The New Yankee Stadium has been the focus of intense attention from many fans and non-fans alike. The groundbreaking ceremonies for the New Yankee Stadium took place on August 16, 2006, when George Steinbrenner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki were on hand for the ceremonial groundbreaking. The date was the 58th anniversary of Babe Ruth’s death. At the time it was built, only London’s Wembley Stadium cost more to construct.

The New Yankee Stadium cost $2.6 billion, half of which was contributed by charitable taxpayers, and the Yankees also managed to use some of their revenue sharing dollars to build the park rather that give it to the Royals, Pirates etc. NY taxpayers also gave the Yankees and additional $390 million for the infrastructure to get to the stadium plus an extra $25 million just because the Yankees are so cool. The taxpayers will get some money back as long as Bloomberg is in office, as he has agreed to sell the suite the Yankees gave to him and his office, valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and ostensibly give that money back to taxpayers. To date those figures have not been made public. The next administration will have to decide if they are going to use the box or resell it. The decision to resell their tickets happened after a public backlash questioned why they got such a sweet deal. Speaking of sweet deals, the Yankees where also able to talk the city into letting them keep 100% of parking revenue on the parking garages taxpayers paid for, as well as 96% percent of ticket revenues, 100% of other revenues, and absolutely zero sales tax or property tax on the stadiums! Not only that, but the Yankees also get discounted electric. No wonder those city workers were so handsomely rewarded! Sure, some people may say the city could use that money for other things, but nuts to that! Its good news for Yankee fans, because that means the team will make more and more money, and keep buying the best players in the world, some of whom will live up to fan/front office expectations.

The New Yankee Stadium is north-west of the original stadium. The first baseball game to be played at Yankee Stadium was against the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition game. The first regular season game to be played at the New Yankee Stadium was against the Cleveland Indians on April 16.

The old, err original, Yankee Stadium was in operation from when Babe Ruth built it until 2008, when the last game at the original Yankee Stadium was a 7 -3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Andy Petitte started the game, which took place on September 21, 2008. While Babe Ruth was the first person to hit a home run in the park, Jose Molina was the last. Jason Giambi was the last hit in Yankee Stadium, and Cody Ransom was the final out. Derek Jeter was the last Yankee to bat, with the fifth strike out of the otherwise meaningless game (as the Yankees had no hope of making it to the post-season).

The dimension of the new stadium will be the same as the old one. The new stadium holds 51,000 fans, and up to 53,000 with standing room. The old stadium held 57,545. Some speculate that the smaller number of fans allowed in means the Yankees can make up for that money by charging more for tickets and concessions. Most seats will be lower to the ground, but further from the action. There will be 7,500 less bleacher seats, but 2,000 additional standing seats, which are even wore than bleacher seats. Each level also now has a “premium seating area” with comfortable seats for those willing to pay more. Those seats also access private bathrooms as well as exclusive bars, so the wealthier patrons don;t have to deal with the riff raff.

The New Yankee Stadium compared to the New Yankee Stadium (from Wikipeida):

	Old Stadium [as in 2008]	New Stadium
Opening Day	April 18, 1923	April 16, 2009 (scheduled)
Capacity	56,866	52,325 (includes standing room)
Seat width	18″ to 22″ (46 to 55 cm)	19″ to 24″ (48 to 61 cm)
Legroom	29.5″ (75 cm)	33″ to 39″ (84 to 99 cm)
Concourse width (average)	17 ft (5.2 m)	32 ft (9.8 m)
Cup holders	None	All seats in general seating bowl
Luxury suites	19	56
Team stores	6,800 sq ft (630 m2)	11,560 sq ft (1,074 m2)
Restroom ratio	1 per 89 fans	1 per 60 fans
Public elevators (passenger lifts)	3 (Otis Traction)	16 (Otis Gen2 MRL Traction)
Video scoreboard	25′ by 33′ (7.6 x 10.1 m) (Standard Definition LED)	59′ by 101′ (18 x 30.8 m) (High Definition LED)
Distance from Home Plate to:
Backstop	72′ 4″ (22.05 m)	52′ 4″ (15.95 m)
Left Field	318′	318′ ( 96.9 m)
Left Center	399′	399′ (121.6 m)
Center Field	408′	408′ (124.4 m)
Right Center	385′	385′ (117.3 m)
Right Field	314′	314′ ( 95.7 m)
Source: The New York Yankees [23]

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