The New York Yankees have received a massive capital infusion via a deal with an arm of Apollo Global Management, a New York-based asset management firm.
Yankee Global Enterprises is receiving $2.6 billion from Apollo Sports Capital. The deal, announced Tuesday, is a mix of debt and equity and will allow the Yankees to refinance or retire much of their existing debt, and then pursue new ventures.
The Steinbrenners will maintain full control of the Yankees, with Hal Steinbrenner continuing as the team’s managing general partner.
“We are continually seeking ways to strengthen our positioning, and this partnership allows us to explore pursuing strategic opportunities,” Steinbrenner said in the news release.
MLB rules limit the stake an individual private-equity fund can hold in a club to 15 percent. The precise size of Apollo’s equity investment in the Yankees was not immediately clear, and the structure of the $2.6 billion transaction makes it difficult to infer a valuation from the deal. The transaction also includes debt financing, and Yankee Global Enterprises contains assets beyond the baseball team. The parent company includes the YES Network and Legends Hospitality, and stakes in the Italian soccer club AC Milan and in the MLS club New York City FC.
Apollo has nearly $1 trillion in assets under management, and in 2025 became the majority stakeholder in Atlético Madrid, the Spanish soccer giant.
The Yankees have long carried some debt tied to the construction of Yankee Stadium. They refinanced roughly $1 billion of that in 2016, and are believed to be carrying under $100 million in debt at this point.
