Sny Exploring A Potential Sale, Per Report

The New York Mets’ television home is reportedly exploring a sale.

SportsNet New York, more often referred to as SNY, has hired bankers to find potential buyers for the regional sports network, according to a report by Lauren Thomas in the Wall Street Journal. SNY is still controlled by the Mets’ former owners, the Wilpon family, who kept the channel after selling the team to Steve Cohen in 2020.

Per the report, Cohen is among several potential buyers that could be interested in purchasing the channel. Other interested parties could include another regional sports network or private equity firms.

SNY’s current broadcast agreement with the Mets goes through 2035, offering a unique level of stability for the channel compared to the uncertainty faced by other regional sports networks.

Outside of the Mets, SNY has very little in the way of marquee live sports programming. The network does not own local rights for any other major pro sports franchise, but has deals with a number of tri-state area colleges to air various sports from football and basketball to ice hockey and soccer. It also airs pregame and postgame coverage for the New York Jets during football season.

Consolidation could become a bit of a theme among New York-area regional sports networks this year. Just last week, MSG Networks, which carries the New York Knicks and New York Rangers among three other NHL teams, refinanced its debt and is expected to explore a sale. YES Network, home of the New York Yankees, is seen as a possible destination for MSG, per a New York Post report. Rolling SNY into that potential offering could make sense from a business perspective.

Regional sports networks are far from hot commodities these days as cable and satellite distributors exile them to premium tiers or drop them entirely, all the while local broadcast rights remain expensive. But an asset that has Mets games locked up for the next decade will surely have enough intrinsic value to pique the interest of some buyers.

Now the question will become, who or what will that buyer be?

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