The Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network is a New York City-based, regional cable television channel; it broadcasts a variety of sports events, with an emphasis on New York Yankees baseball games, and Brooklyn Nets basketball games. YES made its debut on March 19, 2002. The channel is available locally in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania; it is available nationally on DirecTV and in the sports tier of cable systems, and regionally on AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS.

YES is the product of a 1999 merger of the business operations of the Yankees and Nets into a holding company called YankeeNets. One of the reasons that the teams merged was to give them better leverage over their own broadcast rights; each party believed that it would get a better deal individually, if they negotiated the rights collectively. Two years earlier Cablevision, who at the time owned the Nets' broadcast home, SportsChannel New York (later known as Fox Sports Net New York, and now known as MSG Plus), became the sole owner to the television rights of all seven MLB, NBA and NHL teams in the New York market when they acquired the competing MSG Network (previously owned by Gulf+Western, Paramount Communications, and Viacom), which had the Yankees broadcast rights since 1989. This led to monopoly-like tactics, including the shift of some games to the cable-exclusive MSG Metro Channels, which had very limited distribution because Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable routinely fought over carriage deals. Cablevision attempted to buy the Yankees outright, but could not agree to acceptable terms with George Steinbrenner and his partners.

Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975) is an American professional baseball third baseman with the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Known popularly by his nickname A-Rod, he previously played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.

Rodriguez is considered one of the best all-around baseball players of all time. He is the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs, breaking the record Jimmie Foxx set in 1939, and the youngest to hit 600, besting Babe Ruth's record by over a year. Rodriguez has fourteen 100-RBI seasons in his career, more than any other player in history. On September 24, 2010, Rodriguez hit two home runs, surpassing Sammy Sosa's mark of 609 HRs, and became the all-time leader in home runs by a player of Hispanic descent.

In December 2007, Rodriguez and the Yankees agreed to a 10-year, $275 million contract. This contract was the richest contract in baseball history (breaking his previous record of $252 million).

In February 2009, after previously denying use of performance-enhancing drugs, including during a 2007 interview with Katie Couric on 60 Minutes, Rodriguez admitted to using steroids, saying he used them from 2001 to 2003 when playing for the Texas Rangers due to what he called "an enormous amount of pressure" to perform.

Michael Patrick "Mike" Francesa, Jr. (born March 20, 1954) is an American radio talk show host and television commentator. He is primarily known in his former role co-hosting the popular Mike and the Mad Dog show on WFAN in New York City. Francesa now hosts his own show, Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN, during the afternoon drive slot formerly occupied by Mike and the Mad Dog.

Francesa started his career by spending six years at College and Pro Football Newsweekly. He was hired by CBS Sports in 1982 as a researcher, focusing primarily on college sports. In CBS Sports, he was initially a behind-the-scenes, statistic-wielding editorial assistant, but network executives were so impressed by his knowledge that he was made a studio analyst for college basketball and football and acquired such a reputation that The New Yorker termed him "Brent Musburger’s brain."

When he was a studio analyst at CBS Sports, he said the most common complaint he heard was about his New York accent.

ESPN tried to lure Francesa as its studio expert on college football, college basketball and NFL in 1991, but he declined the offer.

Derek Sanderson Jeter ( /ˈdʒiːtər/; born June 26, 1974) is an American baseball shortstop who has played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. A five-time World Series champion, Jeter has been a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the 1990s and 2000s due to his clubhouse presence, on-field leadership, hitting ability, and baserunning. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,155), games played (2,472), stolen bases (342), and at bats (10,066). His accolades include twelve All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, four Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and the Roberto Clemente Award. Jeter is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop, and the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits.

The Yankees drafted Jeter out of high school in 1992, and he debuted in the major leagues in 1995. The following year, he became the Yankees' starting shortstop, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and helped the team win the 1996 World Series. Jeter continued to contribute during the team's championship seasons of 1998–2000; he finished third in voting for the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1998, recorded multiple career-high numbers in 1999, and won both the All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP Awards in 2000. He has consistently placed among the AL leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years, and since 2003 has served as the Yankees' team captain.

Jack F. Curry (born November 25, 1964) is an American sportswriter, who is currently a commentator on the YES Network.

Until 2010, he was the national baseball correspondent for the The New York Times. Before taking over that beat, he covered the Yankees for the Times. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing a series on the demise of high school sports in New York in 1999.

In 2000, Curry co-wrote a book with Derek Jeter titled Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams. The book was a N.Y. Times best-seller.^{[citation needed]}

Curry is a frequent guest on local New York sports programs such as the YES Network's "Yankees Hot Stove" and WFAN's "Mike and the Mad Dog" radio program. He has been seen nationally on networks such as ESPN and MSNBC.

Curry currently works for the YES Network.

Curry graduated from Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City. Becoming an alumnus of 1982, Curry was invited to a Hudson Catholic event on May 12 as a guest speaker.

Curry earned a bachelor's degree in Communications from Fordham University in 1986. Curry and his wife Pamela reside in River Vale, New Jersey.