Yankees Owner Makes Unexpected Claim on Monday

"No, it's not fair, actually," he said when asked if it's fair to assume that the team is making a profit.

"I don't want to get into it," he continued when asked if it's taking a loss. "But that's not a fair statement or an accurate statement. Everybody wants to talk about revenues. They need to talk about our expenses, including the $100 million expense to the city of New York that we have to pay every Feb. 1, including the COVID year. It all starts to add up in a hurry. Nobody spends more money, I don't believe, on player development, scouting, performance science. These all start to add up. If you want to go look at the revenues, you got to somehow try to figure out the expense side as well. You might be surprised."

Yankees Can Afford to Take Losses

Steinbrenner's comment tracks, as Forbes lists the team's operating income at -$57 million. On the other hand, that's hardly a crisis for an organization valued at $8.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Steinbrenner's net worth is $1.6 billion, per Forbes. The 56-year-old has more than enough to pay for New York's total payroll allocations, which ranks third in MLB at $212.5 million as of Monday, per Spotrac.

Even if the Yankees spent more than they made this year, they're not in danger of going broke. Sometimes, business investors have to take temporary losses in pursuit of long-term gains.

New York's spending has helped it stay competitive over the years, as it hasn't had a losing season since 1992. But the fanbase expects championships, and the team hasn't delivered on that front since 2009.