My Thoughts On The New Yankee Stadium

I told you I would get you my thoughts on the New Yankee Stadium (NYS), so, finally, here they are. I posted the pictures a few days ago which you can see here (and check out the captions to get a little bit of a description), but that only tells part of the story.

First, I'll say that I was one of those people who loved the old stadium. I have a ton of amazing memories there and every time I stepped out of the tunnel and saw the field, I got chills down my spine. I thought when the place was packed, there was no better home-field advantage in baseball--except maybe Fenway, but even there they could only pack in 20,000 less fans. I thought that moving out of a place with all that history and all those ghosts (2004 and recent years not included) was a big mistake for this team that seemed to be able to intimidate some opponents. I thought the idea of replacing this old ballpark with a new one was against everything I loved about the authenticity of baseball and the Yankees. I was worried about ticket prices going up combining with less cheap seats--a combination I felt would keep me from going to a lot of games. Sure there were problems with the old place, but I think it's what gave it the character it was so well-known for and produced some of the most memorable games in baseball history. The Yankees didn't need a new park and I knew it would feel weird seeing them play a home game someplace else.

I have to say I changed my mind a little upon seeing the new place. I went to both Cubs exhibition games. The first game I sat in Section 106 (row 24) and the second in section 234 (row 7). My first impression is that the place is massive. Like ridiculously massive. There are less seats than in the old ballpark but NYS is just huge. A walk around the whole stadium is a workout to say the least. But because of the extremely roomy concourse, it's actually quicker than in the old stadium. The nice part is there are really two concourses.

There's the outer one where the Great Hall is located and the inner one where the concessions and seats are located. The outer one is adorned with some awesome photos which pay homage to the great Yankee teams and players of past. The inner one is filled with a lot of different concessions (and photos of all the World Series winning teams), but are all positioned so you should be able to see what's going on on the field while you're grabbing some food. This is a huge difference (and one I noticed from going to a game in Pittsburgh this past season). While in the past you left the game when you when to grab some food, now you merely just leave your seats. That difference cannot be understated.

As for the seats themselves, I was a little disappointed in both seats I had...and these were the expensive seats! Section 106 had a fine view of the field, but being under the overhang, you couldn't even see the massive CF scoreboard! To make up for it, they had one HD TV propped up in every section. I can imagine there will be a lot of angry fans this summer when an umpire blows a call and they see the replay right above them. There is also some sort of vents right by the TVs as well. I wonder if this means there will be air conditioning flowing to these seats during the summer? I'm guessing no, but it'll be interesting to see. In Section 234, you had a nice view from the other side of the stadium of the whole field...except you couldn't see the wall in left! So when the ball went to the wall on the first hit of the game, we couldn't tell if it was a homerun or not. I know it's impossible to build a place with no obstructed views, but a new stadium like this has way too many obstructed views and way, way too many views that are partially obstructed.

I bought most of the games I will be going to in the Grandstand, but my opinion is that for $10 less, you're much better off sitting in the bleachers, where I think you get a better view. Unlike the old stadium, you are free to walk around the entire stadium from the bleachers, buy beer, and interact with the rest of the crowd. The one place you will not be able to interact with the crowd? Right by the dugout. To keep us poor, unruly fans out, they actually constructed a concrete wall. So those seats (which I think range from $575-$2600) will not be off limits to us price-wise, but a concrete wall keeps us from even mixing with our friends who may be sitting there (I wouldn't be surprised if they constructed a moat with piranhas to keep people out if that doesn't work). Also, the loge and upper deck of the stadium used to hang out right above the field. Now those levels are recessed. So when you're sitting in the Grandstand, you're a good deal further back.

As for the dining options, I have to say I was a little bit disappointed. Citi/Taxpayer Field (C/TF) seemed to have this figured out when they brought in Danny Meyer (Shake Shack, Blue Smoke, etc.) and beers like Sixpoint to give a real unique flavor to the park. Maybe I'm just upset because the best dining options in Yankee Stadium seem to be the same ones I have in Murray Hill: Carl's Steaks and Brother Jimmy's BBQ (not that I'm really complaining with either). I think in some ways NYS is more like a Cooperstown for the Yankees, C/TF benefits from having a team without much history and just borrowed a lot of ballpark ideas from other teams or made totally new ones. That's not to say I don't like NYS--it's just that I think the Yankees had a lot more of an idea of exactly what they wanted and did it while the Mets got a little bit creative. Not saying one is better than the other. Just saying.

I don't know if there will be more or less offense in this ballpark. I felt like the ball was flying out to right center. It seems like a wind tunnel exists shooting the ball out there. Not sure if this is because of the area left in right center so that you can see the subway as it passes or what, but it just seemed that even on cold, heavy days in early April, balls were shooting out there...now imagine July or August when the ball carries anyways. The reason why I'm not sure if there will be more offense overall is because there seems to be more foul area. Now this may have been a misjudgment, but there was only one tarp present and a lot more foul ground seemed to exist between the baseline. Although A-Rod isn't good on pop-ups, this should result in a few outs throughout the season.

One of my biggest peeves with my experience in NYS was the security guards checking you in, the ticket system and the lines. You would think that building a park on your own, you would find a way to make all of this easier for the fan. But not the Yankees. I had to pick up my ticket from Will Call and they were disorganized, no two people told you the same thing, and the line was huge. Then you lined up to get in to NYS and I think it was worse than the old place. The lines were blobs instead of a neat orderly line. And once you got to the front, there were annoying security guards who made you open your jackets, lift your shirt so that they could see your belt, take out and turn on all electronic devices, and then they frisked you pretty heavily as well. I know that it was the first games and their bosses were probably watching either physically or via all the cameras throughout the park (as pointed out by Twitter user @stefmara), but it was slow and took FOR-E-VER. They also don't let you bring in bags or laptops. Madison Square Garden does. You're telling me that NYS, a brand new stadium, couldn't make it safe to bring in bags and laptops but MSG could? It's impossible to come from work in some ways because of this.

The most inconvenient part of NYS is the subway system. They funnel everyone in one entrance and out one exit. It doesn't seem to make sense and it takes forever. There are cops blocking you from using the extra entrances/exits which seems incredibly stupid, inefficient and waste of cops.

My favorite seats not price $2500 in the ballpark may be the ones on top of the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar in centerfield (although Twitter user @stadiuminsider disagrees). Although they are not as cool or as good a view, they are the Yankees answer to the Green Monster seating. Also, the place everyone seemed to congregate was the concession area in centerfield above the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar. I wonder if they'll turn this into Standing Room Only area. If not, I'll be moving down from my seats in the top corners of the Grandstand to stand here. With the Yankees trying to make money every place they can, you figure that this will be a paid Standing Room Only area at some point.

Speaking of making money, my biggest peeve with the NYS were the price of the tickets. Grandstand and Bleachers were the only affordable tickets for me (other than for the Cubs game where the prices were reduced). The ticket system was horribly botched. I didn't find out about the partial season ticket package I had signed up for until after the Cubs series was finished (seriously). And trying to buy tickets, I too often forgot to click off of "best available" and sure enough, $2600 seats popped up. The tickets were just way, way, way too expensive overall and in this down economy the Yankees are going to have a lot of those open. The prices in the stadium for food and drinks weren't horribly off from what they were before (though $9 for PBR is a crime), but you do get a sense with the Sports Bar and steakhouse and private suites that this is more of a playground for the wealthy than the common man.

As for the restaurant itself, it was a fun place to congregate and would be an interesting place to see the game, though I don't think I would sit there because you can't actually hear anything going on in the actual stadium. I'm not sure the rules about getting in here if you don't have a seat, but I imagine a lot of people will try to get here early and congregate in early innings to get nice and liquored up.

Some new things included lots of new, clean, green bathrooms, though the people working at NYS had no clue where they were (it makes you wonder if they did a walk through with these people). Also green (as in environmentally-friendly) was not only trash cans, but recycling cans and composting cans. I saw many people confused by the composting cans, one exclaiming: "what the fuck do I put in there?"

I liked the manual scoreboards and even the new out-of-town scoreboard which actually told you who was pitching and hitting in the games going on (although, as some have pointed out, only four games at a time). But the best of the new things? The ridiculous high def screen in centerfield. You can't help but look. It's so unbelievably (and almost unneccesarily) clear. It almost seems like it's a shonda putting "Top Hat Tease" on there. It really is beautiful. My one problem with the new things up there is that they don't tell you who is pitching in the game going on right before you. They tell you who is pitching in every away game on the out-of-town scocreboard, but you have to reach into a program to see who is pitching (if you even have a view of the number). They need to fix that.

There are still a few other kinks to work out (sound system definitely being one after it was blown out during the second game). But overall, it's a well-tuned, finely designed masterpiece. Driving by at night, you know that night games in the Bronx will be special all over again. Although I'll miss the old Cathedral, I'm excited for real baseball to be played and for new memories to be made at the New Yankee Stadium.

Some links:

-I'll review the Mets new digs when I see it later in the season (unless one of you wants to bring me to a game sooner *hint*). But the New York Times has some awesome panoramic views of NYS and C/TF. LoHud has some great photos as well as does The Mets Police. Really cool stuff. The Times also has an architecture review of the two ballparks. Peter Abraham of the Yanks LoHud blog has some pictures and insight from inside the clubhouse.

-One reporter's first impressions from inside NYS during the workout. Also, initial thoughts from Scott Proctor's ArmPeter Abraham. New Stadium Insider reviews C/TF.

-New York Times and Scott Proctor's Arm on obstructed views.

-Sliding Into Home asks what the Yankees and YES are going to do with all those open seats in the $2600 area.

-New Stadium Insider asks how the dimensions will change for the fans? A really good question, because, as I mentioned, the stadium's level's seem to slope back, further away from the playing surface unlike the old stadium

-And speaking of that old park, New Stadium Insider and Scott Proctor's Arm have some of the last pictures of them dismantiling the field

-Darren Rovell has all the official sponsors for the two new ballparks (H/T Peter Abraham)