OT: Steiner Sports (Yankees) Article in NY Times

[Runscott]

I have never heard of a situation like this at ANY baseball field - even Little League. What were they thinking?

[David Atkatz]

What were they thinking? They were thinking "f*@k the bleacher fans. They don't spend real money."

[bigfanNY]

Those seats are clearly listed obstructed view And are the cheapest seats in the house. Nobody sits there without being forewarned and walls only really have an affect in two sections of the bleachers.
On the other hand folks spending very little sitting in bleachers can have access to an upscale area to eat and drink to get in out of the heat in the summer and in from the cold and rain early in the season. Always crowded in there with folks having a great time watching their beloved Yankees. And yes mostly younger folks in their 20's and 30's and I am happy to see that the Yankees keep finding ways to attract fans of all ages and pocketbooks.
If their is a better experience than sitting in the stand of a major league park knowing at any moment you could witness history (That's Legal) please let me know about it. Because me and my whole family love it have loved it and will continue to love it.

Jonathan

[David Atkatz]

"Please sir, may I have another?"

[Runscott]

I buy most of my baseball tickets through 3rd parties, and they rarely mention 'obstructed view'. Because of this, I now go to the Mariners site and check to see if they are obstructed. I'm sure plenty of people get burned buying these tickets to Yankees games.

But the real point, regardless of how much fun the young drunks who for the most part aren't there for a game, have in the pick-up section, is that baseball fields were made to play and watch baseball. Stadiums are often judged by how well they are built to actually allow viewing of the game. In New York I guess they are judged by how good the restaurants are, and how successful the party section is.

[Lordstan]

I never understood why having an upscale place to eat at a ballpark mattered. I go to games to watch the game. If I want to go someplace upscale to eat, there are a multitude of fantastic restaurants available, especially in NY, where I can go out to dinner. It would be like going to a Broadway play and saying you had a great time at the show because they have great restaurants in the theater with closed circuit TVs so you could watch the play while you eat. Normally, I go to dinner before the show, but maybe that's just me.

Several years ago, I went to a couple of the newer, old style parks when they first opened, like PNC. I thought the ambiance and the views were great, but even then, I wondered what the deal with all the fancy/expensive food was. Half of it can't be eaten easily while in a stadium seat and if I am sitting at a table, I'm not watching/experiencing the game. Please don't tell me that while I eat, I can watch the monitors. Why would I go to a game to watch it on TV? If that's what I wanted, I could have watched on my 106in High Def projection TV at home without paying for a ticket, parking, gas, tolls, and the exorbitant prices of the food.

[Runscott]

Mark, here's another example. Back in 1997 I saw Buddy Guy play at the Chicago Blues Festival. The crowd energy was incredible, as was Buddy Guy's. I have seen him several times, but never like that afternoon in Chicago. But one performance stands out for its mediocrity - I saw him at Chastain Park in Atlanta a few years later. The place is set up for people to drink wine and eat picnics, and you can buy passes for multiple, or all, shows. There is always a point in his show where he does a medley of partial songs made famous by great guitarists - Clapton, Hendrix, etc. When he got to that point, the guys in front of me all commented on how they didn't realize that Buddy Guy had written all of those songs. I would say 75 - 90% of the crowd was there to picnic, and you could have had me singing Karaoke and they wouldn't have known the difference. At one point, Buddy Guy stopped playing and told everyone to shut up so he could play music. I really felt sorry for him having to endure that, but I'm seeing now that he plays at the wineries near Seattle, so I guess he's dealing with it ($$$ speak).

The modern ballpark experience, especially the version that John (the big Yankees fan) described, is basically baseball's version of Chastain Park, and the Chastain Park model for concerts is now practiced all over the United States. If you to to a Mariners game, you have the same thing where people get in on a cheap ticket, and spend their time in the socializing section in the outfield, basically trying to get lucky.

Fortunately you can still have a good baseball experience at any stadium, and John has found his way to do that at Yankee stadium. I'm sorry he doesn't understand what he's missing at the new stadium, but as long as he's having fun, I guess all is well.

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

I never understood why having an upscale place to eat at a ballpark mattered. I go to games to watch the game. If I want to go someplace upscale to eat, there are a multitude of fantastic restaurants available, especially in NY, where I can go out to dinner.

The Yankees don't want you to go to any of a multitude of fantastic restaurants, Mark, if those restaurants are outside the stadium They want you to spend every single cent on them, inside the stadium. That's what this stadium was designed to do. Its primary purpose was never for a fan to view a ballgame.