September 27, 2010

Today in Yankee Stadium conclusion-jumping

The New York Yankees wrapped up their home schedule yesterday, which means it's time for journalists in search of a news hook to write their looks back at the second season of the team's new stadium. Today's contestants:

• Attendance is up 1.2% over the new stadium's first year, reports the Associated Press, aided by price cuts to the crazy-expensive seats on the field level that went empty much of the team's inaugural season. Of course, the Yankees also won the World Series in the interim as well. And the kicker: Not only is attendance still down from the old Yankee Stadium, which held more fans, but: "The Yankees had 15 sellouts this year, up from seven last season but down from 58 in old Yankee Stadium's final season." It's a feature, not a bug.
• After all the hoohah about the new stadium being a homer haven, the AP reports that "Yankee Stadium wasn't that much of a home run haven this year," with 223 homers hit compared to 237 last year. That's the wrong way to make the comparison, though — half of that difference could just be because Derek Jeter stopped hitting, with the Year of the Pitcher accounting for the rest. What you really want to do is see how the same players performed in Faux Yankee Stadium compared to other ballparks, which you can do by looking at the Yanks' home/road splits: 115 HR at home (in 81 games) vs. 81 on the road (in 75 games); last year it was 136 HR at home (in 81 games) vs. 108 on the road (in 81 games). If you can tell the difference, you have better glasses than me.
• Crain's New York reports that stores around the new stadium have failed to capitalize on events there, according to, um ... the head of the local Business Improvement District. (Hi, Cary!) He notes that local stores need to do a better job of stocking merchandise for one-shot events like boxing matches, and while acknowledging that the new stadium is stocked with its own in-house stores, "The stadium can accommodate 70,000 people. They can't all fit into the Hard Rock Cafe." Seventy thousand? Not since 1942.