For months, the Yankees have been trying to secure a boxing ticket for the new Yankee Stadium, and rumors indicate that the team is close to doing so. According to the Daily News, Yuri Foreman and Miguel Cotto are nearing an agreement to fight at the Stadium in June. Yet, a Bar Mitzvah might throw those plans for a loop. According to a Times report, the Yankees are targeting Saturday, June 5 for the boxing bout, but the team has also promised that night to Jonathan Ballan, the team’s lead bond lawyer for new stadium financing, for his son’s Bar Mitzvah. The sticking point in negotiations is the scoreboard. The Yanks have allowed Ballan and his family use of the scoreboard for 30 minutes, and as Belson writes, “the 30,000 or so fans expected at the bout would probably not enjoy seeing a montage of Ballan family photos on the scoreboard.”
The team expects a simple resolution to this problem and plan to reach an agreement over the price of the Bar Mitzvah by the end of the week. Bob Arum, the boxing promoter working to set up this fight, has promised the family a meet-and-greet with Foreman and some autographed baseballs from the team. What more would a 13-year-old want anyway?
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