NYC Radio: Michael Kay To Continue As Yankees Voice

Michael Kay will be the Yankees play-by-player for the next three years and maybe longer, sources have told The NYPost.

WEPN 987. FM's Kay and YES Network are putting the finishing touches on a three-year contract with a network option for two more. The deal calls for a salary of more than a million dollars per season.

Kay is believed to be the highest-paid local baseball announcer in the game. He took that mantle when fellow Fordham alum Vin Scully retired from the Dodgers after the 2016 season.

YES is currently owned by Fox Sports, which broadcasts 22 of the 30 MLB teams.

At the end of the three years, Kay will be 60 years old. He wants to call Yankee games for as long as possible.

Kay will continue to do his afternoon drive-time show on 98.7 FM ESPN New York.

For these YES negotiations, Kay brought in heavyweight baseball agents Casey Close and Jim Murray as his representatives, and the discussions were tense at times, according to sources. This is not totally unusual, though with a unique circumstance in this instance.

At the beginning of the talks, there was a disconnect between the two sides as Murray, who did most of the legwork on Kay’s side, entered it with a perspective of someone who handles baseball players, while the top YES executives, Jon Litner and John Filippelli, know how TV contracts work.