BY EVAN WEINER
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORT
On Friday, the New York Yankees home portion of the 2012 season begins in the Bronx as it has every year since 1923, except for two years in Queens in 1974 and 1975. All of pomp and circumstances, the Yankees traditions will be played out in a three year old stadium in the south Bronx. But all of those Yankees home openers could have been played somewhere, probably the Meadowlands sports complex in East Rutherford starting in 1976, had one time New Jersey State Senator Farleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. decided to go ahead and buy the Yankees from William Paley and CBS in 1972-73.
On November 2, 1964, Paley and the Columbia Broadcasting System purchased 80 percent of the franchise from Dan Topping and Del Webb for $11.2 million — which in those days was a huge money deal. But a little more than eight years later, CBS got out of the baseball business and sold the team to a group led by George M. Steinbrenner III for significantly less money when adjusted for inflation and 1973 money value.
The Steinbrenner group paid about $10 million for the Yankees, but in reality it was less after tax credits and a parking lot was thrown into the deal.
CBS claimed to be losing millions of dollars running the Yankees. CBS also could not place Yankees telecasts on the network's owned and operated Channel 2 WCBS-TV because of Federal Communication Commission rules involving network ownership and properties. Steinbrenner wasn't looking to buy into the Yankees and only turned his attention to the franchise after he could not buy into his hometown Cleveland Indians.
Dickinson was a very serious contender to buy the team. He apparently offered the most money but something happened.
The CBS-Steinbrenner sale agreement was announced on January 3, 1973.
Paley and CBS took over a team that was neglected by Topping and Webb for whatever reason and ran the franchise during some rather poor years as the franchise could not replace Yogi Berra, Bobby Richardson, Tony Kubek, Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle.
CBS did sign a 30-year lease deal with Mayor John Lindsay and the Lindsay administration for a renovation of the ballpark, which was built in 1922, on August 8, 1972. The lease would have started once the renovations were done.
CBS was shopping the team around at the time the lease agreement was announced.
Bergen County Republican State Senator Fairleigh Dickinson wanted the franchise. It was State Senator Dickinson who in 1969 pushed for the creation of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission. The New Jersey legislature approved a bill that was signed into law by Governor Richard Hughes that would change the area. Eventually the state would build a football stadium, a racetrack and an arena off of Route 4, but it is possible that the football stadium might have been joined by a baseball stadium.
According to a source, Dickinson's plan was upended after a strong objection by his executive secretary. Dickinson's offer of $12.5 million for the team was supposed to be sent to a CBS’s directors’ meeting in Philadelphia for review, but was withdrawn at the time of its arrival.
Dickinson was out, which made the sale process much easier for Steinbrenner's group.
It is not known whether the CBS-New York City renovation lease would have been broken had Dickinson purchased the Yankees.
Dickinson was not the only suitor from New Jersey for the Yankees.
Sonny Werblin, who became the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority in 1971, all of a sudden had an investor come to him and tell him that he wanted to buy the Yankees and had a $12.5 million ready to go. But Michael Burke who ran the Yankees for CBS and stayed on with the Steinbrenner group said the team was no longer on the market.
The Dickinson bid was the last real attempt at bringing Major League Baseball to New Jersey. It is somewhat ironic that New Jersey has struck out in landing a Major League team. After all the first baseball game allegedly was played in Hoboken on June 19, 1846. The last game at Elysian Fields in Hoboken took place in 1873.
The Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley shifted some of his home games in 1956 and 1957 to Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium, where attendance was good. But O'Malley was looking for a new stadium in Brooklyn and was using the Jersey City games as leverage for a ballpark.
O'Malley never really considered New Jersey and moved to Los Angeles.
In the late 1980s, Major League Baseball hosted presentations from areas around the country to identify possible expansion or relocation markets. New Jersey officials explained why the state should be considered prime baseball territory, but it was a waste of time, as Major League Baseball shelved the plan.
Periodically George Steinbrenner would make noises about taking his Yankees to New Jersey if he didn't get a new stadium on the west side of Manhattan. But it doesn't appear Steinbrenner was very serious about leaving New York City. He would eventually get assistance from New York City and New York State financially and built a new Bronx park.
As recently as 2000, Major League Baseball concluded that the New York City market could support three teams. But there is no real interest at the moment to bring Major League Baseball to New Jersey in 2012 and even if someone wanted to set up shop in New Jersey, both the Steinbrenner family and the Mets ownership group can block any attempt to establishing a Major League Baseball franchise because of territorial rules.
Opening Day at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx is a special event for Yankees fans.
Those fans should know how close the Bronx Bombers came to East Rutherford. It can be argued that an executive secretary's objection cost New Jersey the Yankees.
Evan Weiner, the winner of the United States Sports Academy's 2010 Ronald Reagan Media Award, is an author, radio-TV commentator and speaker on "The Politics of Sports Business." His book, "The Business and Politics of Sports, Second Edition" is available at bickley.com and Amazon and featured on Google books.
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