February 08, 2008

Yankees stadium cost passes $1.8B

Before leading a press tour of the New York Yankees' under-construction stadium (to judge from the press coverage that resulted, Kool-Aid was liberally dispensed), team president Lonn Trost revealed that the price tag for the structure itself had risen from $1 billion to $1.3 billion, mostly thanks to additions like a snazzier video screen and more lavish concession stands. Add in the $340 million in new parking garages and $200 million in parkland to replace what was demolished to make way for the new stadium, and the whole project is now somewhere north of $1.8 billion.

Trost was unspecific about how the new additions would be paid for, though when asked if the team was getting additional financing for the extra costs, he replied, "We will be." If the added costs come out of the Yankees' pockets (or more likely, the pockets of concessionaires and scoreboard advertisers who will pony up higher fees), that would bring the team's expense after tax breaks and other subsidies to around $700 million, or still less than what the public is putting in. And taxpayers, needless to say, won't be getting any money from ads on the spiffy new scoreboard.