Yankees say they’re redoing stadium so fans have more places to take selfies

The New York Yankees are spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade their eight-year-old stadium to have better places to take selfies, because of course they are:

In April, they will join this budding ballpark trend, unveiling what owner Hal Steinbrenner described as more “family friendly” and “socially oriented” spaces at Yankee Stadium.

Those spaces include play areas for young children and different vantage points for ticket holders to mingle and, most important, take pictures, videos and selfies they can share on social media. The Yankees declined to say how much they have spent on the project, but, for other teams, it has ranged between $10 million and $60 million.

The actual changes are what we reported on here back in October: finally removing those notorious obstructed-view bleacher seats, adding some more places to drink alcohol and eat “specialty food,” and adding a “SunRun Kids’ Clubhouse” on the third level in right field that Steinbrenner said is meant to make “our youngest fans to feel as if Yankee Stadium is an extension of their local park or backyard.” If their backyard were on the third story of a giant shopping mall, indoors, and contained a six-foot replica World Series trophy to climb on.

What all this has to do with taking selfies isn’t clear, though I suppose people drinking at Yankee-themed bars are more likely to do that than to actually watch the game. Go read ESPN’s full report if you’re interested, as it also has info on what teams like the Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies have done in a similar vein, and throws around terms like “FOMO” and “FOBO,” so you can learn to talk like marketing executives think young people do.