Yankee Stadium: Old vs. New

I chose to write about a couple of stadiums that are/were used by one team. At the conclusion of the 2008 Major League Baseball season, the old Yankee stadium in New York completed its 88th and final year of hosting the Yankees. The new Yankees Stadium in New York just wrapped up their second regular season of hosting the Yankees, after they moved from their old ballpark across the street. In this paper I hope to compare some differences and similarities between the two stadiums. Specifically the cost of the stadiums, the amenities each one provides, and the differences a spectator may experience from visiting the new stadium compared to the old one. One of the main differences between the two stadiums is how much they cost. In 1923 the Old Yankee stadium was built for 2.5 million dollars. Compare that to the 1.3 billion dollar price tag on the new stadium, which started construction in 2006 (ballparks.com). Now I am not a financial genius, but I don’t think inflation made that big of a difference in an 83 year time period. I believe a majority of the price for the new stadium, which was primarily funded by the Yankees, was used to replicate the old stadium and make changes that would increase the baseball experience for fans, and increase revenue for the Yankees. Although the outfield in the new Yankee stadium has the same dimensions as the old stadium, there are quite a few differences off the field. Surprisingly there are almost 6600 fewer seats in the new stadium compared to the old one. The fewer seats however, allowed for bigger seats to be installed in the new stadium with 3.5 inches to 9.5 inches of extra leg room. Cup holders were not available in the old stadium, which meant fans would have to place their drinks on the ground and risk them meeting kicked or stepped on. In the new stadium, all general seating has cup holders. One of the major revenue producers for the Yankees is the addition of 410 party suites to the new stadium,

References: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/new_stadium_comparison.jsp http://www.ballparks.com