Assessing the New Yankee Stadium

Justin Thrift
Opinion

I think something needs to be said – The New Yankee Stadium is a sporting debacle. Yes, I realize this is quite a statement to make, but let me assure all of you Yankee fans out there right now that may be strongly resenting my words, everyone else in baseball is thinking the same thing.

As usual I’ll support my claim with some telling evidence, a little “baseball introspective”, if you will. This is going to be a fully in-depth investigation of point in case, so hang on, you’re going to need to keep track of your opinions.

First, let’s take the aesthetic functionality of the New Yankee Stadium. A 52 thousand plus sporting coliseum, this stadium is downright un-characteristically baseball. Once again, the Steinbrenner family has attempted a full out assault on the game of baseball with their endless pockets. You just don’t get it George, you can’t BUY baseball! Let’s examine some of the amenities of the new Stadium: over 11 hundred high definition video monitors, 56 luxury suites, a 59 by 101 foot video scoreboard, a steak house, a Hard Rock Café, luxury box-seat leather seating, sushi bars, and the list goes on and on. While all of this is incredibly lavish and impressive, ornate and regal, is this really baseball? The answer is a resounding no. Baseball is the all-American great past time. A game with dirt, grit and hot dogs. You get the family and go down to the ballpark on a Sunday afternoon and take in an American tradition; the Yankees are trying to mix this tradition with a trip to an expensive resort in Las Vegas. A sushi bar? At a baseball game? Let’s get real. This is almost as sickening as seeing baseball fans in Tampa hitting cowbells to rally team morale. So what the Yankees organization has done here is simple: they’ve taken the “baseball” out of the experience of going to Yankee Stadium. They’ve candy coated it for the new generation of giddy blinded baseball fans.

Which brings me to my next point. The Yanks have essentially spent over a billion dollars in manufacturing a park that alienates their truest fans. “What about the lifelong fans that can’t afford $400 tickets? Forget em’! The corporate sector deserves them more!” It’s a shame too because no where in the country is baseball as important to a city than in the Northeast. Now, you won’t turn on a Yankee game and see the famous Bleacher Creatures or even a fan that looks like they’re mildly excited to be there. You see rows of empty seats dispersed around the stadium, especially behind home plate where ticket prices reach their most asinine levels and Stadium security is so strict that even Jack Bauer would be hard pressed in sneaking down for an end-of-game seat upgrade. Honestly, I have never watched a more boring Red Sox-Yankee game than when Boston made their first trip to the New Yankee Stadium last month. It was wrong seeing empty seats and quiet fans behind Joba’s angry head.

And it continues. Bill Simmons recently nicknamed the New Stadium “Augusta” because of its uncanny resemblance to the great Master’s golf course where abundant silence yields the occasional polite golf clap. I love knowing that from now on, whenever my team travels to New York, they’re task will be somewhat lessened by the fact that they won’t have to deal with the complete daunting atmosphere of the old Stadium. Honestly, it used to be stressful watching a game from Yankee Stadium. It was always loud, personal, and frightening for opponents. Fans seem so distanced from the action now, almost separated.

And let’s not even go into the homerun problem. All I’ll say is that, yes, it’s a problem.

By this point, I think it’s clear that the Yankees have really screwed the pooch, and understandably so, many baseball fans across the country seem hesitant in voicing this opinion in front of a Yankee fan. It’s like your five year old son coming up to you with a painting he did in art class; naturally, it’s awful, and never in a million years would it ever count as a piece of reputable art. But you don’t say that, instead you smile, and congratulate him on his beautiful impressionistic landscape. It’s okay, he’s five.

But the Yankees aren’t five. They’re one of the most successful sporting franchises in the history of the earth and they have the money, championships, and history to prove it. From the perspective of a Red Sox fan, I couldn’t be happier. “The Evil Empire” has single handedly destroyed a piece of their great history and ruined one of the biggest advantages they had going for them: Yankee Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, their new stadium is a suiting fit for the direction their ball club is heading in. In terms of the Sox-Yanks, the Yanks surrendered their rivalry dominance in 2004 when they suffered the biggest flop in the history of the game at the hands of the Red Sox, a turning point for both clubs. Since then, the Sox have proven they are the new juggernaut in this classic feud between two Northeastern cities that will forever more resent each other. It’s ironic that The Yankees’ new stadium fits their new role description in the rivalry.

For me, I’m happier than ever to have Fenway Park to call home; from Fenway Franks to the manual scoreboard, the dark brick hallways to the intimate experience, truly it provides the quintessential baseball experience as it was meant to be enjoyed.

Sorry Yankee fans, it’s all down-hill from here.