April 12, 2009

More Yankees news: Soggy fries and mob ties

The reviews of the new New York Yankees stadium are finally starting to die down: In the latest, Steve Lombardi of WasWatching says he was looking forward to the new stadium but is "willing to suggest that the Yankees screwed this one up," while Ben Kabak of River Avenue Blues says with its newly distant upper deck and off-limits premium areas, "New Yankee Stadium is all about exclusion," and the garlic fries are expensive and soggy.

In other Yankees news, Mohegan Sun says don't blame them for the centerfield sports bar bearing their name that blocks bleacher views, saying they weren't consulted about the design, they only paid to slap their name on it — which in hindsight doesn't seem to have been the savviest marketing move. ("If I'm the Mohegan Sun, I'm not happy," sponsorshop consultant Jim Andrews told the New York Times.) Meanwhile, the Times also reported that both electrical and concrete work at the new Yankees stadium and the demolition of the Mets' Shea Stadium were handled by companies that the city normally avoids because of alleged ties to organized crime and reports of bribery. Something worth watching as the demolition of Yankee Stadium — which, Karen Argenti of the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality has noted, wasn't subject to public bidding — gets underway, any day now.