Seventeen seasons into his tenure as television voice of the New York Yankees, Michael Kay does not seem to be going anywhere.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports Tuesday that Kay and YES Network are finalizing an agreement that will keep the play-by-play man in the booth for at least three more seasons, with a network option for two more after that. Kay will reportedly make more than $1 million a year under his new deal.
Per Marchand, Kay is believed to be the highest-paid local TV announcer in baseball, having taken that title from Vin Scully when the long-time Dodgers voice retired after the 2017 season.
Kay, 60, has quietly become one of the longest tenured broadcasters in baseball. With 17 seasons in the YES booth, he has been calling Yankees games on television longer than Harry Caray called Cubs games or Red Barber called Dodgers games. Counting the decade he spent in the Yankees’ radio booth before taking over at YES in 2002, Kay has been calling Yankees games since Joe Buck was 22 years old.
Throughout his time in New York, Kay has inspired strong feelings, both positive and negative, among Yankee fans. While plenty of viewers respect Kay and enjoy his broadcasts, others dislike his fervid style or simply prefer fill-in Ryan Ruocco.
https://twitter.com/JimmyTraina/status/1003805740740554753
not even hating on Michael, but Ryan Ruocco is best young voice in the biz
— SB (@SBart_89) June 12, 2018
Need more Ryan Ruocco
— Former T. Pryor Truther™ from 2017 (@_yakman_) June 12, 2018
Kay, who will continue to call about 125 games a year while also hosting his afternoon radio show on ESPN Radio in New York, told the Post that he doesn’t “see any end in sight” to his YES tenure and that he will call Yankees games as long as he wants to and as long as the network wants him to. That means whether Yankees fans love Kay or hate him, they will be living with him for a while.
