IS SNY BOOTH SAFE?
New owner could have plans that don’t include fan faves Gary, Keith & Ron
There has been no shortage of speculation over the direction Mets prospective owner Steve Cohen (he still needs approval from 23 of the 30 owners to take control) will take the baseball operation. But what will the multi-billionaire do when it comes to the broadcast booth?
That all depends on his personal preference. The influence he can exert does not depend on if he eventually purchases SportsNet New York, the TV home of the Mets. Fred Wilpon/Saul Katz’s Sterling Entertainment Enterprises is the majority owner of SNY.
Still, if Cohen does not wind up owning SNY, he, like any other team owner, would have the contractual right to final say on who SNY hires as its Mets voices. Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez are known for their candor and “conversational” style. They are fan favorites. Cohen is a Mets fan and probably knows how unpopular a change in the booth would be.
Nonetheless, does Steve Cohen like the free-wheeling, often off-the-wall, approach of Cohen, Darling and Hernandez? Would he like to see more of Bobby Valentine behind the microphone? Published reports say Cohen and Bobby-V already have a relationship.
Will Cohen be able to handle the voice’s critiques (which can be harsh) of the manager and players during telecasts? Or will he want the trio to lean in a more “positive” direction to help sell the product?
There is a well- documented history of sensitive owners sticking their beaks into the broadcast booth. Before he created the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, George Steinbrenner wasn’t shy about sending a message to his voices, whether it was Ch. 11 or MSG Network.
After he approved truthtelling Tony Kubek to become MSG’s No. 1 Bombers analyst, Steinbrenner — almost immediately — began complaining to then network prez Bob Gutkowski about what The Boss perceived as Kubek’s “unfair” criticisms.
Ironically, if Steve Cohen has any gripes — or suggestions — concerning the Mets SNY voices, he would have to either go through SNY brass (like SNY boss Steve Raab or executive producer Curt Gowdy Jr.), or over their head directly to Wilpon, who has years of experience interacting with Mets baseball voices and the media in general.
All this potential intrigue would be eliminated if Cohen purchased SNY. Yet his primary reason for making that acquisition would have little to do with influencing the broadcast booth and everything to do with moo-la-dee. Forbes reported SNY is worth around $1 billion.
Under its current TV rights fee deal with the Mets, which runs through 2030, SNY pays the Mets about $60 million per year for regular season TV rights. The financial terms of that deal work when the team and the network are under the same ownership umbrella.
But with split ownership of the team and the network, the Mets current TV rights are undervalued compared to other MLB teams. Also, MLB slaps a tax on TV rights fees. Yet it does not take a percentage of the profits a team makes through its ownership of a regional sports network. When the bean counters add up the millions of dollars in monthly carriage fees, along with the advertising revenue a regional sports network takes in, there is good reason for any team owner to at least consider getting into the TV business.
DEAL HIM OUT
Unless there is an unexpected change in direction, it’s not a matter of if but when Craig Carton returns to WFAN most likely in afternoon drive.
Industry sources said Carton, who was released from prison in June after serving a year for running a ticket-resale Ponzi scheme, and Entercom (it owns FAN) suits, have reached an agreement in principle on a deal.
The only sticking point is finding Carton the right partner to work with. Whoever that partner is, he or she should be responsible for reading the multiple gambling ads that air over and over again during a WFAN show.
In HBO’s recent documentary “Wild Card,” Carton admitted to being a gambling addict. If Carton is going to talk about gambling on his show, he should talk about how it can ruin someone’s life. He would be providing a life-saving service. No one currently employed at the station has been inclined (or has the guts or sense) to spin such an important cautionary tale.
To do so would be bad for business. Especially when sports talk has become background noise for all the gambling ads, personally endorsed by Gasbags “sharing” their losing picks.
STAR-GAZING
It’s unsettling — messed up too — hearing a top-flight football analyst, like Kirk Herbstreit, speak with little, or no, regard for his colleagues.
Since he worked one of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” openers, Herbstreit, ESPN’s No. 1 college football analyst, has talked about how much he liked the NFL assignment. He indicated he wouldn’t mind doing some more NFL work.
Herbstreit’s mouth was out-running his brain. For if he paused to think this out, he might have realized “MNF’s” new analysts, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese, are working hard to become fixtures on the telecast. They deserve to do the job without one of ESPN’s stars, looking over their shoulders, eyeing their gig.
Or maybe Herbstreit believes ESPN is going to pick up another NFL package in the current round of TV negotiations with the league. Maybe that’s the potential job Herbstreit is angling for. Heaven forbid ESPN actually hire a fresh-face football analyst for a new NFL package.