Yankees And Nets Look At Jets

The company that will emerge from the union of the New York Yankees and the New Jersey Nets is already exploring the possibility of selling stock to the public, according to a published report.

Crain's New York Business also reported that the new holding company, YankeesNets, expects a tenfold increase in profits by 2005, which might be used to acquire other sports franchises.

Crain's quoted sources it did not identify as saying that financial advisers for the new company are exploring a bid for the New York Jets, which have been for sale by the estate of the team's late owner, Leon Hess.

Other reports have said potential buyers for the Jets include billionaire Kirk Kerkorian; real estate developer Samuel J. LeFrak; New York Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday; New Jersey Devils owner John McMullen; and Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan.

The merger of the Yankees and Nets is expected to be finalized in the next few days.

The Crain's sources said financial advisers for the YankeesNets are studying other initial public offerings by sports teams, especially the one by British soccer team Manchester United, as models.

In a document obtained by Crain's, advisers to the YankeesNets project that the company could have $600 million in revenues within six years more than double the combined 1998 revenues of the two teams.

Once the merger is complete, the baseball and basketball teams will remain as separate subsidiaries under their current leadership, with George Steinbrenner running the Yankees, and Lewis Katz and Ray Chambers running the Nets.

Sources told Crain's that the chief executive officer of the YankeesNets is expected to be Harvey Schiller, president of Turner Sports and a close friend of Steinbrenner.

Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for YankeesNets and Steinbrenner, was not in his office Monday and did not immediately return a telephone call fromThe Associated Press.

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