Yanks to take away ballpark freedom
ByBoth Jason at IIATMS and Ross at NSI wrote on some dismaying fan-related developments in Yankeeland on Wednesday. The Yankees have updated their A-to-Z ballpark guide, and with that update comes the news that fans who are not ticketed for the field level will not have access to that area during batting practice or to the food-filled concourses ringing the lower bowl.
So while we could on Tuesday report the good news of increased access to batting practice, today we bemoan the fact that people with seats in the upper reaches of the park will have to watch BP from way up high. The old stadium held open hours during BP, and patrons didn’t have to take their seats until well after the teams were finished hitting. This move just rubs me the wrong way, and as Ross notes, it’s completely anathema to the current trends in stadium access. Hopefully, this provision will be unenforced during the pre-game action.
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The Mason Williams Watch
That SUCKS!!
That is one thing that always annoyed me about the stadium. That I can go to any other stadium and before the game go by the dugout or anywhere else I wanted to. Now they make it even worse by not even letting us downstairs.
It’s pretty outrageous, especially when the Yankees actually cited the need for a more diverse dining menu as one of their reasons for needing a new stadium, that said dining options are only available to fans with 7-figure incomes. To treat fans who can’t pay for $100+ seats, but still are spending a ton to go to games as 2nd class citizens is pretty offensive.
That being said though when people start to realize that this is the case during the first homestand of the season, there’s going to be a huge public outcry on the talkshows and in the media. Kind of like the time they started selling Crunch N’ Munch instead of Cracker Jack or when they covered up the out-of-town scoreboard with advertising. Both of those decisions were reversed very quickly and I have a feeling this one will be as well, at least in terms of the concourses.
Seriously, that’s just awful. Why are they doing this? Does this also mean if you aren’t buying a $500 ticket you can’t visit the new Monument Park?
That better not be the case. That’s the reason dads bring their kids to Yankee Stadium.
Thats just plain old retarded. It’s not like the rich people who have those seats are going to be there before the first pitch anyway.
Very dissapointing
A lot of them don’t show up until after the game starts. Gimme a break, this is ridiculous.
Well, maybe the Yankees will learn their lesson and fix their mistake when the lower bowl is completely empty for BP… or when the rest of the fans stop showing up for BP due to the new rules.
And if randomly the lower part was packed one day, then security could bar people that day.
Yeah, usually I’m the first one to play devil’s advocate and defend the evil, corporate, soul-sucking selfish actions of the Yankee organization, but I got nothing here.
I can’t think of a single good reason to ban fans from walking around the stadium that they paid money to enter multiple hours before the game actually starts. Nonsensical. Stupid and thoughtless. Needlessly and fruitlessly fan-unfriendly.
Bad Idea Jeans, Yankees. Time for a rethink.
(The good news is, as we all now know, Girardi, Cashman and the Brothers Stein all personally read RAB daily, so if we keep complaining about this, they’ll change it eventually.)
If you are the first, then I am the 2nd…not this time tho. Im freakin pissed as all hell right now.
“Yeah, usually I’m the first one to play devil’s advocate and defend the evil, corporate, soul-sucking selfish actions of the Yankee organization, but I got nothing here.”
Dude, if you said “hey you get what you pay for, suck it upper deck fans,” I think I may have spontaneously combusted.
Dude, if you said “hey you get what you pay for, suck it upper deck fans,” I think I may have spontaneously combusted.
You don’t like our policy? GO GET A SECOND AND THIRD JOB AND MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY GOOD SEATS LIKE THE REST OF US SMART RICH AWESOME PEOPLE, YOU PUSSY LOSER SLACKER COMMIES!!!!
Sincerely,
Randy Levine
I’m a fan of Bob Odenkirk. Great Job!
Ah, Mr. Show. Good times.
I’ll probably (understandably) get killed for saying this here… But stuff like this (lack of lower concourse access) makes me, just a little, kinda hope that the Yankees don’t sell all of those field-level seats. It’d be nice payback for the hubris and lack of consideration for long-time fans (and the community) that they’ve showed in this whole process.
If anything, they should be opening up the concourses and encouraging fans to walk all the way down to the uber-expensive seats just to give us a taste of what we would all love to eventually buy one day.
When you walk on a car dealership asking to see a reasonably priced Chevy Tahoe, does the salesman immediately rope off the Escalade and not even allow you to sit in it and fantasize?
Agreed. You know what my reaction is (to not being able to go early and be in the lower deck)? If I can get there early, I’ll be at the bar across the street, NOT spending my money in the stadium.
Yankee Tavern will get my money. They can keep their extra hour. Ill go the first few times Im there and then I will walk in at 1 or 7 just in enough time to get to my seat. I will already have eaten and drank.
I thought I’d let a few minutes pass and maybe this wouldn’t piss me off so much, but this really bothers me. Accuse me of being a little too sensitive about this, but the lack of access even to the lower CONCOURSES really bothers me. While I don’t agree with it, I think there’s an argument to be made for closing off the seating areas to attendees who are not ticketed for those areas. I don’t love that idea (I mean, come on, it’s batting practice, 3 hours prior to first pitch), but I could live with that if it weren’t for the lack of concourse access. The lack of concourse access just smacks of classism to me, and it bothers me. It feels like they don’t want the hoi polloi hanging out downstairs.
The whole thing is crap. If someone takes their kids to a game and wants to go down and hang out near the field 3 hours before first-pitch when nobody is in the field seats yet, they should be able to. And everyone should always be able to walk around all of the concourses, that part is just indefensible.
Exactly. I got Tier tickets to next Saturdays exhibition game and was extremely excited that I would get to walk around and get a real good look at the whole stadium.
This is total BS and I am extremely pissed. I kinda feel smacked in the face. So because I can’t afford 150 or whatever the tickets cost, I cant have access to even another food concourse or parts of the stadium.
Petition?
Ill be there Fri and Sat and they are gonna have to arrest me if they think they are going to stop me from walking around the whole stadium.
Agreed, seats in the loge for Opening Day, I was planning on getting there early and taking it in.
I still havent given up on opening day. Someone is going to make a nice profit off my obsession.
I’m still waiting for you to adopt me as your “son” so that I can benefit from your ticket purchasing generosity and memorabilia acquiring largess.
I can make a good “ballgame companion”, if you know what I mean. (wink wink)
Too late, next year my daughter graduates, which means she is home for more games, which means I have to buy her tickets for more games, which means you are shit out of luck..if ya know what I mean (wink wink)
Yes, but… there’s nothing like a mother-son relationship. It’s special. I’ll cherish you and your free Yankee tickets in a way your daughter NEVER could!
[/clutching at straws]
Ha ha..you DON”T know my daughter!!
I already get “I hate you” messages from her when Im at games and she is at school, if I adopt a son she might jump off a building LOL. Of course my response to her is “well, who the hell told you to go to college in Miami”.
Of course my response to her is “well, who the hell told you to go to college in Miami”.
She’s a genius. If I had the opportunity to go back in time and do college over again, I definitely would have gone to school in either California or Florida.
Why I didn’t choose to spend my age 18-21 years somewhere warm and in close proximity to beaches and girls in bikinis is beyond me. I’m an idiot.
She loves it there, but counts the days till she comes back here. The world starts and ends with NYC in her eyes (ok, in mine too).
She looked at schools all over, the only place she wouldnt go was NE saying “Im NOT living with Sox fans on an everyday basis, Id rather live in the basement with 14 cats for the rest of my life”
Did I raise her well or what?
Yeah. My cousin went to Merrimack to play football up there. Being surrounded by all those Sox fans was a horror show. He could barely study over the constant sound of knuckles dragging.
(RAB Commenting Guideline #10: Everyone is allowed to stereotype Red Sox fans as GEICO Cavemen.)
It’s just wrong. I’m like imagining this blue collar family wanting to bring their kids down to the field to get a closer look and some autographs and being turned away… while on the other side, some privileged snobs are sitting in their seats playing with cell phones bored as can be.
Yes, because the normal outrage over this simple gaffe isn’t enough, we have to sensationalize it by portraying those rich people as not “real” fans who don’t really give a shit about the Yankees like us hardworking Joe the Plumbers do.
(rolls eyes)
I can’t help it, I think like a political advisor/strategist. Put a face on a sob story, sell it to the media, get results.
I gotcha.
The Daisy and Willie Horton ads worked. They were morally despicable, but they worked.
Shock and awe, shock and awe.
I’m picturing the spot right now:
Bernie Madoff’s 12 year old son sitting in the first row. Jeter walks up to him and says “Hey, kid, you want an autograph?” and Bernie Jr. tells him to fuck off, he’s busy FOREX trading on his new unreleased BlackBerry Adamantium. He then blows his nose with a signed Mickey Mantle baseball card and throws it on the ground. The camera pans 20 rows back and a sad little kid with dirt on his hand-made Jeter tee-shirt cries a single tear, along with his guardian, a half-naked Native American man (who also cries a single tear.)
Then the stadium blows up in a fiery mushroom cloud, interspersed with subliminal freeze-frame images of and Elliot Spitzer look-alike soliciting prostitutes.
(I’m also willing to substitute Bernie Jr. with someone dressed up like Richie Rich, or maybe one of P.Diddy’s kids.)
Spot on, except for the Native American (he was an Italian actor by the way). Make it a Korean War veteran and now we’re talking.
Well that’s just not right.
Nonviolent resistance yall. Just go where you please.
Homer: We’re here! We’re queer! We don’t want anymore bears!
Crowd: We’re here! We’re queer! We don’t want anymore bears!
Lenny: Hey, that’s a pretty catchy chant. Where did you hear it?
Homer: Oh, I heard it at the mustache parade they have every year.
Are we common people really so offensive to be around?
all the money and front row tickets in the world can’t make rich folk any better than the rest of us. I hope sometime during batting practice when they look over and watch stadium security telling some little kid he can’t go get Jeter’s autograph because he ticket was too cheap, that they finally feel ashamed of themselves
Yeah really. We’re gypsies to them. I’m going to show up to games with a violin and drape myself in assorted cheap fabrics.
UNION YES, I am going to look through your treasures, is this understood?
Give me your tears, gypsie.
Are we common people really so offensive to be around?
Yes.
You smell like cheap Dunkin Donuts coffee and K-Mart brand generic soap.
I smell like jasmine, chamomile, and fresh, uncirculated $100,000 bills.
Sincerely,
Randy Levine
You smell like cheap Dunkin Donuts coffee
I take resemblance to that!
I do not smell like cheap dunkin donuts coffee.
my distinguished aroma is that of whiskey, fine tobacco, and clothes washed with the best detergents…a month and a half ago. It’s quite intoxicating actually, and if you don’t believe me on that one Randy, just ask Mrs. Levine.
As a decidedly not rich fan, I can only see one reason why they would do this (besides wanting to be dicks). They don’t want the rich people to have to tell the dirty plebes to get out of their seats when the richies show up 20 minutes into the ballgame. It’s uncomfortable to tell someone to move.
But there are any of a million ways the Yankees could avoid that situation AND allow access.
I wonder if its a game for Levine and his cronies to see how badly they can shit on the fans and still have the place be sold out? And I wonder if they realize that us being in the worst recession since the Big D probably means the dirty huddled masses will be laughing at them when they don’t sell out a Tuesday night game versus the Mariners….
They didn’t let us in the field level seats in the old place with the exception of the outfield. Im not saying they have to let us in the seats, but is it really a big deal to let us walk around before the game?
Yea, Im one of those that is still going to go to games no matter what, but I certainly don’t have to be happy about it.
As a decidedly not rich fan, I can only see one reason why they would do this (besides wanting to be dicks). They don’t want the rich people to have to tell the dirty plebes to get out of their seats when the richies show up 20 minutes into the ballgame. It’s uncomfortable to tell someone to move.
Meh, that’s what security is for.
If there’s anything the obnoxiously rich enjoy, it’s being a vicarious tough-guy by ordering security to have someone removed. It will be part of the thrill of the ballpark experience.
“Oh, Wellington, you were so brave standing up to those awful Mexicans who wanted to sit in our seats!”
RAB Commenting Guideline #9:
TSJC is the only commenter who is allowed to stereotype rich people.
(Sorry buddy… Don’t kill the messenger.)
You sided with management. SCAB!
(Sorry buddy… Don’t kill the messenger.)
My stereotyping is done in jest. I don’t expect people to really believe that Randy Levine smells like chamomile.
However, the stereotypical meme that rich people who sit in the expensive seats don’t really care about the game and aren’t true fans is hackneyed, flawed, and probably needs to be retired. The comment you referenced wasn’t jovially silly, it was plaintive and emotional.
I get it, we’re upset that fans like us who can only afford $20 tickets don’t get catered to the way rich people who can afford $1000 tickets do. But that doesn’t mean that rich people who can afford $1000 tickets are somehow less “diehard” or “hardcore” Yankee fans than we are. I objected to the “some privileged snobs are sitting in their seats playing with cell phones bored as can be.” characterization of all rich Yankee fans as quasi-fans. His stereotypical comment was not in the spirit of mocking, obviously ridiculous humorous ridicule, it was in the spirit of taking broad and flawed generalizations about disparate groups of people to draw sweeping and erroneous conclusions to bolster an appeal to emotion logical fallacy.
Apples and oranges.
“I objected to the ‘some privileged snobs are sitting in their seats playing with cell phones bored as can be.’ characterization of all rich Yankee fans as quasi-fans.”
Meh. I hear you, but I think you’re doing a lot of rationalizing there. The comment I responded to wasn’t of the “Randy Levine smells like chamomile” variety, it was a comment in which you mocked rich people for being obnoxious and living vicariously through security guards. I just think you were maybe being a bit hypocritical. In any event, it was a joke, I know you were kidding and I was just kidding in response.
“I get it, we’re upset that fans like us who can only afford $20 tickets don’t get catered to the way rich people who can afford $1000 tickets do. But that doesn’t mean that rich people who can afford $1000 tickets are somehow less “diehard” or “hardcore” Yankee fans than we are.”
On this topic… Obviously you can’t generalize and say that rich people who can afford expensive seats aren’t good fans of the team. But can you hypothesize that, or wonder if, they, on the whole, might not be as hardcore in their fandom as the fans who would buy those tickets if they were cheaper? I think you can. I think that if ticket-purchasers were all on an even playing field, the composition of the fans sitting in the now-expensive seats would be more hardcore than it is when admission to those seats is limited only to the very wealthy. The pool of people who could potentially sit in the most expensive seats is exceedingly low when compared to the general pool of prospective ticket-purchasers. Add to that the fact that a pretty decent portion of the people sitting in the most expensive seats are not ticket-purchasers, but rather have been given those tickets by a corporation. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s crazy at all to guess that the people sitting in the most expensive seats aren’t as “hardcore” as fans in the upper deck or bleachers, and I don’t think that in order to hold that opinion you have to also think that rich people are less hardcore in their fandom because they’re rich.
On this topic… Obviously you can’t generalize and say that rich people who can afford expensive seats aren’t good fans of the team.
Good. Let’s not, then.
But can you hypothesize that, or wonder if, they, on the whole, might not be as hardcore in their fandom as the fans who would buy those tickets if they were cheaper? I think you can.
Sure. It would be a false narrative, but yeah, you COULD hypothesize it.
You’re about to hypothesize it, aren’t you? FUCKBEANS!!! I was hoping you weren’t going to.
I think that if ticket-purchasers were all on an even playing field, the composition of the fans sitting in the now-expensive seats would be more hardcore than it is when admission to those seats is limited only to the very wealthy.
You think that because you WANT to think that. Know this going in, that you have a narrative that fits nicely with populist sentiment that you’re hoping to validate.
The pool of people who could potentially sit in the most expensive seats is exceedingly low when compared to the general pool of prospective ticket-purchasers.
Which means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about either group’s fanhood, but continue.
Add to that the fact that a pretty decent portion of the people sitting in the most expensive seats are not ticket-purchasers, but rather have been given those tickets by a corporation.
That’s probably false. I’d warrant that a majority of the luxury boxes are bought by corporations, but I don’t think a “pretty decent portion” of the most expensive, field level seats are owned by corporations. They’re owned by people who make exorbitant salaries working for corporations, sure, but they’re fans who are buying tickets for their own enjoyment, not as a business writeoff. There’s a lot of millionaires in New York City. Real, living, flesh and blood millionaires who have real passions about things, like the Yankees, for example.
In any event, corporations buy those seats/luxury boxes for their business value, and that business value is basically that they can wine and dine clients who are BASEBALL FANS. If I’m a wealthy prospective client of Citicorp but I’m from Argentina and I don’t give a shit about baseball, what good does it do for Citicorp to take me to a Yankee game? Many of those corporate seats/boxes are used as promotional tools/rewards for employees. You do good, the boss takes you out to a Yankee game. You kinda have to be a Yankee fan for that reward to have value.
I don’t know, I don’t think it’s crazy at all to guess that the people sitting in the most expensive seats aren’t as “hardcore” as fans in the upper deck or bleachers, and I don’t think that in order to hold that opinion you have to also think that rich people are less hardcore in their fandom because they’re rich.
But why? You still haven’t answered the why. There’s a bunch of guesses in here, but no why.
If I’m stanky rich and can buy whatever I want, it means that in addition to buying $1000 seats to the Yankees, I could buy Knicks or Jets tickets, or Broadway play tickets, or drink Santana Champagne on my boat, etc. etc. I choose to spend that on Yankees tickets because I love the Yankees. I could easily spend my disposable income elsewhere, but I choose to spend it here because of my fanhood.
I think these spoiled, nonchalant, absent rich fans we’re portraying is probably a tiny portion of the field level seats in question (like, 1-2%) and most rich fans are just as hardcore as we are. They were just lucky enough to make the cash to buy the tickets that we’d buy if we were in their place.
“Sure. It would be a false narrative, but yeah, you COULD hypothesize it.”
(then later…)
“You think that because you WANT to think that.”
So i can’t make a guess at something and then evaluate whether that guess might be right or wrong? And you can accuse me of “thinking something because I want to think it” and at the same time you can shoot down a hypothesis before addressing its relative merits (whether you agree with them or not)? I know you got annoyed the last time I said this, but I think that might be a tad hypocritical.
I think that if ticket-purchasers were all on an even playing field, the composition of the fans sitting in the now-expensive seats would be more hardcore than it is when admission to those seats is limited only to the very wealthy.
You think that because you WANT to think that. Know this going in, that you have a narrative that fits nicely with populist sentiment that you’re hoping to validate.
I’m not being snarky here, please explain to me why I’m wrong if I’m completely off on this… Is it really that unreasonable to think that, if all prospective ticket-purchasers were to have the same purchasing power, that the composition of the fans sitting in the best seats might be a bit different? Operating on the assumption (which is pretty tough to argue with) that there are many more hardcore fans that cannot afford the best seats than there are hardcore fans who can afford the most expensive seats… Is it really that unreasonable to think that, if the playing field were even, then the composition of the fans in the most expensive seats would be more hardcore because people would be buying tickets because they’re hardcore and not because they have more purchasing power? You’d be deleting a bar to entry (wealth) and many people who currently cannot get those tickets would vie to purchase them.
“That’s probably false. I’d warrant that a majority of the luxury boxes are bought by corporations, but I don’t think a “pretty decent portion” of the most expensive, field level seats are owned by corporations. They’re owned by people who make exorbitant salaries working for corporations, sure, but they’re fans who are buying tickets for their own enjoyment, not as a business writeoff. There’s a lot of millionaires in New York City. Real, living, flesh and blood millionaires who have real passions about things, like the Yankees, for example.”
Neither of us is going to be able to prove our respective points on this one, but I disagree with you here. You can’t prove your side and I can’t prove mine, all evidence is purely anecdotal. But don’t act like you’re definitely right and I’m definitely wrong, on this point, just because you say so. Purely anecdotal evidence, tear me to shreds if you please – I’ve sat down low, in the first few rows, on many occasions the last few years. Always in seats owned by a corporation, and I always saw a ton of little placards on the boxes with the names of business entities on them and not individuals’ names. I think more of those seats go to business entities than you think. Again, it’s an opinion thing, unless someone has some informed input.
In any event, corporations buy those seats/luxury boxes for their business value, and that business value is basically that they can wine and dine clients who are BASEBALL FANS. If I’m a wealthy prospective client of Citicorp but I’m from Argentina and I don’t give a shit about baseball, what good does it do for Citicorp to take me to a Yankee game? Many of those corporate seats/boxes are used as promotional tools/rewards for employees. You do good, the boss takes you out to a Yankee game. You kinda have to be a Yankee fan for that reward to have value.
Again, that’s just, like, your opinion, man. I’ve been in that corporate environment, and I can tell you from my own experience that those corporate seats definitely did not go to hardcore fans very often. It’s surprising, but more often than you’d expect, there would be emails floating around late in the day trying to give the tickets away (our tickets or even clients’ tickets) because they were going unclaimed. You also tend to get the “oh well I’d like to go to my one game a year, so I’ll take the company’s tickets” people, who tend to not be hardcore fans but just want to check out a day at the ballpark. There’s nothing wrong with that, obviously. But just because you think those tickets are going to hardcore fans doesn’t make it so, no matter how humorously you put it.
I don’t know, I don’t think it’s crazy at all to guess that the people sitting in the most expensive seats aren’t as “hardcore” as fans in the upper deck or bleachers, and I don’t think that in order to hold that opinion you have to also think that rich people are less hardcore in their fandom because they’re rich.
But why? You still haven’t answered the why. There’s a bunch of guesses in here, but no why.
Because I think that by deleting the bar to entry, you’d have a situation in which the competition for tickets would take the form of being first to get to those seats you want, and not a situation in which the competition is diluted because a relatively tiny number of people can afford the seats in the first place. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
If I’m stanky rich and can buy whatever I want, it means that in addition to buying $1000 seats to the Yankees, I could buy Knicks or Jets tickets, or Broadway play tickets, or drink Santana Champagne on my boat, etc. etc. I choose to spend that on Yankees tickets because I love the Yankees. I could easily spend my disposable income elsewhere, but I choose to spend it here because of my fanhood.
That’s great, but does nothing to bolster your point that the composition of the lower deck is just as hardcore today as it would be if there were an even financial playing field.
I think these spoiled, nonchalant, absent rich fans we’re portraying is probably a tiny portion of the field level seats in question (like, 1-2%) and most rich fans are just as hardcore as we are. They were just lucky enough to make the cash to buy the tickets that we’d buy if we were in their place.
I NEVER portrayed rich fans as spoiled, nonchalant and absent. As for the rest, I’m sure it was dealt with somewhere above.
(Exhausted and over this whole thing. Closing argument: You suck.)
This conversation sucks but I just thought of another angle that might be interesting. Does age play a role in this whole thing? The people who think the fans down low aren’t as hardcore anymore (whether you agree with them or not), is what they’re seeing really an age thing? The young (not children, I mean teens through 20s or 30s) fans probably tend to not be wealthy enough to buy the really expensive seats. Is part of what’s triggering this idea that the fans down low aren’t as hardcore the possibility that maybe those fans come from older (middle aged and up) and younger (children) age groups, because those people (middle aged and up) tend to be more wealthy? Maybe that’s why they “seem” less “hardcore?”
(Shoots self in head.)
Ok one more thing. You’re right, I started with an assumption – that the fans in the most expensive seats are, on the whole, less hardcore – then I looked for reasons why. At least that’s what I intended. If it came off differently or if I misspoke, my bad. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying “the fans in the more expensive seats seem/feel less hardcore to me, in my personal experience,” and then questioning what the reasons behind that observation might be. Like I just said, maybe there’s some other issue, like age, at play here. And you can attack the assumption all you want, I admit it’s based on anecdotal evidence and could just be wrong. But my intention was to take my observation and then question why it is that I (and I think many others) feel that way. Hopefully that clears things up a bit.
I just remembered a post Cliff Corcoran wrote over at Bronx Banter (excerpts below) that echoes some of my ideas about who (corporations vs. individuals) are buying (or can buy) the most expensive seats in the new Stadium. This conversation has clearly been abandoned, I just thought I’d throw it up here as a response to how flippantly you replied to my comment. You’re free to disagree with me; we’ve both been commenting here for a long time and I don’t think we’ve ever had a problem with each other. But I think you should maybe think a little more before you hit the “add comment” button sometimes, you don’t always need to take an insulting tone.
http://bronxbanter.baseballtoa.....32497.html
I’ll put it as plainly as I can. The new Yankee Stadium has been conceived and built exclusively for the high-end luxury customer. It is not for Yankee fans; it is for corporations and the super-rich. It is an oversized ATM built primarily with public money, and the cash it spits out will go directly into the coffer of the New York Yankees, a private corporation. It is a monument to corruption, greed, and the failures of our municipal and state governments to act in the best interests of the people they are supposed to represent, and a vile and disgusting insult to all but the wealthiest of Yankee fans.
A closer look at the relocation guide reveals that huge swaths of the seating bowl representing the best seats in the ballpark are available only to full-season ticket holders and are being sold on a multi-year basis, pushing the commitment price for those seats toward, and in some cases past, a million dollars per seat, forcing many long-time individual ticket holders to release seats that have been in their families for generations.
The comment you referenced wasn’t jovially silly, it was plaintive and emotional
If that was in refernce to my silly rant, it was supposed to be in jest. Though I do often forget that there are “rich” Yankee fans (in fact there are probably millions of them), I was sharing in the general frustration that the Yankees seem to not be caring about experience for the common fan.
If anything, the rationale of not wanting to tell people to move out of their seats is one of the only reasons I can see for not allowing more free access during the BP session. It is a headache for security/ushers/and the people who paid for the expensive seats (may have to work and not be able to get to the ballpark in time to enjoy the full BP session) to ask people to move out of their seats when they arrive. If you’re the Yankees, why pay ushers to tell people to go back to their seats when people start showing up?
It sucks that everyone doesnt have equal access, but the Yankees are a business not the government. The fans who sit in the expensive seats fund the team on the field just as much as those in the bleachers. If the Yankees want to cater to them, I can’t blame them. But if I ever have enough money to pay for things like season tickets in the lower reserved area, I’ll remember my experience as the common fan and decide accordingly.
And if you weren’t referencing me, I’ll stop my explanation now.
It was I that made this gaffe.
Wasn’t even really a gaffe, either.
I just blew shit out of proportion, and then Mondesi came along and re-blew it even further out of proportion, and then it became a huge blowing contest to see who was better at blowing stuff.
No, wait, forget I said that… bad explanation.
Let us never speak of this again.
Speak for yourself, I just pointed out your silly little hypocrisy. You’re the one who had to get all sensitive about the whole thing. You blew it before I did. Wait. Fuck.
guys, i think you are both missing the point:
how would Led Zeppelin feel about this?
“If that was in refernce to my silly rant, it was supposed to be in jest. .”
Wasn’t talking about your comment.
That will never stand, think about the outrage in the press there is going to be over this. It’s just typical Yankee drama.
Thanks for all of the love you throw our way, RAB. We’ll have to meet up at a game this year. You are the best Yankee fan blog on the interwebs, and it would be great to meet you guys!
Everything you just said is true.
You should thank us, we do have to meet, we are the best, and it would be great to meet us.
By the way – you messed up the link, so it isn’t linking to our page, or Jason’s.
Check it out
Reminds me of the Titanic. Gorgeous edifice for the well to do and they will keep the have nots in steerage (upper decks, bleachers). And great recession of 09 is the tip of the iceberg.
RAB, I have an idea for you. Start putting out some subversive t-shirts. I want to wear something at games that show my dissatisfaction with these greedy and mean-spirited actions. RAB and like minded Yankee blogs can sell them. Make some sort of alliance, I don’t care. Lets fill the seats with these shirts and get noticed. If I can piss a few people off, I’d be happy.
Any ideas for shirts? I have one that’s not really related to this particular issue, but here goes: “Hank Steinbrenner is a Mets fan” or “I won’t pay for your $8 dollar beers, I got drunk in the parking lot.”
“I won’t pay for your $8 dollar beers, I got drunk in the parking lot.”
I like it, but it’ll make me look silly when I’m standing in line for a beer. Because, come, let’s be serious here. Beers will be enjoyed.
It’s true, it’s true. I’ve purchased Becks in paper cups. Embarrasing. Those paper cups are pieces of shit too. I’ve had one of those damn cups collapse on me from the bottom. It’s like they were manufactured to discourage the milking and casual drinking of beers.
You gotta drink faster!
Some Southerner was lecturing me about beer cozies the other day, I had the same response to him. If your beer gets warm, you aint drinkin fast enough.
Some Southerner was lecturing me about beer cozies the other day.
Billy Carter?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com.....1211659586
Yeah, I don’t know. Something about chugging an $8 Becks doesn’t sit well with me, otherwise I’d agree.
Yeah I’ll give you that. Definitely didn’t want to race to those bathrooms at the old stadium!
Any ideas for shirts?
Randy Levine: I had sex with your wife
Randy Levine: I had sex with your wife
Say that and I feel like you would get audited, framed for a murder, and have sugar poured into your car’s gas tank….
AND THEN Levine would go to work on ya.
Steve Swindal: I had sex with your ex-wife
http://www.nedroid.com/bcpage1.html
#3,4
IETC
although i can see how the access to the seats can be restricted, is there ANY POSSIBLE WAY that the access to the concourse can be enforced?
i don’t think there is.
i guess i should wait until the stadium opens to see how it is set up, but i can’t imagine people will be restricted from spending their money at the food stands in the main bowl. makes no sense.
Its counter intuitive, why would the Yanks want to limit who can buy food where, if anything they’d want to make sure everyone has all kinds of access to food.
that’s why i think we should wait until the stadium opens before we freak out. i’ve never heard of anything like this.
also, what was old policy? were you technically not allowed to do the same thing?
is this just official policy that will never really matter?
Lar from Wezen-Ball had a similar complaint about US Cellular Field, the upper section didn’t have access to the lower, and the lower apparently had nicer concessions.
I struggle to think that the Yankees would restrict their concession revenues. It doesn’t seem to make business sense…..
I think you’re right. I’ll chill out and wait for reports from those people who go to the exhibitions next weekend and the opening weekend in April.
As someone with tickets on the Field Level I’m glad that they have this policy. There is a reason we pay mucho $ for the seats.
Pick one name and use it, bo/grant. If this doesn’t stop right now, you’ll be banned. Final warning.
You’re just fucking with us now, Bo. Admit it.
Grantbo is just an elaborate web-bot programmed to automatically take the opposite view of every topic.
You know? Dude hates everything, this can’t POSSIBLY be the one thing he loves wholeheartedly.
Ridiculous.
I don’t think a couple hundred people coming to watch batting practice will ruin your Yankee Experience©
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
socialist.
and im saying boo, not bo with emphasis
Actually, Bo is the farthest thing from socialist. If Bo was socialist, he’d tell you to sit next to him, share his popcorn with you, and split a Metrocard or any public transportation fare to get home.
If you think all other stadiums offer freedom of movement, you have never visited the awful junkpile in the middle of a parking nightmare called Dodger Stadium. Last summer I took my grandson on a baseball trip and the nasty guards would not even let us enter the park on the lower level and made us go up–and I mean UP– on the outside. We missed the player interaction with the fans that the Dodgers boast about. And when you hear people mocking Dodger fans for leaving early, it is only because they have never experienced the horrors of leaving Dodger Stadium.
I must say, San Diego has a wonderful park in contrast. It is just the sort of place mentioned. And Angel Stadium is perfectly nice (except that the Yankees were slaughtered there when I went).
is this is part of the policy that has everyone up in arms?
The food court located near Section 126 on the Field Level offers guests a taste of New York with a variety of concessions, including Boar¹s Head deli sandwiches, Famous Famiglia pizza and Asian cuisine. Please note that only Field Level and Legends ticket holders have access to the Field Level.
does this necessarily mean that you can’t get to the Field Level concourse? or does it just mean that you won’t be able to enter the actual seating bowl?
the rules do say this:
Guests are welcome to watch batting practice from their seat location.
but again, what did the old rules say? did they say the same thing?
if so, this might be much adieu about nothing.
or maybe not.
but we should wait and see…
Stop being so prudent.
also, from a comment on one of those blogs that were linked:
That being said, Yankee ticket reps are telling customers that the A-Z Guide is wrong, so we will have to pay attention for an update
could just be a simple misunderstanding.
if i cant walk around and look at the whole new stadium and the lower concourse im going to be pissed. I dont care about not being able to watch batting practice…but i want to see the rest of the stadium im in.
[...] Stadium Insider: Last week’s post regarding social stratification at the new Yankee Stadium caused quite a stir around the blogoverse. Apparently, Yankee management has heard the outrage and plans [...]