February 25, 2010

Yankees stadium concrete testers facing 25 years in the slammer

For those following along, the case of the concrete testing firm charged with faking test results at the new Yankees stadium among other places, and the verdict is: Guilty, guilty, guilty! Everyone swears that this doesn't mean the new stadium, the Freedom Tower, and dozens of other buildings are about to fall down, but then, how would they know? The city Buildings Department is reportedly working to check on all the buildings that got faulty inspections, which would be more reassuring if the Buildings Department had the staff to do its regular inspections in the first place.

February 17, 2010

Yankee Stadium demolition, new park construction creep along

It's almost time for the New York Yankees to begin their second season at their new stadium, and Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez notes that the new parks to replace the ones buried under the team's new home in 2006 are still nowhere to be found:

Back in late 2006, when U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald rejected a challenge to the stadium plan by local residents, she noted that the city was replacing all parkland with new permanent park facilities.

"Nearly all [of those facilities] will be operational by the time the new Yankee Stadium opens in 2009," the judge said in her decision, "and the remaining three ballparks to be located on the existing Yankee Stadium fields will become accessible by 2010." ...

Portions of a new park and outdoor tennis courts were inaugurated along the Harlem River in November - just in time for winter. But a huge new tennis clubhouse, cafe and community facility have not been finished. Nor has a toddler park, a skateboarding park, a full esplanade for the public, and a sand beach along the river - all of which were promised.

None of this is really new news, since the delayed openings have been acknowledged by the Parks Department since May 2008. And demolition of the original Yankee Stadium does seem to be creeping along — the latest photos show that the left-field upper deck has started to come down, after the lower levels were gutted earlier this winter. The city's claim is currently that the old stadium will be gone (and new park construction started) by June, which certainly looks plausible.

Still, with the city's original promises going unmet, Bronx community activists Joyce Hogi and Karen Argenti have dashed off a letter to the National Park Service calling on the agency to live up to its promise to "take remedial and disciplinary steps to ensure that state compliance occurs," namely by cutting off federal funds unless the parks are built ASAP.

February 03, 2010

New Yankees stadium a four-star hotel in a sea of poverty

Headline of the day, from my colleagues at the Village Voice blog: New Yankee Stadium Helps Lift Bronx to Poorest, Hungriest Place in America. (They're really on a roll.)

The details:

Here's new evidence of what the new Yankee Stadium has brought to The Bronx. Not only is the borough home to one of the poorest congressional districts in America -- the home of the new, heavily-subsidized stadium and the current World Champs can also boast that their 'hood is also the hungriest Congressional district in the nation!

As of the last census, in 2000, the 16th Congressional District was the poorest in the nation, with 42.2 percent of residents living below the poverty line. Now, nearly a decade later, a new Gallup poll finds that more than 36 percent of people in the 16th have reported that there are times when they have not had money to buy food for themselves or their family.

To be fair, the new Yankees stadium has only been open a year, and hadn't even opened when these numbers were compiled, so you can't actually blame Bronx hunger on the team, though it is reasonable to ask what the city could have done to alleviate poverty with its $691 million share of the stadium costs. And Bronx asthma is still fair game.

November 07, 2009

Yankee Stadium demolition begins

Helicopter photos of Yankee Stadium taken on Wednesday and Thursday show that a backhoe has begun gobbling up the Yankee Stadium bleachers, marking the first major structural demolition of the old ballpark. David Lombino, a spokesperson for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, says that "the dismantling work began this week," adding: "Major pieces of the stadium, which will be visible from outside the stadium, will begin to be dismantled next month."

Demolition was originally slated to begin in the spring, but the last seven months have been taken up with removing seats and other items for sale, setting up scaffolding, and other non-demolitiony exercises. Conveniently or not, this means that fans celebrating the Yankees' World Championship (and, apparently, Beer Pong Thursdays) were spared the sight of a half-torn-apart stadium crashing their party.

More on the demolition schedule, and the long-delayed replacement parks that are supposed to replace the stadium once it's gone, in my Village Voice article.

November 04, 2009

New Yankee Stadium hurts local businesses: Week 2

The New York Times chimes in today on the Yankees' Souvenirgate, noting, as WNYC and WCBS did before them, that local businesses on 161st Street aren't doing so hot now that the New York Yankees Steakhouse and Baseball Stadium is open across the street:

While working in his father's souvenir shop up the block, [Saeed Alawy of Pin Stripe Collectibles] recalled, there was no time to fold the T-shirts before selling them. Customers were lined up three and four deep at the counter yelling out orders and tossing wads of bills.

"They were throwing the money," Mr. Alawy, 47, said.

Over the course of an hour on Monday, just 13 shoppers wandered into Pin Stripe Collectibles and Mr. Alawy made only four sales, for a total of $107.

This would, perhaps, be more impressive if there had actually been a game in the Bronx on Monday, but reporters on deadline can't be choosers. (And WNYC did find similar inactivity on game days last week.)

Not reporting on the travails of 161st Street merchants: MLB.com, the official web publishing arm of Major League Baseball, which instead last night posted a love letter to the new stadium that is strangely evasive about the fact that it's new at all, calling it the "House That Ruth Built" and reporting that "the shining diamond in the South Bronx has had three openings" — two, that is, on the other diamond across the street. The MLB.com report also upholds the tradition that every article about a new sports facility must refer to it as "glistening," as if it were, er, something else.

November 01, 2009

Our relentless assault on both new and old media

It not every week when I'm quoted in both the L.A. Times and Deadspin. Read Dave Zirin's op-ed analyzing the Industry NFL stadium deal here, and then follow that up with Deadspin's Why Your Stadium Sucks installment on the new Yankee Stadium, where I have the honor of throwing out the first tirade. Best comment (not-by-me-or-anyone-I-know-personally division) goes to Martin Pederson of Metropolis magazine:

After the first playoff game against the Twins, Michael Kay and David Cone were speculating about the subdued nature of the crowd. Was it the 6 o'clock start? The early lead by the Twins? "Excuse me, guys," I shouted at the TV, "it's the fucking architecture!"

October 30, 2009

Yankee fans only disguised as empty seats

Newsday has solved the mystery of the empty field-level seats at the Yankees' new stadium for World Series games, which had puzzled and enraged bloggers: According to sports business writer Neil Best:

As has been the case throughout the season, empty seats do not necessarily mean unsold ones.

Many fans with prime tickets spend parts of the game inside an adjacent restaurant with a lavish food spread that comes with the steep price of admission.

The fact it was misting much of the night Wednesday and that the Yankees went down meekly against the Phillies' Cliff Lee only encouraged fans to wander and graze.

So people are still buying multi-thousand-dollar seats for World Series games — they're just not sitting in them. Now that's the kind of fans that David Miller likes.

October 28, 2009

Rain good for Yanks eateries; Yanks eateries bad for Bronx neighbors

While baseball fans await a rain-drenched opening game of the World Series — though Jay-Z was postponed, the TV schedule won't let the games stop for mere weather — rest easy that at least somebody will be happy if it pours:

David Miller, chief operating officer of NYY Steak, the high-end chop house at Yankee Stadium, couldn't be happier with the dreary forecast.

"Rain and cold drive up business at the restaurant by at least 20%," he said. The eatery, open year-round, was already one third full by 2:30 Wednesday afternoon.

Crain's New York further notes that during last week's playoff games between the Yankees and the Angels, the steakhouse was almost empty during games as "fans stayed in their seats to watch the game instead of watching it on television screens in the restaurant." Clearly the Yanks need to play less exciting games — or, failing that, make it more unpleasant to watch the game from the seats. Not that they're not trying hard on that already.

Meanwhile, all that spending at the steakhouse and the other stadium eateries isn't doing much for local businesses, who complain that between the economy, competition from all the new in-stadium shopping, and the relocation of the stadium farther from much of the busiest shopping strip, their business is down dramatically:

"We had high expectations with the new stadium and everything," said Concourse Card Shop manager Nicolas Castillo. But so far? It's "a lot worse," he said, with business down more than 50 percent.

At Yankee Tavern, where the floor is tiled to look like Yankee pinstripes, business is off about 20 percent, said owner Joe Bastone.

This, of course, was the whole point of building a new stadium — to bring fan spending inside the gates, so that all those dollars would pass through team hands — something that was recognized at the time by local merchants, who largely opposed the building of the new stadium. The one bright spot in the WCBS-TV report: Bastone says that over the course of the season, his receipts have gradually increased, presumably as the novelty of the in-stadium food vendors (and their sky-high prices) wears off.

UPDATE: WNYC-FM has a similar report on 161st Street merchants. Best line: "Yankee fan George Figueroa says he forgets he's at a ballpark. 'You walk around and it's like you're not even in a game. It's like you're in a mall.'" That's gotta be music to David Miller's ears...

October 26, 2009

Yanks' latest stadium problem: Crumbling ramps

While the New York Yankees were winning the A.L. pennant this weekend, they were getting bad news about their six-month-old stadium, which turns out to have cracks in some of its concrete ramps. While a team spokesperson said the cracks were "cosmetic" and don't pose a safety hazard, the New York Times cited unnamed sources as saying that repairs could cost several million dollars.

While no one's saying for sure, the widespread speculation is that the faulty concrete may be related to the city's ongoing concrete-inspection scandal, in which inspectors have been accused of charging for quality tests that they never performed, and which has widened to include allegations of mobsters working as city building inspectors. The new Yankee Stadium has previously been established to be one of the buildings inspected by the now-indicted Testwell Laboratories — along with the Freedom Tower — but city officials insisted at the time that it was unlikely to cause hazards because, in the Times' words, "most of the concrete poured in New York is of a high quality."

Not mentioned in any of the articles: Who'll be on the hook for paying the cost of fixing the stadium ramps, as well as any other problems that arise. The Yankees agreed to pay all maintenance costs for the new stadium (in exchange for not paying any rent), so presumably they'll be paying for the patch job. But given that this is a project that involved one city agency, one private contractor, and at least two construction contractors — one of which has previously been accused of mob ties — I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some lawsuits down the road over this.

October 23, 2009

Yanks sued for seat bait-and-switch

Looks like the Yankees' new stadium isn't the only one with overpriced seats: A fan who purchased two seats from the old Yankee Stadium is suing the team and its memorabilia partner, Steiner Sports, saying he shelled out $2000 for specific seats and instead got a repainted, reassembled mess:

When Lefkus' seats arrived, nearly three months after he placed the order, he was dismayed to discover that his seats were refurbished. According to the complaint, "their original paint was stripped and the seats were repainted in a different hue from original." He alleges that, during the dismantling, seats "were not properly cataloged or organized and as a result seats sold as specific seat pairs could not in fact have been provided because [Steiner] did not adequately record which seat parts came from which locations and because the seats themselves were dismantled and later reassembled without regard to which seat part went with which seats."

Maybe turning over the sale of Yankee Stadium memorabilia to the experts wasn't such a great idea after all.

October 12, 2009

ESPN buys $1200 Yankee tickets so you don't have to

If you've been wondering what those crazy-expensive field-level seats are like at Fake Yankee Stadium, ESPN writer Wright Thompson dropped $1200 so he could tell you firsthand. His verdict: It's great to watch the game from up close, hot dogs go great with a $200 bottle of French wine, and cops are nicer to you when they think you're rich people.

Thompson comes up with a novel theory for the outrageous Yankees ticket prices, saying it's thanks to Wall Street brokers who in recent years became willing to pay just about anything for good tickets, since they were using them as deductible entertainment expenses (Thompson calls them "bribes") to sweet-talk other brokers into conducting deals. But after a bunch of equity traders were caught with free hotel rooms, hookers, and a midget — it's always the midget that gets the headlines — the SEC cracked down, with potentiall huge consequences for the Yankees:

To get out front of the SEC, many firms have instituted their own internal controls requiring gifts worth more than $100 to be reported. A computer program has been purchased by more than 200 companies that, for the first time, allows statistics to be kept on ticket use, including how much business each one brings in.

So ... just as companies were trying to limit extravagant spending, the Yankees came out with the most extravagant tickets in the history of sports, designed in part for a group of people who could no longer buy them. "They killed the golden goose," a former Bear Stearns guy says. "When the new prices came out, everybody said, 'Are you kidding? We can't even give these to clients.'" ...

Yankees games went from something small to something like a trip to the Masters. One buy-sider told me: "I've been offered really good seats a couple of times, but I haven't taken tickets from a broker in the new stadium. I'd feel like I owed the guy."

Meanwhile, Thompson wonders if all the sky-high ticket pricing could risk turning off those who are there for the game, not for the derivatives. He cites ESPN pollster Rich Luker as saying the sports industry is in "harvest mode," and could be in danger of alienating its fan base for good:

A recent poll discovered an unsettling trend emerging for the first time. American families whose household income is $75,000 or less now have zero dollars of discretionary income. According to Luker, that means about 75 percent of the country can never responsibly afford to go to a live professional sporting event. Franchises want them to be fans, to buy the gear and pull for their teams and watch the telecasts the leagues are paid billions for. But they don't need them to come to their stadiums. There are, right now, plenty of rich people who love games. The prices reflect that. The reason sporting events cost so much now, Luker's research shows, is because they are designed to be affordable only to those making $150,000 or more a year.

Luker's stats show, continues Thompson: "For the first time, the largest number of sports fans aren't 12- to 17-year-old boys. The baby boomers are the group that shows the greatest increase in a love of sports, and they'll be dying soon."

All in all, a fascinating read, though I'm not entirely sure about all its conclusions. (My own research points to the massive surge in wealth towards the richest Americans since the Reagan tax cuts for the top income brackets — the increase in in the number of "rich people who love games," in other words — as most to blame for rising ticket prices.) And it's fun to hear about such perks as about the bottomless pile of Twizzlers available to high rollers, without having to plunk down $1200 to visit it.

October 07, 2009

Sports bubble watch: NBA, Yankees cut prices

More signs that the crazy inflation in sports ticket prices has found a ceiling:

• The New York Yankees provided more details on their previously announced ticket price cuts for 2010: They'll lower prices for their most expensive seats, the Legends Suite tickets behind home plate, from $2500 a game to a mere $1500, while some tickets in the $500-$1000 range (the ones that the Yanks had trouble selling this season) also will see price drops.
• NBA commissioner David Stern says he expects NBA revenues to drop in the coming season, and says a large part of the reason is price cuts that teams have instituted to keep fannies in the seats. "I would love to get it closer to 2-1/2 percent, but I don't think we're going to because our teams have cut their ticket prices or frozen them, so as a result, even if we have good attendance, we'll be taking in less revenue at the gate, and that's an important component. And that's OK. We're responding to our fans."

September 17, 2009

The Yankee Stadium gate that will not die

The push to save Yankee Stadium's Gate 2 is back in the news today — or rather, back in the News, the one New York paper that can't seem to get enough of this story. The latest angle is that advocates say preserving it would cost only $1 million, not the $10 million that the Parks Department says it would run; how this translates into "cheaper to save than tear down," only the Daily News headline writers know for sure.

Next up: Gate 2 supporters are reportedly meeting Monday with Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr., who has absolutely no oversight over the stadium demolition project. He could certainly try to lean on the mayor's office to adapt its plan for demolition — scheduled to begin next month — but given that he just voted to oppose a project by the mayor's favorite developer, he might not get such a warm hearing.

September 16, 2009

Sports bubble watch: Yanks trim some pricey seat fees

The long-awaited decision by the New York Yankees on how to respond to their empty seat crisis is in, and the verdict is: The team is cutting ticket prices on about 6,400 of their priciest seats, while raising prices on 1,700 second-deck seats:

3,400 Field Level seats currently priced at $325 as part of full-season licenses will drop to $250 or $235 each next season, depending on their specific location. Additionally, all 1,208 Suite seats in the Delta Sky 360° Suite will see a decrease in price, as will 1,846 of 1,894 Suite seats (97 percent) in the Legends Suite. The balance of the Legends Suite seats will have no price change....

In the Main Level, 10,111 seat locations will see no increase. The remaining 1,704 seats in Sections 216-217 and 223-224 currently priced at $100 will be $125 next season. These mark the only increases for 2010.

The lesson the Yankees seem to have learned here: Fans aren't willing to pay an arm and a leg for great seats, but will give up a few fingers for good ones. Which makes sense, given that the most expensive seats are the ones that were going unsold, but is almost certainly bad news for fans hoping for more cheap seats, not more $100-$300 ones.

In related news, random Yankee fans with no last names think these prices are still too damned expensive.

September 05, 2009

Yankee Stadium frieze being removed

The picking apart of Yankee Stadium for salvage continues, with the concrete frieze atop the scoreboard (what's often called the "facade," though it's not) being carefully removed by a crane this week. If you want a piece, you can buy one at auction (shipping, presumably, is extra); the Daily News also reports that two panels will be on display at Heritage Field, the new public park that's scheduled to replace the old ballpark in 2011.

Speaking of the new park, construction will apparently be able to begin next summer, which is when the News reports that demolition of the House That Ruth Built will be complete. (Serious demolition work is expected to begin this October, presumably once the Yanks' playoff run is complete and fans are no longer around to watch the carnage.) According to the News: "After the stadium's interior is stripped, the lower level will be razed by an excavator and the upper deck by a large cantilever." By a what?

September 02, 2009

Another theory on Yanks postseason ticket pricing

Today's New York Times notes that while the Yankees will be offering Division Series seats to season ticket holders at regular-season prices, they'll be several dollars higher for non-season plan holders lucky enough to win the ticket lottery. (All tickets will also carry a mandatory MLB "handling fee" of between $1 and $6 for all, because you don't expect Bud Selig to run his greasy fingers over everything for nothing, right?) This suggests one possible reason why the Yanks are keeping first-round ticket prices low: They may be worried about season-ticket renewals in the wake of all the uproar over this year's crazy price hikes (86% on average, according to the Times), and are hoping that the guarantee of discounted postseason tickets will be enough to lure fans back for 2010.

In any case, this should be one more data point in rebuttal of any notion that sports ticket prices are set according to some rational analysis of supply and demand — as my six-year-old says about the weather forecasts, "They're just guessing." And right now with everyone guessing about so many other things, it makes sense to expect some weirdness in ticket pricing, too.

September 01, 2009

Yanks lower playoff ticket prices; also, pigs fly

Is it opposite week at New York Yankees HQ or what? First the team relents and allows fans to bring small bags to the games, now comes word that they're lowering postseason ticket prices from what they'd planning on last year, with tickets for the Division Series largely unchanged from regular-season levels. Either they know something about the recession that we don't, or they're planning to make it back on $12 popcorn buckets. Or maybe they're just hoping to make up the difference in StubHub fees.

UPDATE: New Stadium Insider notes that with the smaller capacity of Fake Yankee Stadium, larger season-ticket base, and required set-asides for MLB and the media, fewer than 5,000 tickets will be available to the general public for the ALDS (and fewer than 1,000 for the World Series). Still, a break to season ticket holders is still a break — and the relative scarcity of generally available tickets only makes it weirder that the Yanks are passing up the chance to ask for the moon.

August 31, 2009

Yankee fans allowed to pack bags again

Without fanfare or explanation, the New York Yankees management has apparently begun allowing fans to bring in small bags for the first time in eight years, finally bringing their security policies in line with that of the rest of MLB. Not sure what prompted this — I'd suggest common sense, but that's never been in strong supply in Yankees customer relations. In any case, it looks like at least my direst predictions won't come true.

August 18, 2009

When is a Bronx park delay not a Bronx park delay?

As promised, here's the followup on the apparent slow pace of demolition of Yankee Stadium, and construction of the new parks that will replace it:

• NYC Economic Development Corporation spokesperson David Lombino says everything is proceeding according to plan, and major demolition will begin "within two months." And, he insists, that movie shoot isn't causing any delays.
• Ramon Jimenez, one of the leaders of the new For The South Bronx Coalition, begs to differ — not about the movie shoot, but about whether demolition is proceeding too slowly: "Shea Stadium was demolished in a couple of months, while Yankee Stadium is going to take a year and a half because they're selling it off brick by brick by brick." The 4DSBx Coalition staged a protest outside the new Yankee Stadium on Sunday, to mark the third anniversary of the closing of the public parks that formerly occupied the site.
• The single artificial turf field that's been opened for public use is, as predicted, really freaking hot in the summer: "The kids start to play football there, and the temperatures reach 150 degrees."

For more, see my article on the Village Voice website.

August 16, 2009

Bronx parks being delayed by movie shoot?

I was up at the site of Yankee Stadium and Fake Yankee Stadium on Friday, and there was still remarkably little evidence of serious demolition work to the structure, let alone construction work on the much-delayed new public ballfields that are supposed to replace it. (The temporary park that opened in 2007 has already been demolished, though, in preparation for a new Yankees parking garage.)

My assumption was that the city is delaying major demolition until after the season so that fans wouldn't have to walk past a wrecking ball in full swing on the way to the game. The Waterblogged blog, though, notes that there's a movie shoot going on inside the old stadium right now, and speculates that this could be holding up demolition.

Meanwhile, a new community group had a protest scheduled for today outside the new stadium to demand that the Yanks live up to promises made during stadium negotiations, including hiring Bronx residents and promptly replacing parkland.

I'll have more on both these stories shortly, I hope.

August 14, 2009

Saving (bits of) Yankee Stadium

The push to preserve something of the original Yankee Stadium when it gets turned into a public park over the next two years continues to pick up steam, or at least rise to a low boil. Today's Daily News has another op-ed calling for saving Gate 2, the piece of the stadium exterior that most resembles how it did in 1923. (Details here.) And a recounting in the current New Yorker of a recent meeting of architects, preservationists, and Bronx community leaders to discuss the plans for "Heritage Field" revealed a certain displeasure with the "heritage" aspect:

"What is missing from the design is the architecture of the Stadium itself," [Bronx borough historian Lloyd Ultan] said, holding up a souvenir cookie tin shaped like the old Stadium. "Some people came to see me recently who were trying to save Gate 2, which has not been altered. Couldn't we preserve that as a monument?"

"Our research showed that Gate 2 had been altered," one of the planners said. "It would have to be restored."

Retorts Ben Kabak of River Avenue Blues: "So then restore it, I say."

The problems here are time and money: With the new parkland to replace what was destroyed back in 2006 for the Yankees' new stadium running behind schedule and over budget, it'd be tricky to introduce new elements that caused further delays or added costs. (Maybe if the state legislature had taken more than eight days to consider the park replacement plans, this could have been dealt with before it became a rush.) That said, it's hard to argue with Kabak:

In the end, the city should do more than create a park that sort of resembles Yankee Stadium while telling a story through staid plaques and panels in the pavement. They should be able to create a monument to a great ballpark while keeping the essence of the park alive. It is a challenge in urban planning, but after decades of tearing down history, it is one the city should meet.

August 10, 2009

New Yankee Stadium: Loud or not?

With its roomier seating bowl, is the new Yankee Stadium as loud as the old one? Ross from New Stadium Insider, writing at River Avenue Blues, says no way:

At the old Yankee Stadium — and other great home parks such as Fenway — crowd noise builds in anticipation of a big moment. So far in 2009, the new Yankee Stadium has had small bursts of overwhelming crowd noise, but those have typically been in response to a big moment. The wall of sound that engulfs you and makes you feel like you are a part of something truly special conspicuously absent.

We are left wondering whether that wall of sound will ever return. Is the significantly further recessed (and partially covered) upper deck to blame? Are the fans that can afford to attend games at the new Yankee Stadium even more corporate than the fans at the old one? Did the 6,000-7,000 extra seats in the old place make a huge difference in terms of crowd noise? We probably need to wait until the new Yankee Stadium hosts a playoff series to draw any reasonable conclusions, but as of now, we're disappointed.

Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post, writing after Friday night's 15-inning nailbiter, says is too:

Yankee Stadium II made its bones last night, proved it can be a fair acoustic heir, and maybe approach the experience the old joint used to specialize in: feeling like you had a stake in things. Feeling like everyone on the field could hear you. Feeling like a 10th man.

And being one. The games that came before didn't have any of that. This one did. This one lasted until close to 1 in the morning, but when it ended everyone was ready. Everyone was prepared. The best game in the new ballpark, and they screamed as the ball soared, and it sounded sweeter even than Sinatra.

Anyone who was there for this weekend's Yanks-Sox series care to cast their vote? On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is front row at a Mission of Burma concert, how loud was it?

August 03, 2009

Judge absolves Yanks of document search

The fight between the New York Yankees and state assemblymembers Richard Brodsky and Jim Brennan over documents that Brodsky subpoenaed relating to the team's stadium deal ended with a partial win for the Yanks last week: Judge John Egan Jr. ruled that Brodsky had the right to subpoena the emails and other documents, but that the team had made a "good-faith" effort to do so. There's still a chance that Brennan and Brodsky will appeal, though, so don't give up all hope of getting a glimpse at hot chat between Lonn Trost and Seth Pinsky.

July 27, 2009

Yankee Stadium slam book, mid-season edition

Just in time for the pennant race, we have yet another review of the new New York Yankees and Mets stadiums, courtesy of Metropolis magazine's Mark Lamster, who'd previously critiqued New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ourossouff's review of the new places as being too focused on abstract aesthetics and not enough on actual ballpark experience. Lamster's principal conclusion this time around: New Yankee Stadium and Citi Field are mostly about making money, and aren't shy about it.

When I first started attending games on my own, some 20 years ago, a ticket to the Yankee bleachers cost $1.50, pocket change even for a kid on a tight allowance. That same ticket now costs $14: not an unreasonable sum, but more than a movie and enough to keep a student on a limited budget from making it too much of a habit. The new stadium, for that matter, doesn't beg that kind of relationship. It's a special-occasion place, somewhere to visit a couple of times a season. Why empty your wallet for an entertainment event that might not be entertaining? (Even the best teams lose roughly 40 percent of their games.) When you're stuck in the nosebleed seats, and a beer, a dog, and a bag of peanuts cost upward of 20 bucks, thoughts of exploitation inevitably percolate through the mind. It is in those moments that the fan-team compact seems hopelessly broken, and one begins to wonder about the difference between being a fan and being a chump. Sometimes it seems like there's no difference at all.

I'm pretty sure Yankees bleachers prices went up to $3 in 1986, but otherwise, hard to argue with that — and yes, I'd be saying that even if Lamster didn't quote me in his piece.

July 07, 2009

NYC pays $10k to fan for "God Bless America" ejection

Yet another long national nightmare is over:

New York City will pay $10,001 to settle a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Queens man who was ejected from the old Yankee Stadium last August after trying to use the bathroom during the playing of "God Bless America." In addition, the team has publicly declared that it has no policy prohibiting fans from moving about during the playing of the patriotic song, which the team began playing during games after 9/11.

The New York Times, which reported this, doesn't say why the city will be paying the settlement (plus $12,000 in legal fees), given that it's the Yankees who were being sued. (The plaintiff was ejected by a New York City police officer, but they typically work off-duty for the team as security.) The Times also didn't indicate whether as part of the settlement the Yanks have promised not to go to back to their old method of barricading fans in their seats with chains.

July 06, 2009

Yankee Stadium slam book, Tiger Woods edition

We're almost at the All-Star break, and people still can't seem to get enough of hating on New Yankee Stadium, or at least the ticket prices therein. The latest tally:

• Tiger Woods promoted free admission for kids at a Bethesda golf tournament by saying: "We don't want to have what happened at Yankee Stadium. Tickets are so overpriced that you can't bring the family. We want to have everyone come out and enjoy being in a family atmosphere, walk around, have a good time and not have it cost an arm and a leg."
• PoliticsDaily's Walter Shapiro writes after his first visit to the new Yankees home that "it reminded me of the oversized buildings in Islamabad that were designed to give an aura of authority to a shaky government." That said, he said he had a great time at the game (the Yanks won in extra innings), but won't likely be repeating it anytime soon, given that he had to shell out $266.35 for a field-level seat: "There are things in life, like visiting the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids, that you just have to do. Too bad that a day at Yankee Stadium has become a bucket-list extravaganza — something you do once and savor the memory."
• ESPN's Ultimate Franchise Rankings, which cobble together a poll of 1,000 fans nationwide with things like fan cost data, dropped the Yankees to 107th out of 122 major sports franchises, which the New York Post couldn't help noting was the result of their new stadium: "The Yankees took the biggest hit in affordability (121 of 122) and bang for the buck (119 of 122) thanks to their flashy new digs. And it would be one thing if fans were enjoying games more at the new Yankee Stadium, but in the stadium experience category the team dropped from 47 to 84."

On the bright side, Derek Jeter is finally starting to feel at home there. And who can put a price on that?

June 21, 2009

Coverage of Gate 2 campaign manages to avoid word 'quixotic'

The push to save one wall of the old Yankee Stadium hit the city tabloids today, with the New York Daily News reporting that proponents plan to make an appeal at the next community board hearing and stage a rally June 30 to call for saving Gate 2. (The News also reports they plan to "produce a You Tube [sic] video," which only goes to show that you can always get press coverage if you mention YouTube. Or Facebook. If they planned to go on Twitter about it, they probably could have gotten the front page.)

The question, as always, is whether preserving the gate, which would have to be braced to stand alone alongside the public baseball fields that will replace the House That Ruth Built, can be accomplished without delaying the parkland opening or costing the city a zillion dollars it doesn't have. Not that the city Parks Department will necessarily listen in any case, but without meeting those criteria it's definitely going to be a non-starter.

Meanwhile, in other Yankees stadium-related news, radio station WNYC visited the shopkeepers along 161st Street recently and found that most say they've seen fewer customers since the Yanks' new stadium opened this year. Which could just be the economy, or it could be the fact that the new stadium holds fewer fans and has more places for them to buy food and souvenirs inside the gates instead of down the block — concern over which was why Stan's Sports World and several other local businesses opposed the new stadium, not that anyone listened to them.

June 02, 2009

Yanks to Brodsky: Stadium documents will cost you $5m

The New York Yankees have a new defense against state assemblymember Richard Brodsky's pursuit of documents related to their stadium deal with the city: a $5 million invoice. "If he wants the documents, the standard rule is he pays for them," team lawyer George Carpinello told state Supreme Court Justice John Egan Jr. yesterday. "That's the law in New York. That's the case law." Brodsky disagreed, and said the Mets managed to provide the requested documents without referring matters to the billing department.

Carpinello declined to say whether the Yanks need the money to pay for a giant wind machine.

May 25, 2009

Bid to save Yankee Stadium's Gate 2

Steve Politi of the Newark Star-Ledger reports on Yankees fan John Trush's campaign to save Gate 2 of old Yankee Stadium, even as demolition of the ballpark continues. Gate 2, says Trush, is the most intact surviving piece of the original 1923 structure, and is proposing to preserve it as an entryway to the new public ballfields that will eventually replace the stadium.

Aside from a couple of minor factual errors in the Star-Ledger piece — the plan to completely demolish the stadium has been in place since 2005, not "this spring," and Trush wasn't the founder of yankeesstayhome.com — the bigger question is: Who would pay for this, given that the city's price tag for the parks is already jillions of dollars over budget?

May 22, 2009

In less up-to-date news...

A fabulous new park was opened, at River Avenue in the Bronx.

While I'm on the subject, don't you think this uniform logo would be much more apropos for all the teams in the New York Yankees organization, from Staten Island upwards?

May 20, 2009

Yanks exec: We're "trying to fix" stadium

Criticism of, or at least acknowledgment of flaws with, the new Yankee Stadium from an unexpected source yesterday: Yankees senior VP Felix Lopez told WCBS radio yesterday, according to a listener transcription: "There are a lot of things wrong with this building we're trying to fix. With the help of the fans and the media, we're looking into everything." That'd be the first time any Yankee official has admitted there are problems with their new $2 billion building — and also a rare media appearance for Lopez, who is George Steinbrenner's son-in-law. (No, not that son-in-law. Married to the same Steinbrenner daughter, though.) This has River Avenue Blues wondering if Randy Levine and Lonn Trost's power is on the wane. Ah, Kremlinology, how we've missed you.

Bloomberg News, meanwhile, is already looking past this stadium to the next one:

The next Yankee Stadium probably will be smaller, domed and have holograms of such players as Babe Ruth walking around the concourse pitching hot dogs and T- shirts.

Added Ripken Management projects director Jim Arnold: "This experience is going to be about over-stimulating the senses. Bigger and brighter video boards, flashy signage, luxury seating with televisions offering multiple camera angles and in-seat ordering." "Going to be"?

May 18, 2009

New Yankee Stadium slam book, cont'd

It's official: Everybody and their sister has now chimed in with their thoughts on the Yankees' new stadium. The latest:

• There are still lots of empty seats, according to the New York Times, though the ultra-pricey ones in camera range appear to be filling up some.
  
• Bald Vinny likes it, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, though all he's actually quoted as saying is that he likes that bleacher tickets are still the same price and it's "sad to see" all the empty luxury seats.
• Alan Schecter at Bleacher Report says, "I don't think they could have put together a less fan-friendly experience if they tried." He also reports that the new let the fans down to the field during batting practice rule isn't as generous as it appears: It only applies during Yankees batting practice, and fans are ordered to skedaddle as soon as the visiting team takes the field.
  
• The Business Insider suggests the Yankees management could fix matters through the magic of the marketplace: "24 hours before each game starts, for example, remaining seats could be sold via an online auction in which prices drop 1% a minute until they're all gone." Though they also note that the risk that "people and corporations [would] stop buying tickets in advance so as to save money." Now there's an idea.
  
• The Newark Star-Ledger thinks it's time for a fan boycott. It's never worked before, but you can't blame people for trying.
  
• And finally, for a change of pace: Scott M.X. Turner's bad day at the Mets' new stadium, including reports that Citi Field is likewise beset by empty seats and bans on viewing batting practice from the field level.
  

May 15, 2009

Yanks to allow non-elite fans slightly closer to field

After much criticism, the New York Yankees have announced that starting with tonight's homestand, all fans will again be allowed to go into the field-level seats during batting practice, as it was at the old stadium. Though not quite as it was at the old stadium, and not just any seats: While fans will be allowed into the left- and right-field corners as well as the bleachers (which are actually now separated from the field by several rows of box seats), the "Legends" seats surrounded by the infamous moat are still off-limits. Apparently the inalienable right to repel intruders from your home only applies if you paid $500 a pop for your seats, not if you're one of those losers who shelled out only $90.

Still, so far this seems to be getting a better reception than the team's earlier half-measure to counter complaints of high ticket prices by discounting a few dozen seats that weren't selling. But then, we haven't heard Keith Olbermann's reaction yet.

May 13, 2009

1976 Yankee Stadium seats priced higher than 1923 Yankee Stadium seats

New Stadium Insider, reporting on the Yankee Stadium salvage sale, notes that one memorabilia dealer spotted some odd pricing of seats:

It is funny that they are charging $1500 for seats that are from 'Yankee Stadium 2'... The original (and my opinion better ones) are still available for $1000-$1200 ...Wouldnt it make sense to sell the 'Yankee Stadium 2' seats for cheaper than the harder to find originals?

Remarks NSI: "At this point, we should all expect that anything licensed by the New York Yankees will be completely overpriced." Guess somebody won't be bidding on that $250 Stella Artois ad.

May 12, 2009

Yanks start carving up, selling old Yankee Stadium

As promised, Steiner Sports went live today with its web sale of items from the old Yankee Stadium, after teaming up with the Yankees to buy the lot from the city for $11.5 million. Among the bits of the historic ballpark being chopped up and offered as collectibles, in addition to stadium seats for $750 a pop, are a "Caution: Slippery When Wet" sign for $350 and a "Piece of Facade from the Original Yankee Stadium" (caution: not actual original facade; also, it's a frieze, not a facade) for a mere $50,000. Though that still seems like a bargain compared to $59.99 for a "Brett Gardner 2009 Yankees Mini Dirt Collage."

In other Yankees news, team president Randy Levine may be "done talking about seats," but COO Lonn Trost took some questions at today's stadium auction press conference, telling reporters who asked about the team's unpopular move to ban fans from going down to the field level during batting practice: "Right now, that's the policy. Well, if you purchase a suite, do you want somebody in your suite? You purchase a home, do you want somebody in your home?" This should go over about as well as Mayor Bloomberg's "We love the rich people!" remark.

New Yankee Stadium: HOW... EXPENSIVE... IS IT?

Via New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick:

Reader Gary Cicio, NYC podiatrist, did the research, and asks us to choose one of the two options to see a Mariners-Yankees game this season, and from the very best seats:

Option 1: Two tickets to Tuesday night, June 30, Mariners at Yanks, cost for just the tickets, $5,000.

Option 2: Two round-trip airline tickets to Seattle, Friday, Aug. 14, return Sunday the 16th, rental car for three days, two-night double occupancy stay in four-star hotel, two top tickets to both the Saturday and Sunday Yanks-Mariners games, two best-restaurant-in-town dinners for two. Total cost, $2,800. Plus-frequent flyer miles.

May 10, 2009

Line forms here to hate on New Yankee Stadium

This weekend in new Yankee Stadium coverage:

• Add the New York Times' Tyler Kepner to the list of people who think the Yankees destroyed what was special about the old stadium, in part thanks to that moat separating the front-row seats from the hoi polloi.
• If you want to buy pieces of the dearly departed, you can do so starting on Tuesday, when Steiner Sports will announce prices for seats, foul poles, and signage from the old stadium. Steiner and the Yankees, reports CNBC's Darren Rovell, bought these items from New York City for $11.5 million, which is slightly more than the $10 million take the city originally projected. Whether that ends up a good deal for the city depends on whether the sale really rakes in $30 million as was previously projected — though you already have to wonder if that extra $1.5 million was really worth the delay in getting started on those replacement parks.
• The new umpteen-million-dollar video screen is busted already. Hey, I hear there's a used one going on sale from Steiner Sports on Tuesday!

May 05, 2009

Latest Yankee Stadium feature: Riots!

As if the New York Yankees' new stadium weren't taking enough lumps, team employees yesterday managed to tell hundreds of fans that last night's Yanks-Red Sox game was rained out — then refused to let them back in once they learned otherwise. One fan was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer (a traditional New York charge that usually means "being assaulted by an officer"), while Yankees officials threatened to revoke the press credentials of a Daily News photographer who was taking pictures of the melee.

New Stadium Insider, meanwhile, suggests this trick: "The Yankees don't officially allow re-entry, but if you go to Gate 6 via the Great Hall, you can wait in line to enter the Hard Rock Cafe, which is open to the public. Since it is open to the public, the Yankees have to stamp your ticket on the way in, allowing you re-entry to the stadium once you are done with your meal." If this really works, it would be the first known actual use for the Hard Rock Cafe.

With Boston in town, it was also the Boston media's turn to take a crack at reviewing Yankee Stadium 2.0, and Boston Herald sportswriter Steve Buckley responded with a long column revealing that:

• Bill Madden hates the new place, but Keith Olbermann loves it.
• Buckley thinks the renovated Fenway Park is "a perfumed-up dump."
• "It really is amazing how much it looks like the old Yankee Stadium, only bigger. The field dimensions and outfield fences are similar, and the seats are Yankee blue. The upper deck is adorned with the same style of frieze that was a signature feature in the pre-renovated original Yankee Stadium, and the Jumbotron in center field shows strikingly clear pictures." (This last is presumably an upgrade to the original 1923 Jumbotron.)
• Continues Buckley: "While the place has been ridiculed as an ill-timed, out-of-place monument to American excess, let’s not forget that the Yankees are the greatest franchise in American sports history. This new stadium is a monument to that success." So that would make it an ill-timed, appropriate monument to American excess?

April 28, 2009

Yanks field-level seats now a mere $1250!

CNBC's Darren Rovell reports that the New York Yankees have cut prices on some of their highest-priced seats in an attempt to fill those embarassing empty sections at their new stadium:

The $2,500 per game seats, that weren't selling as the Yanks had hoped, will now cost $1,250 per game.

The $1,000 per game seats will now cost $650 per game.

Fans who already purchased these seats on a season basis at their old value can either get a credit on the difference or a refund.

Rovell says "about 600" seats are affected, so it's safe to assume that most of the muckety-mucks in the "Legends Suites" won't be looking at refunds, only those who until now had bare plastic for neighbors. (The official press release seems to confirm this, but I'm not gonna be the one to sit with a seating chart and decode it.) It remains to be seen whether the blizzard of press attention this is sure to get helps the Yanks look less greedy, or merely feeds the fire of the public's schadenfreude.

Meanwhile, New Stadium Insider, which posted the press release above, also analyzed the available Yankees seats listed on FanSnap.com and came up with this:

Doing math based on the rounded numbers of tickets available according to the site (which does not include all ticket brokers, or Craigs List), an average of 16,900 Yankee tickets are available on the secondary market for each game. In other words, 35% of the per-game inventory sold by the Yankees is now back on the market, presumably with the intent of making a profit.

Whether the buyers will be able to make their money back is as yet unclear; NSI notes that some tickets are selling at above face value, but also that plenty of other people are dumping tickets for next to nothing. Too bad there's no way to see "Completed Sales" on StubHub.

April 26, 2009

New Yankee Stadium reviews: Day 792

The New York Yankees weren't even home this weekend, but still no one can stop talking about their new stadium, and all the people who aren't buying tickets there:

• New York Times columnist Harvey Araton favorably compares the Boston Red Sox' renovation of Fenway Park to the Yanks' new "monument to excess": "It is always a mob scene at ancient Fenway, just as it usually was in recent years at old Yankee Stadium. So why was there such a dire need for a new one that required the mutilation of centralized parkland and the eventual demolition of a landmark? Oh, right, it was all for the fans, as the Steinbrenners have made a habit of assuring us."
• A recent California transplant writes on Athletics Nation that the new stadium is "cold and uninviting and simply lacking any charm. The real Yankee fans are largely banished to the top edges of the place, and if there was little chance that a kid growing up in the same Bronx neighborhood that houses the stadium would ever be able to afford a ticket inside the old place, well, there is zero chance of that happening in the new one."
• Rick Malwitz makes a similar observation on MyCentralJersey: "People who actually live within walking distance apparently don't go to the games. I hate to make judgments on entire villages, but in the housing surrounding Yankee Stadium, I suspect there are not many families of four who can afford the average ticket price of $73, not to mention a round of $10.20 Rocket Doubles. ... So here's my idea about how to fill those seats that investment bankers and hedge fund operators can no longer afford: If there are empty seats up front, let kids in the neighborhood fill them, and give them two pears for free."
• San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler has more suggestions for filling those empty field-level seats, including tarps and weasel masks.

April 24, 2009

Seatgate: Our long national nightmare continues

The controversy over those empty seats at New York Mets and Yankees games has reached MLB commissioner Bud Selig, though he was typically uncritical of the teams in his response:

"Hal Steinbrenner did say a couple of weeks ago that he thought that they may have overpriced tickets, and they ought to look at it. Well, good for him," Selig said at MLB's New York headquarters in a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors. "And I know the Wilpons are very sensitive about all of this, and I'm sure both clubs are doing that. And I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be doing that. Because they should."

Which is all well and good, except that it was reported the day before that Yankees president Randy Levine revealed the team intends to raise premium ticket prices 4% next year. Guess Selig doesn't read the Times.

As for Levine, he's said he considers the issue closed: "We're done talking about seats," he told reporters on Wednesday. "We're not talking about seats." You may not be, Randy, but everybody else still is.

April 20, 2009

New NY stadiums roomier, in both good and bad ways

Some more reactions of late to the new New York Mets and Yankees stadiums:

The New York Times' Bats blog worries that "Let's Go Mets!" chants sound weaker in the new, smaller-capacity but physically larger Citi Field. Which will come as some surprise to the Huffington Post's Michael Shapiro, who insists that Citi is intimate like Ebbets Field. (The HuffPost's Thomas B. Edsall gives a more measured overview of the new Yankees facility and its funding controversies, including a quote from yours truly.)

NJ.com blogger Mike says he was "both impressed and disappointed" by his first visit to the new Yankee Stadium, digging the open concourses and abundant food options, but missing the close-in upper deck and history of the old stadium: "Overall, the new place lacks the character of the old, but much of that character was rooted in the fact that the old place was old. ... The new place in comparison, while more comfortable in many ways, also felt sterile in many areas."

The Bongo Frenzy blog notes the irony of Citi Field honoring Citi Field while dedicating much of its space to exclusive clubs: "In the elite Delta Club, fans are segregated into Delta Club and Delta Club Silver fans. I wonder if there are signs above the water fountains in the Delta Club that read, 'Silver's Only.'"

After the Yankees and Cleveland Indians combined to hit 20 homeruns in the first four games at the new Yankees park, there's growing speculation as to whether the team has inadvertantly created a homer haven. Greg Rybarczyk of Hit Tracker notes that contrary to team claims that the new park's dimensions are the same as the old, the Yankees actually moved the right-field fences in at the new place, while making them shorter as well; however, Rybarczyk notes that homeruns are flying out of parks all over baseball at increased rates, and speculates that a juiced ball is the likeliest explanation.

Finally, the Bronx Beat, a site run by Columbia Journalism School students, has turned my Yankees stadium cost spreadsheet into a nifty infographic, suitable for framing, if your wall can hold Flash applications.

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.

April 06, 2009

Yankee Stadium: The reaction-thon continues

More commentary and reviews of the New York Yankees' new stadium from the past few days:

The New York Post's Joel Sherman calls it "a monument to greed" and "a fake place designed to manipulate my emotions and get into my wallet." Long Island University history professor Joe Dorinson says the Yanks and Mets stadiums are "unnecessary, building almost for the sake of building," and "reinforce the notion that baseball is not a sport; it's a business." Daily News columnist Filip Bondy says it has "little charm" but will be okay if the Yankees win, and complained that Citi Field's WiFi wasn't working. Carlos Zambrano wishes the Cubs had one just like it, but his manager Lou Piniella says Wrigley Field with some improvements would be just fine. Joe Torre said it looked nice on TV. The Newark Star-Ledger's favorite part was when the new megapowered p.a. blew out on Saturday, temporarily leaving the field in blessed silence. Daily News columnist-turned-blogger Lisa Olson loves the new place, especially that "the green design ensures that beverage cups are made of biodegradable material rather than petroleum based plastic," though she doesn't exactly say what this has to do with the new stadium.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the blogoverse, New Stadium Insider has a long list of pros and cons, concluding, "At this point we would trade our surprisingly good sushi and Lobel's steak for the amazing views from the upper deck of the old Yankee Stadium in a heartbeat." Bronx Banter's Cliff Corcoran says he couldn't find any pretzels, notices the scoreboards don't work too well, agrees the p.a. was way too loud, and says any resemblance to the old stadium "began to fade half-way through my second visit." His co-blogger Alex Belth was dazzled, but not necessarily in a good way:

It is not only the TV, which cuts to live action as a Yankee player circles the bases after hitting a home run (what to watch, the player running around the bases or the TV?). It is all the other billboards, one brighter than the other—Delta, Pepsi, Bank of America, Dunkin Donuts (I wonder how it will play during the afternoon). And there are several scoreboards. The entire area is so busy, so insistent, it was difficult for me to focus on the field of play. And I didn't exactly know where to look. My eyes were overwhelmed and I felt lost...

The new Yankee Stadium does not look elegant or stately once you are in the stands. It is remarkable though. It looks like the inside of a pinball machine. Or a slot machine. It is Vegas, sparkling state of the art technology, spectacular in a way that WOULD MAKE TOM WOLFE SMILE. It is Times Square redux—a Disney production, but not imperial in the manner of the Time Warner buildings. It's more like baseball's answer to the Francis Ford Coppola epic, One from the Heart. I missed the sense of awe, the sheer volume of the old building. This park is wider, fatter in the hips, but it isn't nearly as steep.

Finally, Jay Jaffe of The Futility Infielder sums up his feelings after his first visit to the new place: "To my mind, the Yankees need a new park more than ever."

April 03, 2009

The new Yankee Stadium: What we got for all that money

I made my first visit to the New York Yankees' new stadium yesterday and, well, the earth didn't open, and the sky didn't fall. I've already written extensively about this for the Village Voice and Baseball Prospectus (coming later today), so allow me the luxury of quoting from myself:

It's a bit like visiting a Grand Theft Auto version of the old ballpark, where reality has been twisted to make it easier to render on a computer. (All that was missing was a sign reading "Pinstripe Cathedral" or "Bomber Field.") Yanks execs' claims to the contrary, the new stadium feels less like the 1923 original than like the 1976 rehabbed model, right down to its cinderblock-and-painted-aluminum-panel aesthetic — or rather, like another, more dramatic rehab further along, a faded copy of a faded copy...

The Yankees at last have their own souvenir stands that can compete with Stan's Sports World, with team stores offering every variety of pennant, shirt, jersey, and jacket imaginable — as well as, bizarrely, officially licensed "team gnomes" at a mere $35 a pop. Fans in the lower deck can now enjoy their pick of food stands serving such specialities as sushi, garlic fries, and Cuban sandwiches (as well as possibly the worst idea ever at a ballpark: a gallery selling artworks by Peter Max). Those who are denied entry into the fine dining class will still find improved food options — though with bottled beers going for $9 apiece and "Popcorn Indiana gourmet kettlecorn" starting at $6, it's unlikely anyone up in steerage will be able to afford to sample more than a tasting at any one game.

Speaking of steerage, the upper deck is one place that diverges dramatically from the old stadium: Shrunken and set back farther from the field, it's no longer as steep as at the old park, but also no longer on top of the action. Though the new stadium seats 5,000 fewer people, its worst seats are easily as distant as the back row at the old ballpark across the street, if not quite as vertiginous; think Shea Stadium upper deck, and you're on the right track. (Not that this will matter much, as most fans will no doubt spend most of their time watching the real star of the show: the Yankees' high-def centerfield video screen, which is the one item at the new stadium that looks worthy of the stratospheric price tag. It's probably only a matter of time before the Yanks start advertising a night at the ballpark as "just as good as watching it on your own computer!")

And from BP:

As at many if not most new stadiums, the class segregation here feels both deliberate and complete — only further compounded by the obstructed-view bleacher seats (the TV screens set up as a belated fix, I found yesterday, didn't help much), by the team's decision to exclude cheap-seats denizens from even eating at field-level concessions stands, and by a sunken walkway behind the "Legends" seats at the field's edge that gives the odd impression that the Yankees have surrounded their highest-priced seats with a moat.

Needless to say, opinions differ: The Daily News editorial page has a rave review ("limestone and granite hewn large to shoulder among the big town's big places"), and Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon love it (though Jeter still finds it "a little weird"), while Bloomberg News architecture critic James Russell is less impressed ("The peculiar choice of metal mesh as a wall finish suggests imminent arraignment, rather than an afternoon's leisure"). Team owner Hal Steinbrenner, meanwhile, actually admitted that some of the tickets "might be overpriced ... we're continuing to look into that," which may have something to do with the fact that plenty of premium seats are going unsold.

For photos from my day at The House That Randy Levine Built With Lots of Your Money, see below the jump:

A view from the back of the field level, where during regular-season games mere mortals may not venture:

The Great Hall, which, so far as I could tell, serves no actual purpose other than to soak up Bronx real estate and give the Yanks somewhere to display giant banners:

The field-level "moat":

The HD video screens set up on the side of the view-blocking Mohegan Sun Sports Bar. Yes, they're turned on:

Come for the game, stay for the cupholders:

If you've been dying to wash down a $12 bucket of popcorn with a $5 bottled water, here's your chance:

No friggin' comment:

The first signs of demolition at the old stadium:

The old seen from the new:

March 31, 2009

Yanks community benefits fund benefiting administrator, not so much the community

Two from today's New York Daily News on the "community benefits fund" the New York Yankees set up by way of apologizing for taking away Bronx parks for at least four years:

• The New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund gave a 600-pound pitching machine (no, not David Wells) to a local high school, but the school can't use it: It's too big for their gym, and their local ballfield was displaced to make way for the Yanks' new stadium. "It took six men and a flatbed truck for them to drag it in here," All Hallows High School principal Sean Sullivan told the News. "If the Yankees had only given us a bus instead." The school asked the fund for $40,000 to replace the buses the school's teams use to travel to fields on the other side of the Bronx, but were rejected.
• And that was the good news. The News also reports that the lawyer the Yanks hired to set up the benefits fund is suing its chair, Serafin Mariel, saying Mariel deposited $800,000 in fund money in a non-interest bearing account in the bank he owns, and issued no-bid contracts to friends. Mariel, who wouldn't comment to the paper, was originally put in place by former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion; what ever happened to that guy, anyway?

March 29, 2009

Yanks and Mets preview: Empty seats and pricey beers?

You can't walk past a newsstand in New York &mdash yes, we still have newsstands here, and walking — without seeing a passel of articles hyping the soon-to-be-opening Mets and Yankees stadiums. I've long since given up hope of following it all, but here are some of this weekend's highlights:

• The Newark Star-Ledger is wondering whether the teams will be able to sell all their pricey new seats, with sports marketing consultant David Carter saying ticket-buyers are likely to be more price-conscious during a recession: "For a long time, fans haven't done that kind of assessment. Now they're looking at it that way."
• The Daily News' Bob Raissman, meanwhile, wonders if the Yankees' cable network will show any empty seats on TV. That is, if they ever stop complaining about the lousy camera angles at the new stadium.
• Bucketloads of new Yankees stadium photos keep turning up. Note the $9 beers and $5 bottled water. (You'll still be able to bring your own bottled water into the ballpark, but juice boxes will be at the discretion of security guards.)
• The Times' Richard Sandomir reports that the Mets' goal in reducing seating at Citi Field by 15,000 from Shea Stadium was "stoking demand for far fewer tickets." (Yeah, no duh.) Though Sandomir also buys into the Mets' argument that the new stadium is more "intimate," notwithstanding that it's actually almost as tall as the one it replaced, despite offering 25% fewer seats.

Which brings us to the other contender for dumbest observation of the day:

As for the all-important matter of restrooms, here's what Jeff Gold, a season-ticker holder from Bellmore, N.Y., had to say said when I asked about Citi Field's biggest improvement: "Have you been to the bathrooms here? They're clean and they're huge. It's a first class facility."

As FoS correspondent David Dyte remarked: "And here I was expecting them to pre-age the bathrooms with assorted human waste from local sewers."

Yanks and Mets preview: Empty seats and pricey beers?

You can't walk past a newsstand in New York &mdash yes, we still have newsstands here, and walking — without seeing a passel of articles hyping the soon-to-be-opening Mets and Yankees stadiums. I've long since given up hope of following it all, but here are some of this weekend's highlights:

• The Newark Star-Ledger is wondering whether the teams will be able to sell all their pricey new seats, with sports marketing consultant David Carter saying ticket-buyers are likely to be more price-conscious during a recession: "For a long time, fans haven't done that kind of assessment. Now they're looking at it that way."
• The Daily News' Bob Raissman, meanwhile, wonders if the Yankees' cable network will show any empty seats on TV. That is, if they ever stop complaining about the lousy camera angles at the new stadium.
• Bucketloads of new Yankees stadium photos keep turning up. Note the $9 beers and $5 bottled water. (You'll still be able to bring your own bottled water into the ballpark, but juice boxes will be at the discretion of security guards.)
• The Times' Richard Sandomir reports that the Mets' goal in reducing seating at Citi Field by 15,000 from Shea Stadium was "stoking demand for far fewer tickets." (Yeah, no duh.) Though Sandomir also buys into the Mets' argument that the new stadium is more "intimate," notwithstanding that it's actually almost as tall as the one it replaced, despite offering 25% fewer seats.

Which brings us to the other contender for dumbest observation of the day:

As for the all-important matter of restrooms, here's what Jeff Gold, a season-ticker holder from Bellmore, N.Y., had to say said when I asked about Citi Field's biggest improvement: "Have you been to the bathrooms here? They're clean and they're huge. It's a first class facility."

As FoS correspondent David Dyte remarked: "And here I was expecting them to pre-age the bathrooms with assorted human waste from local sewers."

March 27, 2009

New Yankee Stadium, before and after

While the papers have been full of photos of the New York Yankees' new and old stadiums side-by-side, the public parks that were displaced by the Yanks' new home have been wiped from the map. Except on Google Maps, where they live on:

• Google's aerial photo of the Bronx offers an excellent "before" picture of the new stadium site when it was still Macombs Dam Park: The running track, adjacent ballfields (here filled with cars of fans parking for the ballgame then underway), and tennis courts just north of the old stadium are all now buried beneath the new stadium and its accompanying player parking garage.
• Stadium construction was already underway by the time Google took its ground-level view photos of the main Macombs Dam Park site, but you can still see what the park annex to the southwest looked like before it met the wrecking ball. Another Yankees garage now stands on this site; it's scheduled to eventually have a running track and artificial turf field on its roof eventually, but for now only a smaller temporary field will open later this spring.

The original Yankee Stadium is slated for demolition, at which point three new ballfields will be built on that site, one of these years.

March 25, 2009

Yanks introduce class-segregated dining at new stadium

The New York Yankees released their list of dining options at their new stadium a couple of days ago, which will include everything from Cuban sandwiches to sushi, as well as a cooking station run occasionally by former Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. The new cuisine isn't for just everyone, though: The New Stadium Insider blog notes a curious clause in the team's fan guide:

The food court located near Section 126 on the Field Level offers guests a taste of New York with a variety of concessions, including Boar's Head deli sandwiches, Famous Famiglia pizza and Asian cuisine. Please note that only Field Level and Legends ticket holders have access to the Field Level.

Field Level seats start at $90; having eaten Famous Famiglia pizza, I'm pretty sure it's not worth the price. More worryingly, NSI notes that the fan guide says that fans (or in Yankee newspeak, "guests") "are welcome to watch batting practice from their seat location," which implies that the long tradition of all fans being able to go down front to seek autographs before the game, and later being shooed away by surly guards, could be at an end.

In related news, it's being widely reported that the Yanks and the city have finally agreed how to split the cash from sales of salvaged materials from the old Yankee Stadium: The team will pay the city $10 million up front, plus 5% of net sales over $16 million, 10% over $17 million, 20% over $18.5 million, 24% over $19.5 million, and 50% over $29 million. (Given the Yanks' propensity for improper deductions, you have to hope somebody will be monitoring that "net.") The Yankees are saying that nothing has been signed, but at least this means that work on those public parks might actually begin sometime this decade.

March 19, 2009

Still more delays for Bronx parks

The New York Yankees have started removing the outfield turf at the old Yankee Stadium, but that doesn't necessarily mean that demolition is around the corner for the House That Ruth Built. As New York City mayoral spokesperson Andrew Brent told me yesterday, the city can't start tearing down the stadium until it's reached an agreement with the Yankees over who owns what pieces of it: "Part of the demolition process involves removing the seats. And obviously if you're going to sell the seats, you're going to remove them in a different way than if you're demolishing them." (The turf, if you're wondering, both belongs to and is being removed by the Yankees, not the city.)

Bronx residents are eagerly awaiting the demolition, as new public ballfields to replace those destroyed for the Yanks' new stadium can't be built until the old building is gone. Already, the ballfields' opening has been delayed from 2010 to 2011; meanwhile, the cable news station NY1 reports that new tennis courts on the other side of the Major Deegan Expressway, originally supposed to open next month, now won't be ready until December at the earliest. And a running track and soccer field atop a Yankees garage has been pushed back until next spring, though a "temporary" park there is now scheduled to open at the end of this April, according to the Parks Department.

On the bright side, Bronx locals who don't have to be at work on a Thursday afternoon (and who have an in with their local community board) will get a chance to watch batting practice for free on April 2, courtesy of the Yankees. Maybe climbing the steps to the top of the upper deck can count as aerobic exercise.

March 16, 2009

Sticker shock continues for Yanks, Mets fans

Opening day for the New York Yankees and Mets new stadiums are less than a month away, and more and more people are noticing that the teams will be charging through the nose for the privilege of enjoying all those new cupholders. The latest developments:

• Jay Jaffe was finally offered seats for less than $85 a pop, but remains unhappy about the whole experience.
• The Yankees are offering first dibs on buying single-game tickets to season ticket holders, with the hoi polloi (and holders of smaller miniplans) going to the back of the line.
• With single-game Mets tickets going on sale to the general public today, fans are starting to notice what I noted last week during the pre-sale: They're crazy expensive. "I'm speechless," one Mets fan and blogger told amNewYork. "I was shocked by the pricing, especially the outfield seats."

It's pretty shocking, no doubt — as much as $70 a pop for seats in the front sections of the outfield, the kind that used to be known as "bleachers." It's little wonder, then, that fans look to be heading for the rafters as fast as possible — though this isn't helped by the team's online ordering system, which when a certain section isn't available (in my experience looking for tickets yesterday) appears to automatically offer much pricier seats closer to the field as a substitute.

As for the latest indignity to Yankees fans, it seems odd to offer season ticket holders first crack at buying individual game tickets — these are the people who already have seats after all. But there could be method to the madness: Doing it this way not only helps strong-arm fans into coughing up for season plans, but it effectively pushes the risk of whether tickets will sell onto fans, who will be the ones waiting and watching if their excess ducats draw buyers on StubHub. Not to mention that the Yankees now get commissions from every resale on StubHub, meaning they can effectively charge twice for selling the same tickets. Nice work if you can get it.

Sticker shock continues for Yanks, Mets fans

Opening day for the New York Yankees and Mets new stadiums are less than a month away, and more and more people are noticing that the teams will be charging through the nose for the privilege of enjoying all those new cupholders. The latest developments:

• Jay Jaffe was finally offered seats for less than $85 a pop, but remains unhappy about the whole experience.
• The Yankees are offering first dibs on buying single-game tickets to season ticket holders, with the hoi polloi (and holders of smaller miniplans) going to the back of the line.
• With single-game Mets tickets going on sale to the general public today, fans are starting to notice what I noted last week during the pre-sale: They're crazy expensive. "I'm speechless," one Mets fan and blogger told amNewYork. "I was shocked by the pricing, especially the outfield seats."

It's pretty shocking, no doubt — as much as $70 a pop for seats in the front sections of the outfield, the kind that used to be known as "bleachers." It's little wonder, then, that fans look to be heading for the rafters as fast as possible — though this isn't helped by the team's online ordering system, which when a certain section isn't available (in my experience looking for tickets yesterday) appears to automatically offer much pricier seats closer to the field as a substitute.

As for the latest indignity to Yankees fans, it seems odd to offer season ticket holders first crack at buying individual game tickets — these are the people who already have seats after all. But there could be method to the madness: Doing it this way not only helps strong-arm fans into coughing up for season plans, but it effectively pushes the risk of whether tickets will sell onto fans, who will be the ones waiting and watching if their excess ducats draw buyers on StubHub. Not to mention that the Yankees now get commissions from every resale on StubHub, meaning they can effectively charge twice for selling the same tickets. Nice work if you can get it.

March 08, 2009

Brodsky v Levine III: Yet another Yanks stadium hearing

If you were dying to hear how Friday's hearing by New York State Assemblymember Richard Brodsky into the Yankees' stadium deal went, I didn't go, but apparently there was lots of shouting, which should surprise no one. Yanks president/former city deputy mayor Randy Levine apparently brought some of the documents that Brodsky had subpeonaed, but not all, meaning we may yet have to go through more of these hearings.

Brodsky also revealed at the hearing that he's signed on in support of an assembly bill to require that 7% of tickets be kept "affordable" at sports facilities that receive public benefits. Reading the bill itself reveals that "benefits" is defined as "any direct or indirect grant of funds, tax reducations, tax preferences, subsidies, payments in lieu of any tax or tax obligation, or any other form of public support," which seems to cover all the basis; "affordable" is defined as "within the economic ability of persons whose income is at or below the area median income for a four-person household to purchase tickets without economic hardship," which is a bit more vague. A potentially bigger problem: What with StubHub serving as teams' official ticket reseller, many of those "affordable" tickets would likely be snapped up by scalpers and resold at unaffordable prices — that is, if the teams didn't just scalp them themselves.

Brodsky v Levine III: Yet another Yanks stadium hearing

If you were dying to hear how Friday's hearing by New York State Assemblymember Richard Brodsky into the Yankees' stadium deal went, I didn't go, but apparently there was lots of shouting, which should surprise no one. Yanks president/former city deputy mayor Randy Levine apparently brought some of the documents that Brodsky had subpeonaed, but not all, meaning we may yet have to go through more of these hearings.

Brodsky also revealed at the hearing that he's signed on in support of an assembly bill to require that 7% of tickets be kept "affordable" at sports facilities that receive public benefits. Reading the bill itself reveals that "benefits" is defined as "any direct or indirect grant of funds, tax reducations, tax preferences, subsidies, payments in lieu of any tax or tax obligation, or any other form of public support," which seems to cover all the basis; "affordable" is defined as "within the economic ability of persons whose income is at or below the area median income for a four-person household to purchase tickets without economic hardship," which is a bit more vague. A potentially bigger problem: What with StubHub serving as teams' official ticket reseller, many of those "affordable" tickets would likely be snapped up by scalpers and resold at unaffordable prices — that is, if the teams didn't just scalp them themselves.

March 06, 2009

Tracking the sports bubble

Long piece in today's Wall Street Journal on the bad timing by the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Dallas Cowboys in opening stadiums geared to high-end consumers at a time when there ain't none to be found. (Best headline, though, goes not to the WSJ but to the New York Times' blog item on the story: "Luxury Stadiums Seemed a Good Idea at the Time.") Highlights:

With just weeks before their new $1.1 billion stadium opens, the Cowboys still have 2,000 premium seats and about 50 of their 300 luxury suites left to sell. The Yankees have hired [luxury real estate agent Neal] Sroka to drum up buyers for the hundreds of premium seats still in their inventory. The Mets, who once had deals for all 49 of their luxury suites, say they've had to go back to the market after one customer, whom they declined to name, backed out....

Between corporate sponsorships, naming-rights deals and luxury suites, two-thirds or more of teams' revenue comes from corporations rather than ordinary fans, estimates David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute. Over the years, luxury boxes, once just a few glass-enclosed rooms high above the regular seats, have become as integral to a new stadium as concession stands -- more so, because companies pay for them up front, guaranteeing profits regardless of the team's success on the field. As team owners crammed in ever-more premium seats, corporations, eager for new ways to entertain clients, happily bid up the prices.

All that corporate money, Mr. Carter says, has created what he calls the "sports ticket price bubble." Now that bubble is in danger of bursting.

If so, the question is whether sports will get that "soft landing" that everyone was talking about for the real estate market a couple of years ago, or the spectacular nosedive that we saw instead. Opinions?

March 05, 2009

Yanks' Trost one year ago: We'll take care of ya

A reader notes that the New York Yankees' handling of ticket plan holders at their new stadium conflicts with what team COO Lonn Trost promised in a WFAN radio interview last March 11:

Mike Francesca: Are some people getting relocated, getting hurt? Are there some guys who've been loyal season ticket holders who are gonna get hurt in this move?

Trost: We hope not. We spent substantial time coming up with a relocation program, and the relocation program will probably be public in about six weeks. The program basically says, we will put you in a comparable location, and you have the choice of taking it or not. If you don't want it, and elect to go down, or up, or move, we will do that also.

Chris Russo: You will take care of them.

Trost: We will take — and understand, this is most likely the largest and hardest relocation program in the history of sports. ... But the philosophy is try to give—

Francesca: And you're going to take care of your people in the bleachers, and take care of your people who are in the upper deck, and the guy who takes his son once a week, or has his Sunday plan. You're going to take care of that fan in this new ballpark.

Trost: The plans will be the same, or comparable.

That relocation plan actually took six months, not six weeks, to appear, and contained none of the guarantees about "comparable" seating that Trost promised to radio listeners. Noting that Trost has recently begun berating fans for "not reading the documentation," jilted miniplan holder Jay Jaffe tells FoS: "Basically, he's insulting his customers for failing to read the fine print."

In somewhat related news, there's apparently yet another freaking Richard Brodsky hearing on the Yanks' stadium tomorrow. Per a Brodsky press release: "Chairman Richard Brodsky of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions and Chairman Jim Brennan of the Committee on Cities will hold a hearing tomorrow, March 6 at 10:30 AM in Assembly Hearing room 1923 at 250 Broadway in New York City, to receive testimony and documents from New York Yankees President Randy Levine pursuant to a subpoena issued to Mr. Levine on January 13." Lord knows if Levine will actually bring the documents with him, mind you, or just a letter from his attorney saying why he shouldn't have to turn them over. Or, for that matter, what shade of purple he'll be.

March 04, 2009

Yanks handling ticket sales about as well as finding a backup catcher

If you missed it, the Village Voice website yesterday had another rundown by yours truly on the latest in the New York Yankees ticket controversy. Meanwhile, another report that Yankees ticket salesfolk are still dispensing a load of horsepoop.

Yanks handling ticket sales about as well as finding a backup catcher

If you missed it, the Village Voice website yesterday had another rundown by yours truly on the latest in the New York Yankees ticket controversy. Meanwhile, another report that Yankees ticket salesfolk are still dispensing a load of horsepoop.

February 28, 2009

Ticketgate: Day six, Yankee fans held hostage

The Great New York Yankees ticket controversy hits the New York Times today, with Richard Sandomir reporting on more tales of woe from longtime ticket plan holders who are upset with the seats they're being offered in the new stadium. Included are both fans who were offered worse seats for higher prices (including one who seems to have lucked into Jay Jaffe's $85 behind-the-foul-pole plan that the Yankees swear doesn't exist), and fans who were offered worse seats at lower prices. Embattled Yanks COO Lonn Trost blamed fans for not reading the "relocation guide" the team sent out last fall, apparently referring to a line warning that seats offered "will not likely be comparable to your current seat location" — which, in angry fans' defense, is a bit of an understatement for being moved from the third-base line to the bleachers.

At least, though, the unhappy bleacher resident can be glad he wasn't relocated to the auxiliary seating section in Astoria.

Ticketgate: Day six, Yankee fans held hostage

The Great New York Yankees ticket controversy hits the New York Times today, with Richard Sandomir reporting on more tales of woe from longtime ticket plan holders who are upset with the seats they're being offered in the new stadium. Included are both fans who were offered worse seats for higher prices (including one who seems to have lucked into Jay Jaffe's $85 behind-the-foul-pole plan that the Yankees swear doesn't exist), and fans who were offered worse seats at lower prices. Embattled Yanks COO Lonn Trost blamed fans for not reading the "relocation guide" the team sent out last fall, apparently referring to a line warning that seats offered "will not likely be comparable to your current seat location" — which, in angry fans' defense, is a bit of an understatement for being moved from the third-base line to the bleachers.

At least, though, the unhappy bleacher resident can be glad he wasn't relocated to the auxiliary seating section in Astoria.

February 27, 2009

Yankees forced to take the field Opening Day with no corporate logos splashed all over everything

Bank of America won't become the Adidas of the new Yankee Stadium after all: Talks with the New York Yankees about slapping the government-bailed-out bank's name all over the place have been terminated. The Yanks aren't commenting on how this will affect their finances, but you know it's gotta hurt, so if you have $20 million a year to throw around and a burning desire to see your logo affixed to light fixtures and bullpen canopies, give Lonn Trost a call.

Also, expect this to be one of the last links to a Newsday story you see here, as Cablevision, the newspaper's owner, has announced plans to start charging for its online content, possibly as part of some kind of cable TV package. While I think that some kind of subscription (or membership) fees will ultimately be needed to help keep professional journalism alive in the digital age, still, good luck to them with that.

Yankees forced to take the field Opening Day with no corporate logos splashed all over everything

Bank of America won't become the Adidas of the new Yankee Stadium after all: Talks with the New York Yankees about slapping the government-bailed-out bank's name all over the place have been terminated. The Yanks aren't commenting on how this will affect their finances, but you know it's gotta hurt, so if you have $20 million a year to throw around and a burning desire to see your logo affixed to light fixtures and bullpen canopies, give Lonn Trost a call.

Also, expect this to be one of the last links to a Newsday story you see here, as Cablevision, the newspaper's owner, has announced plans to start charging for its online content, possibly as part of some kind of cable TV package. While I think that some kind of subscription (or membership) fees will ultimately be needed to help keep professional journalism alive in the digital age, still, good luck to them with that.

Yanks to charge extra to stand

New York magazine answers a question I've had for some time about the new New York Yankees stadium: "Unlike at the old Yankee Stadium, bleacher creatures can move around the rest of the stadium." That makes sense, as the Yanks management will want them to have access to all the overpriced dining and souvenir options that will fill the new place. What makes less sense: Bleacher tickets cost $12, but team COO Lonn Trost told WFAN Wednesday that standing-room tickets will cost "around $20" — meaning there will be an $8 surcharge not to have a seat to sit in.

The reason, obviously, has to do with the fact the Yanks held bleacher ticket prices at $12 from last year for PR reasons, but have no problem with charging through the nose for standing room, since there were no standing-room seats at the old stadium to compare prices with. Take it as a sign that bleacher prices will likely rise fast to meet market levels in the next year or two — or, if the signs of plummeting sports ticket demand are true, maybe Yankee fans can hope to be allowed someday to stand for three hours without giving up a yuppie food stamp.

Yanks to charge extra to stand

New York magazine answers a question I've had for some time about the new New York Yankees stadium: "Unlike at the old Yankee Stadium, bleacher creatures can move around the rest of the stadium." That makes sense, as the Yanks management will want them to have access to all the overpriced dining and souvenir options that will fill the new place. What makes less sense: Bleacher tickets cost $12, but team COO Lonn Trost told WFAN Wednesday that standing-room tickets will cost "around $20" — meaning there will be an $8 surcharge not to have a seat to sit in.

The reason, obviously, has to do with the fact the Yanks held bleacher ticket prices at $12 from last year for PR reasons, but have no problem with charging through the nose for standing room, since there were no standing-room seats at the old stadium to compare prices with. Take it as a sign that bleacher prices will likely rise fast to meet market levels in the next year or two — or, if the signs of plummeting sports ticket demand are true, maybe Yankee fans can hope to be allowed someday to stand for three hours without giving up a yuppie food stamp.

February 26, 2009

Yanks exec: Yes, we have no seats

New York Yankees COO Lonn Trost was on WFAN radio yesterday to discuss the growing uproar over fans being displaced from their accustomed seating sections in the team's new $1.3 billion ballpark. Trost's defense: They can't offer fans better seats because, well, they didn't build them. The new stadium has a capacity of 52,325 (down from just under 57,000 in the old place), says Trost, but those aren't all seats: 1,886 are standing room, meaning only 50,439 actual fannies can be accommodated. Add in 600 seats in the bleachers that will be have obstructed views (and bear a $5 price tag), and available seats in the new stadium are down about 14% from what Yankee fans have grown used to. "We can't create inventory when it doesn't exist," said Trost.

Of course, "We don't have enough seats" may not be the best defense when it was the Yankees, after all, who designed and built the place, but there you have it. (The Mets, it's worth noting, were even more aggressive in creating artificial scarcity at their new home, slashing about 25% of their seating capacity at Citi Field.) Other Trost bon mots:

• He said that seats behind the foul poles are "really not an obstructed seat," but that regardless, they won't be offered as part of multigame ticket plans, only on a day-of-game basis. (They'll still charge full price for them, though, meaning $85 for seats in the right-field corner was not a typo.) Given Jay Jaffe's experience, this means that Trost is either lying or misinformed.
• "Ninety percent of the non-premium seats are $100 or less," reported Trost, defending the new stadium's affordability. Of course, what's considered a "premium" seat is entirely determined by the Yankees, so this is a fairly bogus statistic; moreover, this means that even by the team's math, several thousand seats are considered "non-premium" and yet are still priced at more than $100 a pop. Maybe you have to bring your own cupholders.

February 24, 2009

Yanks to ticket plan holders: How about a nice obstructed view?

Telling your loyal fans that if they want to keep their ticket plans they'll have to pay $25 more and sit behind a pole seems like bad customer service; doing so when one of the fans in question is a noted baseball writer is p.r. suicide. Jay Jaffe tells his tale of woe at the hands of the New York Yankees and their new stadium at Baseball Prospectus; I report on Jay's report, and have some further speculation on whether this is an indication of the sports bubble bursting at the Village Voice website.

In related news, Neil Best of Newsday reports on asking Yanks COO Lonn Trost about the state of the new stadium:

How are sales of premium seats going? "Over 70 percent have been sold and paid for."

It seems as if you have been marketing them aggressively, including newspaper ads. "Why are we marketing? Like any good business, you market."

Has the recession affected sales of your most expensive seats? "It's affecting the time it takes to sell them."

Is there any chance you will drop prices on your most expensive seats? "No, our prices are our prices."

Is it true there are seats in the bleachers from which you can't see parts of the field? "Yes, but we will have TVs in the walls there."

The new Yankee Stadium: It's not actually a view of the field, but it plays one on TV.

Yanks to ticket plan holders: How about a nice obstructed view?

Telling your loyal fans that if they want to keep their ticket plans they'll have to pay $25 more and sit behind a pole seems like bad customer service; doing so when one of the fans in question is a noted baseball writer is p.r. suicide. Jay Jaffe tells his tale of woe at the hands of the New York Yankees and their new stadium at Baseball Prospectus; I report on Jay's report, and have some further speculation on whether this is an indication of the sports bubble bursting at the Village Voice website.

In related news, Neil Best of Newsday reports on asking Yanks COO Lonn Trost about the state of the new stadium:

How are sales of premium seats going? "Over 70 percent have been sold and paid for."

It seems as if you have been marketing them aggressively, including newspaper ads. "Why are we marketing? Like any good business, you market."

Has the recession affected sales of your most expensive seats? "It's affecting the time it takes to sell them."

Is there any chance you will drop prices on your most expensive seats? "No, our prices are our prices."

Is it true there are seats in the bleachers from which you can't see parts of the field? "Yes, but we will have TVs in the walls there."

The new Yankee Stadium: It's not actually a view of the field, but it plays one on TV.

January 29, 2009

Rethinking Nets arena, watching Mets and Yanks demolition

Busy news day, so all the New York stadium/arena news today needs to share an item:

• George Sweeting of the New York City Independent Budget Office told a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce meeting this week that the city should "take another look" at its subsidies of the Nets' proposed Atlantic Yards project, noting: "If amenities are scaled back and the overall scale of the project is reduced, it's reasonable to stop and look at whether the city's contributions and the MTA land deal still show a positive in the cost-benefit calculation. ... A lot has changed since 2005, when we found that the arena was basically a break-even proposition." Yeah, no kidding.
• While everyone's been focused on how much it's costing to tear down Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium is almost gone already. Though for anyone who grew up a Met fan, this is a lot more heart-wrenching.
• Speaking of the escalating Yanks costs, the New York Times ran an article yesterday on the previously reported cost overruns and delays for replacement parks, which was accurate as far as it went. Only one problem: The photo that ran with it was captioned, "The new Macombs Dam Park, atop a parking garage, will have more than seven acres for sports, strolling and other recreation." Unfortunately, the photo isn't of the new Macombs Dam Park, but rather of the smaller, temporary one that's been in place since 2007. The new one actually looks like this right now - which is precisely what Bronx residents are complaining about.

January 27, 2009

Yanks parks overruns due to, um, overruns

The New York City Independent Budget Office has a new report out detailing the costs of replacing the Bronx parks destroyed for the Yankees' new stadium. The Crain's story describes the findings this way:

The cost of replacing more than 22 acres of South Bronx parkland displaced by the new Yankee Stadium has skyrocketed 67% to nearly $195 million, according to a new report by the Independent Budget Office.

That's not news, though - you could have read it here or in the Village Voice last March. The point of the IBO report, rather, is to figure out why costs have skyrocketed. In the IBO's summary:

• Revised designs of some of the original projects as well as the addition of some new projects that the Bloomberg administration has put under the umbrella of the stadium agreement have added $30.0 million to the cost.
• Unanticipated clean-up of hazardous waste materials and environmental remediation accounted for $7.6 million of the increase, and additional site work and safety increased costs by $10.9 million.
• Construction inflation beyond that assumed by the city accounted for $7.6 million of the increase, while delays in construction added $6.2 million.

The factors driving the remaining $16.3 million cost increase are not yet clear because there are portions of the project still out for bids.

In other words, it cost more because, well, it cost more, for all the reasons things end up costing more. The IBO report doesn't address the more interesting question, which is whether the city should have known that its initial estimate was less than two-thirds what it should have been - and if so, if it intentionally lowballed costs to get the deal approved.

There's also a really confusing chart in the IBO report that makes it look like the city is replacing 22 acres of lost parkland with 32 acres of new parks; that figure, however, includes 3 acres of "upgraded" parkland that was already a public park. This should be too trivial to interest anyone, but given how controversial this acreage issue has been, I figured it was worth mentioning.

January 16, 2009

Yanks, Mets get their moolah

Just got word that the New York Yankees' and Mets' $342 million in new tax-free bonds (plus around $30 million in additional tax exemptions) have been approved by the city Industrial Development Agency board. Comptroller William Thompson, as promised, voted against the Yankees bonds; Queens Borough President Helen Marshall's representative abstained on the Yankees portion; and the Mets portion was approved unanimously by the 15-member board.

The $1.8 billion total subsidy figure, then, stands. Unless the Yankees decide they need even fancier bathrooms.

UPDATE: Allison Lack of Good Jobs New York sends word that representatives of the Yankees and Mets were both given time to speak at today's board meeting, even though the time for testimony was supposed to be yesterday's public hearing. Writes Lack: "At all the IDA board meetings Good Jobs New York has attended over the years, never before have we seen project applicants speak in favor of their projects during these meetings."

Yanks, Mets get their moolah

Just got word that the New York Yankees' and Mets' $342 million in new tax-free bonds (plus around $30 million in additional tax exemptions) have been approved by the city Industrial Development Agency board. Comptroller William Thompson, as promised, voted against the Yankees bonds; Queens Borough President Helen Marshall's representative abstained on the Yankees portion; and the Mets portion was approved unanimously by the 15-member board.

The $1.8 billion total subsidy figure, then, stands. Unless the Yankees decide they need even fancier bathrooms.

UPDATE: Allison Lack of Good Jobs New York sends word that representatives of the Yankees and Mets were both given time to speak at today's board meeting, even though the time for testimony was supposed to be yesterday's public hearing. Writes Lack: "At all the IDA board meetings Good Jobs New York has attended over the years, never before have we seen project applicants speak in favor of their projects during these meetings."

January 15, 2009

NY Times: Okay, now the Yanks stadium sucks

It's official: Hating on the New York Yankees stadium deal after the fact is the new black. The New York Times - which called the Yanks and Mets deals "a steal" compared to past city proposals back in 2005 - today calls on its editorial page for the latest round of Yankees bonds to be rejected:

Seats for $1,500 a game? Suites fit for the royal family? A scoreboard fit for the Big Board? A fabulous steakhouse and granite ramps (no ordinary cement for this crowd)? This $1 billion-plus pavilion and park financed with a lot of taxpayer help is beginning to sound like something fit for the Wizard of Oz.

To pay for many of these add-ons, the Yankees now want - surprise! - more help from the city. They have asked the Industrial Development Agency for an additional $400 million in tax-free financing to finish the project. Unless the city's leaders show some courage, the agency is expected to rubber-stamp that request by the end of the week, after a pro forma hearing on Thursday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the development agency should renegotiate this latest round of what has always been an incredibly generous deal for one of the richest teams in the country. At a very minimum, they should insist that the Yankees pick up more of the city's share of the project, which now amounts to $362 million.

The Times is silent on the Mets, who according to the latest estimates from the IBO are set to be getting $371 million in public subsidies of their own, and that's without counting their $252 million property-tax exemption. Lucky for them they stayed under the radar by not signing C.C. Sabathia.

The city Industrial Development Agency, meanwhile, held its first and only public hearing before a scheduled vote tomorrow on $453 million in new tax-free bonds (and tens of millions in tax breaks - the IDA hasn't revealed exactly how much) for the two teams. You can read my report from the hearing on the Village Voice website.

January 14, 2009

NYC baseball stadium subsidies: Do I hear $1.8B?

Following today's release of the latest stadium subsidy estimates from the New York City Independent Budget Office, I've updated my Yankees and Mets stadium cost spreadsheet to update, at the end of the day, who's paying for what. New features include a shift to 2009 present value, and, for the first time, itemized sources for all the data listed therein. There will likely be further updates to this chart - a couple of items aren't converted to 2009 dollars, for example - but the big picture is starting to come into focus.

Note that these figures do include the teams' complete exemption from property taxes as a cost to the city (and benefit to the teams), a matter of huge controversy at today's hearing. (After the IBO counted the property-tax break in the "team savings" column but not the "city costs" column, Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber shot off an e-mail to reporters that this "shows that the allegation that the City is forgoing hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax revenue as a result of the deal is utter fiction.") The logic here is that if not for a complex sub-leasing deal for the land under their new stadiums, the Mets and Yankees would normally be required to start paying property taxes after about 20 years in their new homes, so being given a pass on that is effectively the same as the city stuffing wads of future benjamins into their waistbands.

With no further ado, some of the highlights of the revised charts:

• The Yankees' new stadium is now the most expensive ever even imagined, coming in at a staggering $2.3 billion. That includes its attendant parking garages and replacement parkland, but even the stadium construction budget alone is incredible, now standing at $1.56 billion.
• Of that, the public - city, state, and federal taxpayers - are now covering just shy of $1.2 billion, by far the largest stadium subsidy ever. In fact, even discounting the $417 million in property-tax breaks (if you're inclined to agree with Lieber), it's still the largest stadium subsidy ever. The Yankees, meanwhile, would be on the hook for just $670 million, after counting property-tax breaks.
• The Mets project is comparatively thrifty: a mere $830 million, though even that shatters the old record for priciest baseball park. Because it's cheaper, though, and the Mets demanded many of the same tax breaks as the Yankees, the team's total cost at the end of the day is astonishingly low: just $135 million, thanks to a panoply of givebacks that include property-tax breaks, parking-fee rebates, and revenue-sharing deductions courtesy of MLB. The rest is paid predominantly by - you guessed it - you the taxpayer, providing you're a taxpayer somewhere in the U.S. of A.
• Add 'em together and what do you got? Taxpayers will be paying $1.8 billion toward the new stadiums, while the teams will combine for just $805 million in costs. But it's not like the teams could afford to pay more or anything.

All this, of course, is assuming the city's Industrial Development Agency votes on Friday to approve $453 million in new bonds for the two stadiums. If the unthinkable happens and the IDA votes no, look for yet another revised chart over the weekend.

NYC baseball stadium subsidies: Do I hear $1.8B?

Following today's release of the latest stadium subsidy estimates from the New York City Independent Budget Office, I've updated my Yankees and Mets stadium cost spreadsheet to update, at the end of the day, who's paying for what. New features include a shift to 2009 present value, and, for the first time, itemized sources for all the data listed therein. There will likely be further updates to this chart - a couple of items aren't converted to 2009 dollars, for example - but the big picture is starting to come into focus.

Note that these figures do include the teams' complete exemption from property taxes as a cost to the city (and benefit to the teams), a matter of huge controversy at today's hearing. (After the IBO counted the property-tax break in the "team savings" column but not the "city costs" column, Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber shot off an e-mail to reporters that this "shows that the allegation that the City is forgoing hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax revenue as a result of the deal is utter fiction.") The logic here is that if not for a complex sub-leasing deal for the land under their new stadiums, the Mets and Yankees would normally be required to start paying property taxes after about 20 years in their new homes, so being given a pass on that is effectively the same as the city stuffing wads of future benjamins into their waistbands.

With no further ado, some of the highlights of the revised charts:

• The Yankees' new stadium is now the most expensive ever even imagined, coming in at a staggering $2.3 billion. That includes its attendant parking garages and replacement parkland, but even the stadium construction budget alone is incredible, now standing at $1.56 billion.
• Of that, the public - city, state, and federal taxpayers - are now covering just shy of $1.2 billion, by far the largest stadium subsidy ever. In fact, even discounting the $417 million in property-tax breaks (if you're inclined to agree with Lieber), it's still the largest stadium subsidy ever. The Yankees, meanwhile, would be on the hook for just $670 million, after counting property-tax breaks.
• The Mets project is comparatively thrifty: a mere $830 million, though even that shatters the old record for priciest baseball park. Because it's cheaper, though, and the Mets demanded many of the same tax breaks as the Yankees, the team's total cost at the end of the day is astonishingly low: just $135 million, thanks to a panoply of givebacks that include property-tax breaks, parking-fee rebates, and revenue-sharing deductions courtesy of MLB. The rest is paid predominantly by - you guessed it - you the taxpayer, providing you're a taxpayer somewhere in the U.S. of A.
• Add 'em together and what do you got? Taxpayers will be paying $1.8 billion toward the new stadiums, while the teams will combine for just $805 million in costs. But it's not like the teams could afford to pay more or anything.

All this, of course, is assuming the city's Industrial Development Agency votes on Friday to approve $453 million in new bonds for the two stadiums. If the unthinkable happens and the IDA votes no, look for yet another revised chart over the weekend.

Yanks stadium cost passes $2B, subsidies near $1b

Today's New York state assembly hearing on the Yankees and Mets stadium projects can best be summed up like this: City economic chief Seth Pinsky complained about hearing chair Richard Brodsky calling the city's procedures "Soviet-style," then later quoted Edward R. Murrow to implicitly compare Brodsky to Joe McCarthy; and Brodsky, in his closing statements, offered to take on both Pinsky and Yanks president Randy Levine in a fistfight. Not, in other words, one of democracy's finest moments.

The real story, in any case, came after Levine, Pinsky, and almost everyone else had gone home: Economist George Sweeting of the Independent Budget Office presented new detailed estimates of how much the new stadiums are costing taxpayers in subsidies, and how much the teams are benefiting. I'll be updating my stadium cost spreadsheet with the new numbers shortly, but in the meantime, some highlights: The total cost of the Yanks' new stadium is now well north of $2 billion, with taxpayers picking up $854.7 million of that tab; for the Mets, the cost to the public is now a mere $371.5 million. And that's without even counting the fact that neither team will pay property taxes, ever, thanks to a nifty tax dodge involving public authorities and 99-year subleases.

For more, see my two-part recap on the Village Voice website here and here.

Yanks stadium cost passes $2B, subsidies near $1b

Today's New York state assembly hearing on the Yankees and Mets stadium projects can best be summed up like this: City economic chief Seth Pinsky complained about hearing chair Richard Brodsky calling the city's procedures "Soviet-style," then later quoted Edward R. Murrow to implicitly compare Brodsky to Joe McCarthy; and Brodsky, in his closing statements, offered to take on both Pinsky and Yanks president Randy Levine in a fistfight. Not, in other words, one of democracy's finest moments.

The real story, in any case, came after Levine, Pinsky, and almost everyone else had gone home: Economist George Sweeting of the Independent Budget Office presented new detailed estimates of how much the new stadiums are costing taxpayers in subsidies, and how much the teams are benefiting. I'll be updating my stadium cost spreadsheet with the new numbers shortly, but in the meantime, some highlights: The total cost of the Yanks' new stadium is now well north of $2 billion, with taxpayers picking up $854.7 million of that tab; for the Mets, the cost to the public is now a mere $371.5 million. And that's without even counting the fact that neither team will pay property taxes, ever, thanks to a nifty tax dodge involving public authorities and 99-year subleases.

For more, see my two-part recap on the Village Voice website here and here.

January 13, 2009

Levine, Pinsky to show up to Yanks hearing at gunpoint

New York state assemblymember Richard Brodsky, who you may remember from past fireworks-laden public hearings, has guaranteed that his hastily called hearing tomorrow on the Yankees and Mets stadium financing will have plenty of sturm und drang, by subpoenaing city development chief Seth Pinsky and Yankees president Randy Levine to force their attendance. One can only hope that Levine's testimony will consist of standing on his chair, pointing at Brodsky, and shouting, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

Also today, city comptroller William Thompson, who's challenging Michael Bloomberg in this year's mayoral race (Brodsky, for his part, may be preparing a run for attorney general), has called for Thursday's hearing on the stadium bonds to be postponed so that the city can negotiate a better deal: "Incredibly, the Yankees are asking for more money and the city is giving it to them without asking for anything in return." Thompson has one vote on the 15-member IDA board.

I'll be in attendance at both hearings, and will report back here as soon as I get a free moment and an Internet connection. If you don't see any news from me here, you can always check the Village Voice blog to see if I've posted there.

Levine, Pinsky to show up to Yanks hearing at gunpoint

New York state assemblymember Richard Brodsky, who you may remember from past fireworks-laden public hearings, has guaranteed that his hastily called hearing tomorrow on the Yankees and Mets stadium financing will have plenty of sturm und drang, by subpoenaing city development chief Seth Pinsky and Yankees president Randy Levine to force their attendance. One can only hope that Levine's testimony will consist of standing on his chair, pointing at Brodsky, and shouting, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

Also today, city comptroller William Thompson, who's challenging Michael Bloomberg in this year's mayoral race (Brodsky, for his part, may be preparing a run for attorney general), has called for Thursday's hearing on the stadium bonds to be postponed so that the city can negotiate a better deal: "Incredibly, the Yankees are asking for more money and the city is giving it to them without asking for anything in return." Thompson has one vote on the 15-member IDA board.

I'll be in attendance at both hearings, and will report back here as soon as I get a free moment and an Internet connection. If you don't see any news from me here, you can always check the Village Voice blog to see if I've posted there.

January 12, 2009

Yanks bond request includes $11m tax break

This seems to have slipped past everyone, or at least me, at the time: Last Tuesday's paperwork on the New York Yankees and Mets tax-free bond requests includes word that the city will also be voting this week on exempting the teams' new stadium costs from mortgage recording and construction sales taxes, as their initial costs were. Estimated cost of the Yanks' new tax breaks to city taxpayers, according to information provided to me by the city Industrial Development Agency: $6 million for the mortgage tax break, $5.1 million for the sales-tax break. (I haven't gotten Mets figures yet from IDA, but they'd presumably be proportionately smaller.) The IDA also estimates $5.2 million in lost city income taxes as a result of the tax-free bonds, which is actually higher than the estimate the Independent Budget Office gave me.

The IDA still says the city would make money on the deal, thanks to what it says would be $7.1 million in tax benefits from new Yankees construction, plus an $11.5 million "capital contribution" that the Yanks have agreed to make to the city parks department. (Which sounds suspiciously like a kickback of the $60 million or so the team would be getting in federal bond subsidies, but that's another story.) I'm still waiting to hear back from the IDA, though, on how much of these benefits wouldn't materialize if the bonds aren't approved, especially considering that construction work on the new stadium is almost complete.

More on this in my column in today's Metro. I'm also going to work on getting an updated stadium cost spreadsheet up in the next day or two.

January 07, 2009

NYC relinquishes suite, issues stadium finance tome

After getting slammed for trading parking and ad revenue at the New York Yankees' new stadium for a luxury suite for city officials, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday announced he'd be trading back. No, the city won't get its 250 parking spaces back, but it will get whatever cash the Yanks make from leasing out the suite, less "marketing expenses" - and I'm sure the Yankees will be honest about deducting those.

Meanwhile, in what should have been even bigger news, the city Industrial Development Agency released its paperwork for the $342 million in additional tax-free bonds it will vote on giving the Yanks and Mets next week - except that nowhere in its 116 pages does it actually discuss the costs and benefits of the new bonds, which makes the documents as worthless as the bits they're PDFed on. (Though it's always fun seeing how much the Yankees plan to spend on "bathroom upgrades" to bathrooms that haven't even been built yet.) This should be a fun hearing next Thursday - 10 am, 110 William Street, for anyone in the NYC area who feels like stopping by.

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