TAMPA, Fla. — The New York Yankees are not for sale. Not now and, if the Steinbrenner family has its way, perhaps not ever.
Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ managing general partner, says that despite a recent Forbes Magazine story valuing his team at $3.2 billion — the second-most-valuable franchise in professional sports, worth nearly 400 times what Hal’s father, George Steinbrenner, paid for it in 1973 — the family has no intention of selling the ballclub, and in fact intends to see it under Steinbrenner family ownership for generations to come.
I think all of us feel that way,” Hal Steinbrenner, the youngest of George Steinbrenner’s four children, told ESPN in a wide-ranging interview this week in his office at the spring training facility that bears his father’s name.
“This is a family business and we’re all involved,” he said, referring to siblings Hank, Jennifer and Jessica. “We all love being a part of this. We all know our dad wanted us to be a part of us, and we all know he’s watching down on us and happy that we’re all a part of it. Believe it or not, to us, that’s a big deal. The idea is, let’s keep it going.”
In fact, there are already long-term plans in the works to have George Steinbrenner’s grandchildren eventually take over operations of the team. According to Hal Steinbrenner, Stephen Swindal Jr. (son of Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal), George Michael Steinbrenner and Julia Steinbrenner Vinas (son and daughter of Hank Steinbrenner), Robert Molloy (son of Jessica Steinbrenner Molloy) and Hal’s daughter Katherine are all interested in being part of the next generation of Steinbrenners to run the Yankees.
“It’s already been discussed,” Hal Steinbrenner said. “We got a lot of grandkids, and they’re very interested. The idea is, it’s time to let the young elephants in the tent, in George’s words. So it’s begun.”
