New York Yankees President Randy Levine Talks Sports Economy

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Randy Levine is with us. He's president of the New York Yankees, chairman of the Yes Network, a member of the board of directors of AC Milan. The list goes on. He joins us here on site at Power Play.

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Do you like sports?

Randy Levine (0:17)

Hi, guys. You do.

SPEAKER_2 (0:20)

I do. I do.

Randy Levine (0:21)

I've been doing it a long time. You have.

SPEAKER_2 (0:25)

You just wrapped up this panel on the evolving college sports landscape. We had a great conversation with Ira Boudouet about that a moment ago. We're going to get to that. But we got to talk about the business of the MLB right now because the collective bargaining agreement between the MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association is set to expire at the end of this season. Owners want a salary cap, players don't. Is there going to be a lockout?

Randy Levine (0:46)

I sure hope not.

We're negotiating with them right now. The commissioner has stated over and over again, he'd love to have a deal. It's been labor peace for a long time. But there are serious problems that both sides need to recognize and come to an agreement on.

SPEAKER_2 (1:05)

You're not just approaching this as president of the Yankees. I mean, you were labor commissioner for New York City from 1994 to 95 You were chief labor negotiator for the MLB and helped negotiate the 1996 MLB labor agreement also. Where is the white space right now between the two sides that are negotiating?

Randy Levine (1:25)

I'm not going to comment on that because that's up to the negotiators.

Confidentiality in the room is really what's most important. We have a great labor committee. My owner, Hal Steinbrenner, is on the committee. Dan Halem, the deputy commissioner is leading it.

They're meeting with the Players Association and it's early. Let them take their course. But we need an agreement. Baseball is doing great right now. But there are serious issues they need to tackle, so we'll see what happens. We can't prejudge it.

SPEAKER_4 (1:59)

Randy, most serious issues that need to be dealt with, in your view?

Randy Levine (2:02)

Well, I think there's no secret. The issue of competitive balance, it's been around for quite a long time. And that's been an issue since I was the labor negotiator, the chief labor negotiator for baseball back in the mid 90s.

I think that we need to find a solution. That's the core issue and there's a bunch of others, but I'll leave that to the negotiating table.

SPEAKER_4 (2:28)

Are you preparing for a possible lockout?

Randy Levine (2:30)

Yeah, I'm not going to comment on that.

SPEAKER_2 (2:34)

Are there teams though, like the Yankees, not withstanding because I guess you could argue it's well capitalized, but are there teams that will be in trouble because they don't have revenue coming out? If this were to happen?

Randy Levine (2:49)

I really quite don't understand. I mean, right now, we have a system that has a luxury tax situation where money goes from taxpayers to other teams. We have a revenue sharing, robust revenue sharing program, and we have a central fund that's equally distributed, and it's been going on for a long time, yet there are still disparity issues.

SPEAKER_4 (3:15)

All right, so let's talk about World Series, prospects of winning another World Series. Got Aaron Judge's back, right? You missed a bunch, so how are you looking at it?

Randy Levine (3:25)

I like our team. You can never predict. Today, I think the history is, once you get to the playoffs, the team that's hot for three weeks to a month has a good chance of winning. I think our pitching can match up with anyone. I think now that big 99 is back in the fold, our hitters will relax a little.

So I like our chances, but the big issue is injuries. We have to stay injury free, and that's the big issue for a lot of teams.

SPEAKER_2 (3:54)

Is it a bigger problem now than it has been in the past?

Randy Levine (3:56)

I don't think so. I think it happens.

I think in the old days, there wasn't the technology to determine some of these injuries, and I always hear, well, in the 50s, this guy played through this, this guy played through that. Well, I think in the 50s, they didn't have the technology to figure out what was wrong with them.

SPEAKER_4 (4:16)

You know, one of the things we want to think about, we are thinking a lot about tomorrow, the 25th anniversary of 9-11. You were a part of the World Series run back in 2001, following the attacks. You have spoken often on that year and how it really helped bring New York City together.