April 14, 2022
NY Appellate Judges Question Minor League Contraction
Nostalgic Partners LLC, owners of the Yankees’ former Staten Island affiliate, and the Tri-City ValleyCats, located in Troy, New York, both of which are represented by Berg & Androphy and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, sued MLB and its former affiliated big-league clubs in December 2020 and January 2021. The suits alleged the clubs breached their contracts or other agreements to continue their affiliations with the minor league clubs, that they breached fiduciary duties to the minor league clubs and that MLB tortiously interfered in their deals.
* * *
“You sat on your hands. You allowed the minor league baseball teams to build up the minor league franchises and just when it is getting good, let’s take them over,” Justice Manzanet-Daniels said to the attorney for the MLB and the Astros.
* * *
“You may be contractually sound, but essentially, what you have done is wiped out an independent minor league,” Justice Manzanet-Daniels said.