I read a pretty interesting article about the 10th anniversary of the YES Network in the Sports Business Journal about a week ago. As everyone knows, YES is the network that was started by late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Everybody wanted it to fail. It didn't. It went on to become one of the leading regional sports networks in the country and spawned a whole lot of imitators.
If any network was ever set up to fail, it was the YES Network when it first started. Jim Dolan, the owner of Cablevision, was mad that the Yankees left MSG (which Cablevision owns), so he didn't carry the channel for its first year. (Yes, you read that correctly. Most New Yorkers couldn't watch the Yankees at home in 2002.) Other regional networks across the country also wanted YES to fail, fearing that other teams would follow the Yankees' lead and create their own networks, too.
But YES succeeded, in no small part because of the power of the Yankees brand. And its success changed the face of sports television. Without YES, there'd be no NFL Network. Or MLB Network. Or Big Ten Network. Or Longhorn Network. A few years later, the New York Mets did the same thing, launching SportsNet New York. Sure, there have been some failures, too. The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals both tried to launch their own networks, and both went down in flames.
When it launched, a lot of people thought YES was essentially going to be "All Yankees All the Time." For the most part, that's what it is. But let's face it, when you've got New York Yankees games, it would be stupid not to build your schedule around your greatest asset. And the other Yankee-themed programming isn't simply fluff. Yankeeography is a great, insightful documentary series, and Yankees On Deck is fun, entertaining and informative. Sure, the Yankees always win the Yankees Classics, but regional sports networks that aren't owned by the team show classic games, too, and they need something to put on during the winter.
The YES Network has become much more than just the Yankees. I think that's been one of the keys of its success. During the winter, YES has extensive coverage of college basketball, mainly the Big 12, as well as various Yale sports as a part of its "Yale on YES" package. They also have the rights to show Notre Dame football games (did anybody actually think it was a coincidence that Notre Dame played the first football game at the new Yankee Stadium?) and the English soccer team Arsenal. The interview show CenterStage is one of the best programs on the network, and it's not just former sports stars who've been interviewed on it. Then there's This Week In Football and Forbes SportsMoney. YES even carried the FOX NFL Sunday pregame show last year on September 11 so that FOX-5 in New York could show the 10th anniversary ceremony from Ground Zero uninterrupted.
Like any TV network, YES has its flaws. I could do without six hours a day of Mike Francesca's soapbox, and the cavalcade of former Yankees in the broadcast booth seems too much at times, but these criticisms are relatively minor in comparison. But I think (and my obvious bias notwithstanding) YES has earned its status as one of the premier regional sports networks in the country. They've proven that they're more than just the Yankees.
If the YES Network has proven anything it's that these regional sports networks have staying power. The great experiment turned out to be a tremendous success, and it established a blueprint that others have followed. All of those cable operators might've wanted YES to fail, but there were a whole bunch of other people who wanted YES to succeed. If it hadn't other teams (and leagues) wouldn't have tried it. Now everybody's doing it. The Yankees were the trendsetter. They showed everyone else how much money there is to be made when you don't outsource your broadcast rights.
Along with the New Yankee Stadium, the YES Network is arguably the greatest legacy left by George Steinbrenner. The man was truly a visionary. Ten years of the YES Network is just another example of that. Ten years and still going strong. I think we can all agree, YES is here to stay.
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