New York's lavish new stadiums spark outrage among baseball fans

The Telegraph ^ | 3/29/2009 | Tom Leonard in New York

[bruinbirdman]

Thousands are losing their jobs and new skyscrapers are scratching around for tenants, but judging only by its baseball, no-one would know that New York is gripped by recession.

Citi Field stadium

Two of the most expensive stadiums in American history will open this week, in a lavish £1.7 billion facelift for the Yankees and the Mets, New York's two major league teams.

Planned in more affluent times, the replacement of the landmark Shea and old Yankee stadiums with buildings designed to pamper corporate customers has angered fans and non-fans alike.

The projects received hundreds of millions of dollars of public money, as well as lucrative sponsorship deals with banks now being bailed out by Washington.

But ordinary fans must now compete for fewer cheap seats, while many question who will patronise both stadiums' luxury restaurants and who will buy their front row tickets costing £1,800 per game.

At the new £1 billion Yankee stadium, which opens in the Bronx on Friday, the players' locker room covers 30,000 square feet and TV screens are built into the mirrors found in the mens' toilets.

Despite receiving £31 billion in federal aid, Citigroup has found £276 million for a sponsorship deal with the Mets.

The new £700 million Citi Field stadium, previously the Shea, is now saddled with the unfortunate nickname "Bailout Park".

The Yankees, America's most famous sports franchise were less fortunate. Bank of America, another major bailout recipient, decided against becoming their sponsors, citing the recession and the "mood of the country".

That mood also turned against Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, after it emerged that his office had lobbied to secure free luxury suites at both new grounds. The city was forced to give them back.

Critics believe the new stadiums will sweep

[exist]

Ya but what about all the mafia guys that get paid off who buy stuff for their mistresses or take their kids to the mall? The stadium helps everybody.

[Paladin2]

Shut off the TV and don’t go to the stadiums and don’t support the companies who subsidize these extravagances.

[Kirkwood]

“who will buy their front row tickets costing £1,800 per game. “

A front row seat is nearly $2600?

[al baby]

per game?

[TASMANIANRED]

Tsk, tsk , tsk.

Pricing themselves right out of filling the seats.

[Kirkwood]

Yeah. But apparently you get free food and a soft drink.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4002027

[dr_who]

...or the governments that subsidize them and destroy private property rights in order to enrich the shady characters who spearheaded these projects.

[Dahoser]

Keep fanning the class warfare flames. Last time it was $165 million in bonuses. This time it's sports tickets. Meanwhile, Chairman Hussein proposes to spend close to $20 T-R-I-L-L-I-O-N during his term (borrowing half of it) and nary a peep from the same sheep.

[PUGACHEV]

I, for one, will miss Shea Stadium.

[al baby]

I hope you get a mistress too

[SamAdams76]

Everytime I've gone to see a baseball game at Fenway Park over the past few years, I had corporate seats. The only exception was when I went with my son and we spent over $600 that day.

When I was my son's age, I went to Fenway Park constantly with my newspaper route money. I'd pay $1.75 for a bleacher seat and for another 75 cents, I'd get a "grandstand pass" which allowed me to go into the grandstand and sit in any empty seat I could find. This was back in the late 1970s! But my son will never have those kind of memories as a professional baseball game now is a once-in-a-lifetime extravagance for the average guy.

I have resigned myself to the fact that viewing professional sports in person is now pretty much a corporate perk. Well, at least I have a 60-inch HDTV to watch them at home on. I couldn't say that back in 1977, when I watched the Red Sox on an old 19-inch black and white with rabbit ears.

[Cheap_Hessian]

We are also building stadiums left and right here in Omaha. The city is destroying historical Rosenblatt Stadium to build a new one in Downtown for the College World Series.

Our AAA minor league team, the Omaha Royals, is looking to get a new stadium in the suburbs. Too much spending at the federal and local levels if you ask me.

[I_Like_Spam]

Many of the big shots in NY have already lost their jobs, many of the rest who are associated with Wall St. are going to be subject to further restrictions and higher taxes.

I don’t know how they plan to sell that many $2600 seats.

Maybe the Yankees can line up for bailout funds so they can make their payroll.

[38special]

I bet ESPN has some nice digs in those stadiums. They love those Yankees.

[PackerBoy]

Often upgrades are necessary for safety, security and prosperity. Those skyboxes pay the rent, not the bleacher seats.

As long as public money is not used (unless it is returned adequately through taxes or some other revenue enhancement device), I am okay with new stadiums.

Am I missing something?

[Kirkwood]

“I hope you get a mistress too”

At that price, I should get a couple of the players to come over to my house and do landscaping for a year.

[tflabo]

I was driving past the new Mets Citi Field a few months ago on its east side. On the other side of the street are rundown looking shops and populated by hispanic immigrants on the streets...felt like it was Central America right across the new stadium. What an odd dichotomy.

[PzLdr]

Bank of America didn't sponsor the Yankees, because the Yankees wouldn't sell/rent the naming rights to the new ballpark. It's still called Yankee Stadium. I believe the Yankees paid for most of the park themselves.

[Full disclosure] As a lifelong Yankees fan, I won't set foot in the new park. Mickey didn't play center in McCoombs Dam Park, Babe didn't play right, Lou didn't play first, and none of the great feats of baseball history synonymous with the Yankees didn't take place there.

[CaptRon]

No outrage as long as my Mets on TV. No need to take the onerous trip to Queens or pay the onerous price for a hot dog. Plus, I’m a better cook with a big screen TV.