Yankees COO Lonn Trost Says The Team Is Not For Sale

Yankees COO Lonn Trost Says The Team Is Not For Sale

The brass with the New York Yankees woke up to some surprising news this morning. On the back page of the New York Daily News, the paper had a report discussing rumors that the team could soon be up for sale, according to sources in both baseball and banking. And they’ve spent most of this Thursday morning shooting down such rumors.
Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost says in the following interview that the story and rumors are fiction and more or less scoffs at the entire report. In Trost’s words, the story “is an absolute fabrication” with no merit or validity.

Lonn Trost joined WFAN in New York with Boomer and Carton to discuss the report that the Yankees could soon be for sale, the story being a work of fiction, what he makes of them saying they have sources in both banking and baseball, if a minority owner can simply sell their part of the team and other aspects of the story.

Are you surprised about the report or is it just part of being the Yankees?:

“There’s stories about the Yankees and what we do, about every aspect of our existence. However, this one is an absolute fabrication. There’s no merit to the story; there’s no validity to the story. I’m sure that nobody can find any evidence about this. There are no discussions; there have never been any discussions.”

The story is just comical, at best, isn’t it?:

“Listen, it just never happened. Comical is a great word to use, but we’re reading fiction on the front back page of the newspaper.”

So they say they’re hearing from sources in baseball and banking, but you’re saying none of it is true?:

“I’ll go moreso. With respect to MLB, we will ask the commissioner to undertake an investigation and take appropriate action. With respect to investment bankers, we have an investment banker. We’ve had one for 30 years. … They’re partners with us in many of the subsidiaries we have, and we have never had any discussion with them at all.”

If one of the minority owners wanted to sell their piece of the Yankees, would they be able to do that without the others voting on it?:

“There’s a process, actually. First, we have many limited partners with many limited interests and the process is quite simple. First, they come and meet with myself and with Randy and with Hal and a decision is made at that point whether they can be brought into the fold. At that point, a proposal is made, it’s formalized, they have to go through an MLB investigatory process. And even at that point, it first has to go to the partners who could stop that from happening. … Nothing can get done without going through a very elaborate process, which ends with the Steinbrenner family. And we’re not talking about major positions.”

Why do you think the Steinbrenners would ever want to sell what their father and family have built?:

“This is just fiction; it just never happened. We’re aghast at such a story.”

In the story, it even basically says that Hal Steinbrenner hates the players. What do you make of that?:

“I also read that he’s not here much. He’s here every single week.”