River Avenue Blues

A midtown showroom for the new suites

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Why are the Yankees building a New Yankee Stadium? To sell luxury suites. Who are the target customers for these luxury suites? Why, folks who would find a showroom for the suites on Fifth Ave. between 50th and 51st Sts. appealing.

According to Charles V. Bagli of The New York Times, the Yankees are set to open their very own Fifth Ave. showroom of sorts in January. The showroom will feature full-sized models of the luxury suites. What better to woe the suits at NBC and Tiffany & Co. who work in the neighborhood. The Cityroom blog has more:

The team just signed a lease at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, for a showroom for the new 51,000-seat stadium now under construction in the Bronx. When it opens in January, potential buyers will be able to walk into a series of plush models of the 57 luxury suites planned for that stadium, which is rising quickly just to the north of the Yankees’ historic home in the Bronx.

Buyers who visit the showroom on the 32nd floor will also get the opportunity to test out a few of the 5,000 to 10,000 wider, more thickly cushioned premium seats that will also go on sale when the stadium opens, presumably for the 2009 season. Premium seats, naturally, have the some of the best views of the action on the field.

Currently, luxury suites at Yankee Stadium sell from $2,8000 to $6,600 a game (or $265,000 to $350,000 for the season). You can bet those prices will head north in a hurry. That is, after all, why the Yankees are building a new stadium and daring to tear down a piece of baseball history.

In the end, I’m not sure if this is more or less disgusting than this pleasant story about Barry Bonds. It certainly is baseball economics on display.

Villone likely on postseason roster

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In what basically amounts to a throwaway column, Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record implies that Ron Villone will make the playoff squad. Can’t say I’m surprised, considering the Yanks will carry at least 11 pitchers. I’m not happy, though, since we know a Villone implosion is always one pitch away. Says Villone of his probable role as lefty specialist:

“It’s not my ideal role, but I’ll do whatever’s needed.”

Ron is correct. His ideal role is warming various seats in the bullpen. Unlike many lefty relievers, he doesn’t even have favorable stats against lefty hitters. I will be quite white-knuckled should he make an appearance in a tight game.

Recently at Breaking Balls…

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It’s going to be a slow weekend in Yankee-land. With three games to relax and rest the regulars before the October grind, Joe Torre’s going to be playing a lot of Wilson Betemit and Shelley Duncan and not too much Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui. I would like to see Ross Ohlendorf get into some games but more on that later.

Right now, I’d like to point you to some of the excellent work Tommy and Caleb are producing at Breaking Balls. Check it out:

Go read, comment and join the fun.

Game 159: Scrubs day!

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Gotta love the lineup tonight. Not much else to say. Enjoy watching some of the irregulars.

1. Johnny Damon, CF
2. Wilson Betemit, 3B
3. Hideki Matsui, LF
4. Jason Giambi, DH
5. Shelley Duncan, 1B
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Jose Molina, C
8. Bronson Sardinha, RF — first major league start for him, and for…
9. Alberto Gonzalez, SS

And on the mound, the reason I’m watching this game, No. 65, Phil Hughes.

On the availability of postseason Yankees tickets

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Yesterday afternoon, I received an interesting e-mail from a reader that I wanted to share with the group:

I was online Tuesday morning with all my account numbers and Ticketmaster accounts with credit card info saved and in place. In short I was ready to pull the trigger as soon as the tickets went on sale and I was able to get 2 games.

What i wanted to mention though is that when i clicked on “best available” at like 1 second after 10 a.m. I was able to get Tier Res. 34. I thought those were kind of weak tickets for such an early response. You think if I took the time to chose Main Reserve or something I could have done better? Just curious … it seemed like the system was set up to give you worst available than best?

This is an interesting question, and one I get asked a few times every season. TR 34 doesn’t quite seem like the “best” available at any point during the season. Yet, many people who try to get the playoff tickets get shafted. Why?

In short, the answer lies in the season ticket holders. All of the Yanks’ season ticket plans come with playoff preferences. Since a vast majority of season ticket holders hold seats for flex plans, they can’t all get what they would consider their own seats for the playoffs, but they do get early access to seats in the Stadium.

By the time the team releases the tickets to the general public, most of the seats – and all of the good seats – are already sold. That’s why people logging in at 10 a.m. get stuck with TR 34.

Had our reader opted for Main Reserve instead, he would have received equally as bad seats but would have been charged more for them. So pick your poison.