprises has begun recruiting investors to make the purchase. It would come with broadcast rights to New York Yankees’s games through 2041. That will likely effect the bids that interested parties have put in on the other networks.
Disney began accepting those bids through the Allen Group earlier this week. It is unknown at this time if the remaining networks would be sold as a single group or in smaller packages.
