ESPN, the oh-so-pro Red Sox sports network, plans to pay tribute to the final season at Yankee Stadium through a series of 30 vignettes focusing on famous moments in stadium history. The first ten will debut on March 22 and air during the lead-up to Opening Day, and the next batch are set to hit prior to the All Star Game. Considering ESPN’s penchant for running the same commercial over and over again, I’m guessing we’ll all be sick of these promos rather quickly.
Rangers’ hockey game in Yankee Stadium closer to reality
In January, word broke that an outdoor New York Rangers game could be the last sporting event at Yankee Stadium. At the time, I was not too thrilled to hear that the Yanks would not be closing out Yankee Stadium. Today, the Daily News reports that this proposed game is moving closer to a reality. While this game will be exciting for all of the Ranger fans out there, I still want to see the Yanks play the last sporting event at the Stadium. Call me a traditionalist, but the Yanks should close out their 85-year-old home.
‘Get yer Yankee Stadium right here’
Little known fact: When the new Yankee Stadium opens, the Doomsday clock on old Yankee Stadium will strike eleven.
That’s right; when the Yankees move across 161st St. to their new digs, plans to dismantle and tear down the House that Ruth Built will kick into overdrive. With just over 13 months to go before that fateful date, the Yankees and the City of New York are already planning the long, commercial good bye.
According to USA Today’s Paul White, an official within the Department of Parks and Recreation has confirmed that the Yanks will auction off some of the stadium and then tear it down. The article provides some details about the post-Stadium plans for the historic site:
Though details are still being worked out, the Yankees expect the stadium will be replaced by a complex of three fields, one for softball, one with Little League dimensions and one for high school and college games. A running track will ring the field, and 12,000 trees will be planted to form the outline of the old stadium around the facility.
As for the rest of the stadium, it doesn’t sound like too many people are losing sleep over this destruction. Even the Hall of Fame, according to White, acknowledges that Yankee Stadium lost its heart and soul when George Steinbrenner renovated it in the 1970s:
Even the Baseball Hall of Fame, which certainly will be in line ahead of the public, doesn’t have any grand expectations.
“Remember, everything was new after the (1973-74) renovation,” said Jeff Idelson, Hall of Fame vice president. “We already have Babe Ruth’s locker and one than was used by (Joe) DiMaggio, then (Mickey) Mantle and Bobby Murcer.”
Idelson said Hall officials haven’t discussed what they might want from the old stadium but expect no problems, especially considering Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is a member of the Hall’s board of directors.
As for the auctions, expect a lot of lower level seats to go. The Tier seats are attached to the step behind them and do not rest flush on the ground. While my dad owns a seat from the old Yankee Stadium, it will be tough for the team to sell seats that don’t sit flat. A few years ago, when the team replaced seats, they sold groups of three for $1500 each. The last seats should sell for significantly more.
Despite the renovations, it will be a sad day in New York when Yankee Stadium is torn down. In 1923, the Yanks erected this ballpark in the Bronx and have brought unparalleled sports success to the field. They marched Hall of Famers through the outfielder and perfect games past the pitchers mound. They’ve had their ups and downs, but it’s all baseball history. And soon the Stadium will be lost to history. I will mourn that day.
The End is sold out
The Yankee Stadium regular season swan song is sold out. Color me unsurprised:
The last regular season game at Yankee Stadium is sold out. Fans scooped up a few thousand tickets online in just 11 minutes Wednesday.
Scalpers quickly started hawking tickets for the historic Sept. 21 game against the Baltimore Orioles, with top seats going for a head-spinning $17,000 a pop. Even the cheapest bleachers seats at the House that Ruth Built were going for $165 online.
A Yankees spokesman said there just weren’t enough tickets for all the fans who want to see the last regular season game at the storied ballpark, which opened in 1923. “This day won’t happen ever again,” said Jason Zillo. “It’s going to be a celebration.”
It’s going to be a celebration that no one can attend because a bunch of suits spending a few thousand dollars on tickets are going to be there. According to the Yanks, over 75 percent of the available seats went to Season Ticket holders. Now’s the time to make friends with the Yankee season ticket holder in your life.
Meanwhile, how much would you pay to see the final game in the Stadium? If Tier Reserve seats are going for $200-$300, I think it’s well worth it to get to see that last game in person. Fans routinely pay that much for World Series tickets; why not something more unique than the World Series?
Yankee Stadium only gets torn down and closed once, and on Sept. 21, the Yanks will close out their regular season history on the south side of 161st St. The real game, though, is landing a ticket for that Sunday afternoon affair.
Yanks, Bronx pols at odds over community funds
For those among us interested in the ongoing battle between the Bronx and the Yankees over the promised community funds, the story heated up a bit over the weekend. Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez reported that Yanks President Randy Levine faced some tough talk from members of the New York Assembly over promised constructions and community money that had yet to materialize. Today, the paper reports that the Yanks will begin to dole out the promised funds in April, more than 18 months behind schedule. When all is said and done, if the Bronx gets its park land and money, the borough pols won’t care when it landed in their coffers.
In new stadium, Yanks to sell everything under the sun
Even the steel girders will have corporate sponsors. (Photo by Ben K.)
Around these parts, we’ve known for a while the the Yanks are going to name everything except the Stadium when the new digs open across 161st St. Now, we know just how much the Yanks are going to ask for when corporate sponsors come a-knockin’.
According to a report in Sports Business Journal, the top sponsorship opportunities are going to come with a $20-million annual price tag. The opportunities, of course, are limitless.
Terry Lefton has the details:
CAA is selling the package and using it as a cornerstone for marketing efforts of its sports division. The package includes a variety of sign and marketing inventory in and around the Yankees new home, but does not include naming rights to Yankee Stadium. That means that the Yankees and CAA Sports are attempting to sell one of the biggest facility sponsorship packages ever without what’s usually considered the most valuable piece of sponsorship inventory. That’s exactly what makes it so intriguing to the rest of the sports industry.
“As the uber-brand for baseball, and sports generally, the Yankees are the only American franchise that could do this, with the possible exception of the [Dallas] Cowboys,” said Phoenix-based naming-rights consultant Rob Yowell, who’s had a hand in the deals that put Honda’s brand on the home of the Anaheim Ducks and Oracle’s name on the Golden State Warriors’ home arena. “But I would put any price tag, even the asking price, in quotes on this, because you are dealing with a proposition that truly has never been done before.”
…Among the biggest signage opportunities offered in the comprehensive financial services package are large signs on the highways around the stadium; prominent exposure on Gate 4, the stadium’s main entrance; several fixed signs on top of the stadium, affording an aerial view; a large sign atop the right-field scoreboard; even bigger signage on the back of the scoreboard, facing a new subway stop; signs on interior gates leading to the field; fixed and LED signs inside the stadium and the stadium bowl; permanent dugout branding; scoreboard vignettes; behind-the-plate signage and a logo on all Yankees tickets.
That is quite the impressive array of packages, and basically, advertisements will fill up just about every single available space you can imagine in the new stadium and then some. Tickets will carry branding; concessions will come with corporate sponsors. It will be an advertiser’s heaven.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining about this. In fact, more sponsorship opportunities leads to more dollars for the Yankees, and more dollars for the Yankees invariably means more of an in-field fiscal commitment to winning. Of course, some of this money will have to go toward those $500-million stadium construction cost overruns, but with advertising a-plenty, the team will hardly be hurting for dollars.
Now if only we at River Ave. Blues could brand something. Anyone got a few million dollars to spare?
New Stadium slighty over budget
Did I say slightly? I meant nearly half a billion dollars. “We’ll make it up some way,” Yankees COO Lonn Trost said.
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