Yanks, Cowboys form concessions partnership
ByTwo of the most storied — and most hated — franchises in sports are teaming up for a concessions business venture.
The Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees have teamed up to form Legends Hospitality Management that will, according to Sports Business Journal, “manage regular concessions, suite catering and team stores at the new Yankees and Cowboys stadiums.” The company will also bid on concessions contracts at stadiums across the country.
The first-of-its-kind initiative between two of pro sports’ star teams is the idea of Gerry Cardinale, the Goldman managing director who helped create the Yankees’ regional sports channel, the YES Network, and brokered the return of Alex Rodriguez to the team last year.
Cardinale met Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and his son Stephen, the team’s chief operating officer, through a mutual friend who hosted them and their wives on a boat off of St. Barts in the Caribbean in February 2007.
On the boat, a source said, Jones spoke of his new stadium, and Cardinale brought the idea of pairing the two teams together back to the Yankees. Hal Steinbrenner, the team’s co-owner, team President Randy Levine, and Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost handled the discussions.
The teams are known for their entrepreneurial bent, and the concessions business is now the latest iteration. The Yankees’ YES Network is a highly successful regional sports channel in which Goldman is an investor, and the Cowboys are the only NFL team to manage the distribution of its branded merchandise.
In charge of this new business venture will be former Pizza Hut President Michael Rawlings and Dan Smith and Marty Greenspun, two Yankee employees.
While some many think back on the non-descript YankeeNet venture, this partnership has the potential to reap massive benefits for the Yanks and Cowboys. The Yanks did about $70 million in concession sales at their old ballpark, and this figure stands to jump tremendously when the new stadium opens in April. If this venture is successful — and there’s no reason it won’t be — it could mark a new approach to sports business deals across all major sports.
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Wow … My 2 favorite teams working together I liek this
“Wow … My 2 favorite teams working together I liek this”
Oh brother. Now if only you can get Celtics, Tar Heels,
Red Wings, and Trojans in on the deal, that would cover ALL your favorites.
ummm no i always been a cowboy fan and a yankee fan but your pretty funny… i was 6 when i started to like the cowboys and thats becuz aikman was the man back then.. its becuz of my brother.. and im a big maverick fan and an msu fan but you prob have some kind of problem with that too
Le’s see……you you became a Cowboys fan when Aikman was the man and won Super Bowls, which would be around 1992-1996. Around this same time, the Yankees were building, then contributing to a Dynasty that would win 4 Championships. So if my math is correct, you’d have been around 11 or 12 years old when MoPete and Mateen Cleaves led MSU to the Final 4 three of four years, including a National Championship.
Of course, I don’t have a problem with that………just noticing a pattern, that’s all.
I believe Goldman is also invested in the partnership, but i could be wrong
http://www.usatoday.com/money/.....kees_N.htm
Its Cowboys, Yankees, Goldman Sachs, and CPC Capital
….I also have a feeling that we might know 2 companies with boxes at the new stadium
Check that CIC
didnt pizza htu go bankrupt?
I know they changed their name to “Pasta Hut” in the UK but I’m still seeing them around here, fwiw.
They’re part of YUM brands with Taco Bell, KFC & Co.
They rebranded some UK stores as a marketing ploy
So does this mean that in a few years, when the economic might of Legends Hospitality Management is cemented and it stands astride the concessions industry like a mighty Colossus, that we’ll be getting a cut of every DodgerDog and Fenway Sausage and Brewer Brat and Philly Cheesteak and Rocky Mountain Oyster sold across baseball?
That the foods eaten and drinks drunk by Sox and Royals and Angels and Diamondbacks and Twins fans across the country will be generating revenue streams that allow us to sign their favorite players away from their teams?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, BITCHES!!!!
+ infinity
I was thinking the same thing. Perfect way to get back some, if not all and then some, of that revenue sharing money the Yanks give away. Add that to the exemption they will enjoy when they open the new place and the Yanks are rolling in it.
Notice it was Hal who signed off on the idea. Hank makes statements, Hal makes money.
Nothing like a failed bank being put in charge of this,
GO GOLDMAN SACHS
Last time I checked Goldman didn’t fail
And last time I checked it wasn’t a bank. The regulations are changing to allow it to become a bank NOW. It wasn’t a bank a month ago, just an investment firm.
Hopefully they’ll get better food and more variety.
Perhaps even more important: hopefully they lower prices with all the money they save, but I guess that’s too much to ask…
actually Hank had a quote in the USA today article I linked above that could be thought of as potential price decreases, my guess is bulk synergy, like going to the movies, where if you get 2 drinks & a big popcorn they charge less.
FWIW, I broke it down the other day when I went to the movies (usually Regal or AMC) and there is no volume discount on combos at the theater. You’re paying the exact same price you’d pay if you just bought everything a la carte.
In fact, last week I went to Taco Bell and while I was waiting interminably long for my food, I looked there; about half of their combos were 10-20 cents MORE expensive than buying all the respective tacos and drinks separately.
Combos are often a waste of money.
thats why I buy food and sneak it into the theater, show those suckers and their overprices water
Same here, I carry a can of coke and usually a little candy and a snack whenever I go. One movie of food for the price of a box of candy at the theater, that is a good combo.
Is this like when Big Stein traded George Costanza to Tyler Chicken in exchange for Don Tyler converting all his concessions to chicken? Instead of hot dogs, chicken dogs…instead of pretzels, chicken twists…instead of beer, alcoholic chicken…
What I dont get is why would the Yanks want to do this? Yanks will draw 4 million plus next year. The Cowpies will draw 800K or a million if you include preseason? Is this just so the Yanks long term can do what Dallas does with merch? It can not be about concessions for the Yanks unless Dallas can get all the college and high schools in Texas and or the south to convert to using this company.
Something smells fishy. Just by the nature of the sport we draw 4 to 5 times what Dallas does, so why would we be equal partners? Somebody explain the business sense this makes please.
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