Yanks Claim Witch Hunt as Pols Try to Mandate Cheap Tix

The Yankees have done all right for themselves with politicians when they've needed officials to sign off on financial assistance for their new stadium. But when team brass has had to come in and answer to some representatives who have been more than skeptical of the deals the team has received, their treatment hasn't been quite so cushy.

Yesterday saw another contentious round between Yankees President Randy Levine and the man who's become his political nemesis, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. At one point, Levine had to shout to interrupt a chiding Brodsky and told the Assembly, "You've invited me here! When I'm finished with my testimony, everybody will hear how you've been behaving."

Levine came in yesterday for a hearing on the financing deals the team has made with the city and immediately went after Brodsky, the most vocal critical of the financing. Levine said, "Mr. Brodsky, your behavior in this matter continues to be disgraceful. You continue to misstate facts and grandstand. In my opinion, you have personalized this matter and are misusing scarce state resources to engage in a witch hunt against the Yankees."

Grandstanding or not, Brodsky backed an affordable ticket bill that would force the Yankees to make a certain number of low-price tickets available each game. The Westchester assemblyman said, "If the taxpayers are going to build a building, the taxpayers should be able to afford the tickets to get into that building."

With fewer low price options in the new stadium other than bleacher seats (some of which will now have obstructed view), there is concern that the team is creating a further divide between those who will be able to afford tickets and the residents of the poor communities that surround the stadium. NY1 talked to one local resident who said to them, "I really think they should bring the ticket prices down, because if our tax money is paying for this doggone stadium people should get something"

The Yankees meanwhile seem preoccupied at the moment with figuring out just how to sell some of their $2,500 premium seats in tough times. Team COO Lonn Trost told the Wall Street Journal, "Build the most expensive stadium, charge high prices and have the worst economy. It's called lack of sleep."

Thirty-three members of the Assembly have signed on to the affordable ticket bill which Levine not surprisingly thinks is "a mistake." The team president said he wouldn't be surprised if the next time Brodsky called him in to testify would be April 16th—Opening Day at the new ballpark.