Yanks to open gates at new Stadium earlier

For years, one of the things — besides Cotton Eyed Joe — that always annoyed me about Yankee Stadium was its opening time. The Yanks would open the stadium gates around two hours prior to game time or right as home BP was wrapping up.

With the new park, though, the Yanks are rectifying this oversight. Lost in the news about the food offerings at the new stadium was the following paragraph for the press release:

Yankee Stadium concessions will begin serving food when Stadium gates open, approximately three hours prior to the scheduled start times of games. Gates will open at 10:00 a.m. for games with a 1:05 p.m. scheduled start time, at 1:00 p.m. for 4:10 p.m. starts, at 4:00 p.m. for 7:05 p.m. starts, and at 5:00 p.m. for 8:05 p.m. starts.

Never before could fans enter the stadium that early. While the business man in me knows that the Yanks are kicking back their open hours to give fans more of an opportunity to spend money at the new ballpark, the baseball fan in me can’t wait to get up to the stadium one summer night for all three hours of batting practice.

For the last game at old Yankee Stadium, my dad and I went early to soak in the House that Ruth Built one final time. The doors opened six hours ahead of the game, and we sat there and watched all of BP. It was truly a special moment, and I’m glad to hear the Yanks will be opening the doors earlier from now on.