Yankees President: 'Very Burdensome,' 'Unfair' We Pay More In Revenue Sharing Than Mets
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York Yankees president Randy Levine is not happy that his organization pays more in revenue sharing than the New York Mets.
Levine told Fox Sports in an interview that it's "unfair" the Yankees have to pay so much more than the Mets.
"What is very burdensome to us – and is unfair – is the amount of money we have to pay in revenue sharing compared, for example, to teams in our market that pay 10 times less than us," Levine said. "Hopefully that is something that will get looked at in the next labor agreement."
The current collective-bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1.
Levine explained to Fox Sports that the Yankees paid around $90 million in revenue sharing last season. The organization also paid a reported $26 million in luxury tax.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told Fox Sports that he has spoken to teams about the next revenue-sharing plan.
"We've had extensive internal conversations," Manfred told Fox Sports. "I expect both the Mets and Yankees to be fully supportive of the revenue-sharing proposals we put on the table."
Mets' Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon declined comment to Fox Sports.
According to Forbes, the Yankees are worth $3.4 billion and generated $516 million after revenue sharing, but the team's average attendance fell below 40,000 last year for the first time since 2000.
"The Yankee business is strong -- very, very strong," Levine told Fox Sports. "But we're the Yankees. We can always do better. We always look to do better.
"Our attendance projections are up. All of our other revenue -- sponsorship, food and beverage – everything else is up. We expect to have a great team this year. I think it's going to be a good year."
