Yankee Stadium prices are insane!

There is a very good reason why most Yankee fans don't care how much their team spends on baseball players. One of the best reasons is that their team keeps asking them - at least the most well-heeled of them - to spend more and more to help pay the freight.

There is a guy I know who has tickets behind the Yankee dugout, has had them for awhile. Last season each seat cost $150 per game. This season, because it is the last season at the old Yankee Stadium, the cost went up to $250. Next season, if he wants to keep the same seats when everybody moves across 161st St. to the new Yankee Stadium, the cost will go to $850 per seat.

If he wants to keep his current seats, he has to sign a minimum four-year contract, and they want a third of the cost of the first year up front. If he goes for that deal, they say the most they can increase him over the term of the contract is 4% a year.

"I told my friends who are going this season, ‘Enjoy yourselves, because you'll never be this close again,'" my friend said Saturday.

Now this isn't the old Lawn Tennis Association out of the 1950s, where everybody was just supposed to play for the love of the game. The Yankees are the biggest baseball business in the world, and running the business costs money. The Mets aren't going to be giving away their "premium" tickets at Citi Field, either. But they haven't set next season's ticket prices yet, perhaps sitting back and tracking the baseball market in the Bronx. Well, it's either a market or a shakedown.

$850 per seat? LOL!

At least we know how the Yankees will pay for their new 5-star entertainment facility which is currently projected to cost 1.3 billion and even thats not the final price tag because cost overuns continue all over the place on the project.

I found these tidbits especially amusing:

In addition to the public subsidies and billions of dollars of increased revenue, the Yankees will benefit from a change to Major League Baseball's 2002 collective bargaining agreement (CBA), which allows teams to deduct new-stadium building costs from the revenue-sharing payments they make. For the Yankees, whose $200 million player payroll makes them the largest contributor to the revenue-sharing pool, this means 40 percent of their share of the price tag may be borne by the remaining 29 baseball teams. All told, the Yankees and the taxpayers can each expect to pay about $450 million, and the Yankees will cover the remaining costs from diverting revenue sharing payments that would have been paid to the other baseball teams.

The stadium's 1,800 Legends Suites.

Prices start at $500 a game, and the seats will be in the 25 sections closest to the field, radiating up the base lines from home plate.

"You will delight in the premium amenities, including cushioned seats with teak arms, in-seat wait service, concierge services, private restrooms and a delectable selection of all-inclusive food and beverages," the Web site says.

Seat-holders also will have "exclusive access" to two lounges.

The most expensive of the Legend Suites cost $2,500.

These are front-row seats and, sad to say, you can't buy them anymore. They are sold out, says Lonn Trost, the team's chief operating officer.

Instead, you might consider shelling out $700 a night for one of 74 seats in the Club Suite.

The price includes food - though not alcohol - indoor and specially designated outdoor seating, HD television, preferred parking and concierge service.

There are two cheaper "luxury" plans for 1,200 Main Level Outdoor Suite seats and 1,300 Terrace Level Outdoor Suites, which start at $100 per game.

Prices for the 60 luxury private suites has not been released at this time.

Private restaurant and club facilities will include: Legends Club, 2 Legends Dugout Lounges, Grill Room, Yankees Steakhouse, Membership Club

Public restaurant and club facilities will include: Main Level Outdoor Suite Lounge, Terrace Outdoor Suite Lounge, Martini Bar, Sports Bar, Outdoor Patio Area, Outdoor Food Court, Indoor Food Court,

Wait a minute. If the company is able to expense things, that reduces their cost, reducing what they need to sell their product for, reducing cost to you. And thats bad?

And why no mention or consideration of the amount of business that is derived from these entertainment events, increasing the companies revenue, increasing employment and money available for salaries, benefits, R&D, marketing, expansion of goods and services provided, etc...

Like I said above about my department where I work. We spent in excess of $100,000 on Hurricanes hockey games to "entertain" clients and potential clients. We get more bang for that buck than our marketing department ever would. That investment generated millions in new business for us during the season.

Taking a prospect to a game with his wife and kid and getting the kid on the jubmo tron is something they won't soon forget.

One that sticks out in my mind from this past season was a person I was going after and I learned she and her husband moved here from Montreal. So I took her and her husband to see the Canadians play the Hurricanes. Who do you think got their business?

Stroud’s is one my favorite places on the planet to go. I try to go there when I go back to KC to visit.

The original on 85th street (it opened in the early 1930s) closed about 2 years ago, but the manager, Mike Donnegan has recently reopened at a new location on Shawnee Mission Pkwy in Fairway, KS, and I'm going there sometime this week! The other Strouds (one up north, the other in Wichita) are OK, but this was the best. From what I heard, the new place is just as good as the old ever was, but it's got better parking, and seats about 2/3 more people!

Mark

You said:
Like I said above about my department where I work. We spent in excess of $100,000 on Hurricanes hockey games to “entertain” clients and potential clients. We get more bang for that buck than our marketing department ever would. That investment generated millions in new business for us during the season.

Response:
I realize that I am in the minority and will get blasted for saying this, but I think this is form of bribery. And that Greed will be the downfall of our society.

A free enterprise system should be based on the value of a product or service, rather than on bribery. Supply and demand based on the best quality for the best price. Not influenced by blackmail or bribery. That is not a free enterprise system.

I realize that I am in the minority and will get blasted for saying this, but I think this is form of bribery.

Bribery? HA! Like a guy is going to move millions of dollars over to me because he got a $100 hockey ticket if another guy has a better deal for him. Or someone is going to do a $10MM loan for $100 ticket that will cost him tens of thousands of dollars more compared to the next guy. Sure.

Its all about spending time with them and getting them one on one for an extended period. No business owner can cut 3 hours out of his day to sit down and talk. But he can go to a hockey game, or play a round of golf on the weekend.

And more often than not, its a big "thank you" after the deal is done and referrals are pushed.

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