Results tagged “newyankeestadium”

Last weekend, the Daily News' Bill Madden published an open letter to George Steinbrenner, asking that regular ticketholders—the many ticketholders—who don't have "legend suite" tickets be allowed to observe batting practice. Because only those who paid $2,500 (or, now discounted $1,250) for the seats were allowed to hang out by the railing to see players up close and maybe get an autograph. Now, the Yankees have agreed to relax their rules, allowing fans to descend to certain sections (the left field, right field and outfield) to watch batting practice. Here are the new rules:

Remember fans, on game days, arrive early. Yankee Stadium Gates on Babe Ruth Plaza and Gates 2 and 8, open three hours prior to the start of every home game. All fans are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy batting practice and infield workouts from select areas of the Field Level and the Bleachers; specifically, all fans may watch batting practice and infield workouts from Field Level Sections 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 and 136 and from all Bleachers Sections.

Continue reading "Yankee Stadium Allows Regular Fans To Observe Batting Practice"

            

Players and fans alike arrived at the new Yankee stadium yesterday. Derek Jeter, who was, perhaps fittingly, the first Yankee to hit a ball out of the park (during batting practice) said, "I think everyone was excited to be out there and amazed at how big the stadium is. Everyone is going to enjoy it -- from the coaches, the players and even more importantly, the fans."

Between obstructed views, the return of alcohol sales and just simply the newfound ability to walk around the entire stadium, the Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures may end up missing out on quite a bit of on the field play this year.

The much beloved longtime public-address announcer for the Yankees, Bob Sheppard, officially retired today. His friend and agent Paul Doherty broke the news to the Times, telling them, “I think Bob just wants to take it easy and no longer have the pressure of, ‘Can he? Will he? Or won’t he?’" Sheppard is 98-years-old and has been introducing Bombers to the plate since 1951. Health problems have kept him sidelined for portions of the last few seasons—including last year's final Opening Day at the old Stadium. Doherty said, “I’m happy to say that Bob is still doing well enough to drive a car...Now on to him seeing his 100th birthday in a year and a half.” There is no word yet on who will replace Sheppard, other than it will not be previous backup Jim Hall. Sheppard's voice will still be heard in the new Yankee Stadium announcing Derek Jeter—the Yankee captain had previously asked Sheppard to record his introduction so that it could be used permanently.

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.

The other night, the new Yankee Stadium was captured illuminating the Bronx sky with a spectrum of colors not seen previously coming out of the team's old home right alongside the Major Deegan. But elsewhere, the talk amongst the team was still about stories coming out of the old clubhouse hallways through the pages of Joe Torre's memoir "The Yankee Years."

It appears that various members of local and state government have lost their cool with the Yankees and their struggles to finance their soon to open new stadium without the additional financial assistance. City Comptroller William Thompson came out swinging with the harshest rhetoric yesterday when discussing the ongoing state of the project stating, "Costs don't go up that dramatically in that period of time. Either someone did that intentionally or it is the worst job of management that I have ever seen."

Late last month, architect Frank Gehry dismissed more than two dozen staffers working on designs for the embattled Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the Wall Street Journal reports. The terminations came despite the fact that most of the proposed $4.2 billion project—which would include a Nets basketball arena, office towers and thousands of apartments—has not been designed, as Develop Don't Destroy points out. Both Gehry Partners LLP and Forest City Ratner, the company behind the project, declined to comment. But earlier this month Forest City abruptly stopped work at the site, and they don't even have the $100 million to buy the Vanderbilt Rail Yard from the MTA. In a thorough article in this week's Observer, the venture is viewed as being on the verge of "collapse," and Bruce Ratner "seems to be rushing to patch a leaky dam." Ratner may clear the last of his legal hurdles next year, but it's unclear if he'll have the financing to move forward in this current economy.

Sure, the city is facing lower tax revenues and will cut from city agencies' budgets. But when the Yankees and Mets need additional tax-exempt bonds to complete their new stadiums, that's okay! The NY Times reports, "The city also plans to issue $341.2 million in additional tax-exempt bonds on behalf of the Yankees and Mets to complete the stadiums, whose combined cost is about $2.2 billion. The teams are responsible for paying off the bonds, but they pay tens of millions of dollars less in interest because payments to bondholders are exempt from city, state and federal taxes." The teams need the additional bonds because costs have gone up. And since the city and state are paying for hundreds of millions in infrastructure ("parks, garage and transportation improvements"), it turns out, unsurprisingly, that those infrastructure costs have gone up, too. The Independent Budget Office tells the Times, "The additional costs that have emerged make it quite likely that that the city’s net benefit number is now negative.”

In a striking reversal, developer Bruce Ratner has halted work at a location that is integral to his controversial $4.2 billion plan to build a Nets basketball arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn. Ratner has previously insisted that work would continue despite lawsuits attempting to stop the project, even vowing to break ground on the stadium this month. Now a spokesman for his comany, Forest City Ratner, tells the Daily News that "preliminary construction" at the MTA-owned Vanderbilt Rail Yards is being put on hold.

After the city has been taken to task in recent months for its dealings with the Yankees in the process of financing the team's new stadium--so far as being accused that it served no public interest--it can't be good PR for the Bloomberg administration for everyone to know just how strongly they pushed to get the best luxury box possible for themselves. Well new e-mails made public do just that in revealing how the mayor's office put on a full court press in its attempts to obtain a luxury box at the new Yankee Stadium.

    

This week the Yankees officially began moving from their old digs into the new Yankee Stadium. The process began Monday when members of the 1998 championship team helped move home plate, the pitching rubber and pails of dirt across the street into the new ballpark.

The Yankees have announced that they're not just going to give fans a playoff-contending lineup in exchange for a seat at the new Yankee Stadium, some of which will now cost up to $2500. The team says they plan to set up a network that would provide more ammunition for fans to give umpires the Bronx cheer by allowing them to get instant replays sent to their cellphones. They also are working on ways to give fans the ability to chat with one another and upload video during a game, as well as planning to install video screens on the backs of chairs. No word on whether the team will follow the lead of other stadiums and allow fans to send texts to the Jumbotron. In 2007, the St. Louis Cardinals were sued when 48,000 fans were told that a 17-year-old girl in attendance had an STD.

The Village Voice's Neil deMause is liveblogging the hearings about the financing of the new Yankee Stadium. Representative Dennis Kucinich has suggested that the $924 million the Yankees got in tax-exempt bonds may have been improper, hence these hearings. According to the Voice, Kucinich just said the Yankees withheld documents--requested in July--until Wednesday and says this is "evidence they don't want the truth to come out." In other Bombers' big money news, the Daily News' Mike Lupica suggests the Yankees will spend more crazy amounts to get talent so they can win 90 games in the new stadium.

Two years after the IRS proposed tightening rules governing the use of tax-exempt bonds, officials have finally issued a ruling that comes as a huge relief to developer and Nets' owner Bruce Ratner, who has been counting on raising up to $800 million in tax-exempt bonds to pay for a new Brooklyn arena. Though the IRS ruling limits the way tax-exempt bonds can be used in the future, the regulation doesn't apply to "certain projects substantially in progress." That includes not just the Nets arena, but also the new Yankees and Mets stadiums, which are being built with more than $1 billion in tax-exempt bonds and will now take advantage of the ruling to issue more bonds, according to the Times.

Representative Dennis Kucinich suggested approval for $924 million in tax-exempt bonds for the construction of the new Yankee Stadium could be rescinded, due to some questions about the land's value. He said his probe found "substantial evidence of improprieties and possible fraud by the financial architects of the new Yankees Stadium." Last week, the Daily News' Juan Gonzalez had a column noting the city's assessment of the land worked out to be $275/square foot -- but city assessors previously valued it at $25/square foot. The IRS noted the different valuations ($40 million vs. $204 million) and may investigate further. And speaking of new Yankee Stadium, WCBS 880 went on a tour and took some photos.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky had strong words--and a damning report--for the new Yankee Stadium yesterday. Brodsky believes the Yankees got too good a deal from the city, "This stadium is being built by the people of the city and the state of New York. In return, they’re getting almost nothing. This deal does not serve the public’s interest. It serves the Yankees’ interest.”

The AP got the scoop on opening days at the two new stadiums in 2009. The Mets will play at Citi Field on April 14, against the San Diego Padres. New Yankee Stadium will open with the Yanks against the Cleveland Indians on April 16. This year, the home openers for both teams were notable for stupid fan tricks: At Yankee Stadium, fans tried to steal bunting/banner while at Shea, some guys kicked a seat to pieces and tried to smuggle it out. Mets fans will get a chance to buy Shea seats--a pair goes for $869--this Monday.

Tickets for top of the line Mets tickets at will nearly double next year when they move into Citi Field. That means that seats right behind the dugout will go for just under $500 a pop. At Shea this year, Mets tickets are already the fourth most expensive in the league.

The NY Yankees has reportedly asked city for $350 million more in public financing for its new stadium. The $1.3 billion project is currently under construction, and the urgency for additional funds in the form of tax-free bonds ranges from Assemblyman Richard Brodsky saying "the Yankees said they couldn't complete the Stadium without additional financing" to the NYC Economic Development Corporation president saying the Yankees are just making "informal inquiries."

Baseball is full of superstitions. Some pitchers don't step on the foul lines. Some announcers don't say the phrase "no-hitter" or "perfect game" while a pitcher is working on them. And some rogue construction workers just keep on burying Red Sox artifacts in the new Yankee Stadium. The same guy who buried the (fake) David Ortiz jersey now says he buried an official scorecard from the 2004 American League Championship Series, the best-of-seven playoff round in which the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit.

In spite of threats from the Yankees front office, the Bronx DA's office won't prosecute the construction worker who buried a Red Sox jersey in the new Yankee Stadium.

Leaving no potential curse to chance, the Yankees had the Red Sox jersey (allegedly) buried in cement at the new Yankee Stadium removed with great fanfare in front of press yesterday. The David Ortiz jersey, buried by a Yankee-hating construction worker, was found thanks to a $50,000 excavation in the future behind-home-plate restaurant.

The three-day quasi-nightmare for-superstitious Yankees fans is over: The Red Sox jersey buried in cement by a Yankee-hating construction worker along the third base line at the new Yankee Stadium has been found and will be removed today in an "extraction ceremony."

The Bronx-born Yankee-hating and Red Sox-loving construction worker who buried a Red Sox jersey in the new Yankee Stadium has given photographic evidence to the Post proving it's no tall tale. "Gino" explained, "As I stuck it in, I said, 'The Yankees are done for the next 30 years.' I only put a 30-year curse because I'm 46 and in 30 years I'll be dead, and I won't care if the Yankees win then."

Given that only time will tell, it may be a little premature to proclaim the new, currently under construction Yankee Stadium cursed. But the NY Post suggested just that, as two workers from the concrete crew claim a Red Sox fan buried a Sox shirt.

            

Move over baseball! Because the New Yankee Stadium will have so many amenities that you won't even need to watch a game. The Yankees unveiled a nifty website showing all the premium amenities that they're offering in the stadium that opens in 2009. The website, Yankees Premium, shows "An exclusive experience, for those with discerning taste, who seek the very best, that life has offer." Four levels of suites are offered at the stadium - the Club Suite ($700/seat/game), the Legends Suite ($500/seat/game), Main Level Outdoor Suite ($350/seat/game), and for those with smaller wallets, the measly Terrace Level Outdoor Suite ($100/seat/game).

You may have heard that New York City will have two new ballparks to attend in 2009. Of course that means that Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will close their doors forever after the 2008 season. And if you want to be there for the last scheduled game at either venue, you better have a lot of money. Tickets for the finale at Yankees Stadium are being scalped online for as much as $17,000 with tickets for the Shea Stadium finale, and last chance to see the Home Run Apple, going for “only” up to $6,000.

It may be the off-season, but Yankees fans can look forward to something other than February 14th (that's pitchers and catchers reporting, not Valentine's Day). With the installation of an etched sign at the new stadium for the Yankees that says "Yankee Stadium," Opening Day, 2009 seems a little closer. The sign, etched in gold-leafed stone, was installed yesterday morning on the facade of the main entranceway to the new field.