[NYguy]

All good things must come to an end. But hopefully, a new one is just beginning...


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/images/ballpark/subway_street.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/images/ballpark/header.gif


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/sports/15yanks_drawing_groundlevel.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/sports/15yanks_drawing_crossection.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/sports/15yanks_drawing_behindhomep.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/nyregion/15cnd-stadium.650.jpg

[NYguy]

Images from:
www.stadiumpage.com


http://www.stadiumpage.com/newyankee/NY1.jpg


http://www.stadiumpage.com/newyankee/NY2.jpg


http://www.stadiumpage.com/newyankee/NY8.jpg


http://www.stadiumpage.com/newyankee/NY4.jpg


Village Voice

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/powerplays/11.21.06.yankees1.jpg


http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/powerplays/11.21.06.yankees2.jpg

[NYguy]

More images from stadiumpage.com


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/71971914/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/71971916/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/71971919/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/71971942/original.jpg

[drew11]

All good things must come to an end. But hopefully, a new one is just beginning...


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/images/ballpark/subway_street.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/images/ballpark/header.gif


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/sports/15yanks_drawing_groundlevel.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/sports/15yanks_drawing_crossection.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/sports/15yanks_drawing_behindhomep.jpg


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/nyregion/15cnd-stadium.650.jpg




nice :banana: :banana: :banana:

[NYguy]

AMNY

Wrecker’s ball is long overdue
Outdated Stadium should be history

Shaun Powell
February 1, 2007

It's never nice to speak ill about the ill, especially when death is apparent. With that in mind, I'll be kind and just say this: Yankee Stadium can't collapse fast enough.

Unfortunately, the Grim Reaper won't swing the wrecking ball until sometime in October 2008, depending on when Alex Rodriguez kills another playoff run. That's 21 months from now, or roughly the time between Carl Pavano starts. Until then, baseball fans must continue to root for the Yankees while sitting in a facility past its glory, which is sort of like taking Giselle Bundchen for a spin in a wheezing, old Coup de Ville.




Please, this is no disrespect to the history of the stadium itself.

Just the stadium itself.

Four million people visit Yankee Stadium every year to see Derek Jeter throw across his body to first base, to witness what $200 million buys these days in baseball talent, to observe the winningest team in baseball this decade.

Four million people do not visit Yankee Stadium to do a riverdance while standing in line for the three or four restrooms. Four million people do not visit Yankee Stadium to squeeze through aisles built for supermodels or fight for shouting space at concession stands the size of shopping-mall information booths. Four million people, or at least the few who dare to drive, do not visit Yankee Stadium hours before the first pitch just so they can find one of the limited parking spaces sold at monthly home mortgages.

Once you remove the product on the field and Monument Park in the outfield, the "Yankee experience" is like the death of Barbaro: overrated and overplayed.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, commissioner Bud Selig and other important types made it official yesterday when the All-Star Game was given to the Bronx in '08, but this was a mercy gesture, a nice way of being nice to a sick, suffering old cathedral that should've had the plug pulled a decade ago. Ordinarily, the Midseason Classic wouldn't come anywhere near Yankee Stadium, because baseball knows what we know: The place isn't fit for it.

The beauty of the Stadium nowadays lies exclusively with the history and tradition of the Yankees. People are attracted by walls that talk. They know this is where Babe Ruth smacked his 60th homer and where Don Larsen pitched his perfect World Series game. They want to press their ears close enough to hear the heavy heartbeats from Lou Gehrig's courageous speech and the Babe's good-bye.

They know they're standing in the same place where Roger Maris hit No. 61, where Aaron Boone needed one swing and where Reggie needed three. They also know this is where Joe Louis put Max Schmeling to sleep and where Chuck Bednarik did the same to Frank Gifford. A pair of popes blessed the crowd, and the end zone blessed Alan Ameche in the Greatest Game Ever Played.

All that history is so rich and rewarding and priceless in a building with the charm of Simon Cowell.

Despite getting more nips and tucks than the cast of "The View," the Stadium has seen better days. It can't compare to any of the grand old baseball buildings still standing. For sheer magnificence, nothing tops Dodger Stadium, still in all its retro 1960s glory, sitting atop Chavez Ravine. Wrigley Field also blows away Yankee Stadium, especially if you compare the neighborhoods that surround both ballparks. And Fenway Park, cozy, intimate and buffeted by the imposing Green Monster, is a more inviting place to waste a lazy afternoon.

Yankee Stadium would've gone long ago had George Steinbrenner not wasted time with his misguided attempt at building in Manhattan or flirting with New Jersey. Meanwhile, the cost of materials went up, to the point at which the price of the new Stadium in the Bronx will equal six Yankee payrolls. Well, if that's what it takes to move the Yankees into the 21st century and out of a dated building, so be it. Only three items are worth taking across the street to the new place. The arching façade, because it's the trademark. Monument Park, which deserves more space and a better presentation. And the roll call.

Well, there is something nice we can say about the old place.

It's not exactly Shea Stadium.

[NYguy]

A few more renderings and pics from the website:

http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/74187817/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/74187820/medium.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/74187817/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/74187820/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/74187821/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/74187822/large.jpg

[NYRY85]

3/11/07
http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/8996/yankeestadium01cul3.jpg

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/151/yankeestadium02cil7.jpg

[NYRY85]

this stadium is gonna rock.

[NYguy]

3/11/07
http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/8996/yankeestadium01cul3.jpg

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/151/yankeestadium02cil7.jpg

Excellent photos. I've been missing progress. Just beginning to get into that early season mode (couple of weeks to opening day) and the early team tumoil seems to be behind us. We're witnessing Yankee history.

[NYguy]

NY Times

Pre-Opening Day Jitters for Establishments That Live in Yankee Stadium’s Shadow

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/04/02/nyregion/02stadium.600.jpg

Outside his Yankee Eatery, Louie Dituri, in cap, supervises a frozen pizza delivery.

By TRYMAINE LEE
April 2, 2007

Louie Dituri stood in front of his restaurant, the Yankee Eatery, across River Avenue from Yankee Stadium, on Sunday and ran through a mental checklist of last-minute preparations. His guys were precooking several batches of their famous shish kebabs, and the fresh rolls he ordered were to be delivered this morning. The bar in the back of the place was loaded, and after five days of spring cleaning, each crack and crevice was spotless.

This section of the South Bronx was awakening, and there was nothing left for Mr. Dituri to do but wait for today, when the New York Yankees open their season at home against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Mr. Dituri’s business, like others along the River Avenue corridor, depends on Yankees baseball to survive.

His shop was filled with nervous energy: part excitement, part anxiety, part anticipation as employees waited for the first customers, the first baseball fans to walk into the Yankee Eatery and buy something, a sweet Italian sausage, a hamburger, anything.

“We’re only here when the Yankees are playing,” Mr. Dituri said. “So no baseball, no business. We wait all winter for this.” The shop is open only during Yankees home games, including playoffs.

Above River Avenue yesterday, the No. 4 train grumbled down its tracks, the grinding of metal on metal blending with street noise and workers there doing last-minute repairs before today’s stadium rush. “Wet paint” signs were staggered from the steel beams jutting down from the tracks, and shopkeepers checked and double-checked their supplies.

Inside the Ball Park Lanes and the adjoining Ball Park Sports Bar & Grill on River Avenue, workers hung last-minute advertisements for domestic beers as the manager, George Diamantis, stood behind the shoe rental counter and surveyed the job.

“When the season starts, more business, more customers,” Mr. Diamantis said tersely with an impatient grin. “What can I say? I’m excited to have the Yankees back.”

Mr. Diamantis said the business also made money by checking bags for stadiumgoers, who have been restricted since Sept. 11 from taking them into the stadium.

Business owners in the area agreed that opening day was one of the biggest business days of the year. Out-of-towners and homegrown baseball fans pack the area and spend their money in surrounding businesses.

But the owners also said that baseball fans could be a fickle bunch and that booms and slumps in business had as much to do with winning or losing as with which teams the Yankees were playing and when. A game versus the Boston Red Sox is always a big game; so are cross-city battles with the Mets. Low draws tend to be teams from the Midwest or those with bad records.

Others said the Bronx’s gritty or dangerous reputation kept some game attendees from shopping in the area at all.

The future for many shop owners on River Avenue is uncertain, with the new Yankee Stadium to open for the 2009 season. The new stadium, to be built next door, is expected to have a bolstered commercial space inside.

Many business owners fear that that commercial space will greatly hurt their ability to attract customers and that this season may be one of their last good ones.

The subway riders they have snagged for decades walking past the shops to the stadium will soon be dropped off right at the new stadium. And there will be bigger souvenir shops and places to eat inside.

But for Mr. Dituri, there is no time to look too far into the future when there are shish kebabs and sausage to grill.

He stood in front of his little shop and took a deep breath, enjoying what he said could be the last bit of calm and sanity he will experience between that very moment and the start of the season.

[Chicago2020]

dp

[Locofresh55]

Anybody got any recent pics of the stadium....since it looks like there will be much going on....we should try and get a monthly update going...or sooner if you guys prefer. I wanna head back to the stadium before it's demolished.:banana:

[NYguy]

Anybody got any recent pics of the stadium....since it looks like there will be much going on....we should try and get a monthly update going...or sooner if you guys prefer. I wanna head back to the stadium before it's demolished.:banana:

That would be a good time to take some pics. I won't be going to any games myself until it really gets warm. (I don't like cold baseball unless its the fall)

[Scruffy]

Its pretty dark but these are pretty recent

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03705.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03708.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03713.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03714.jpg

the old stadium is famous for being right up against the subway like this
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03721.jpg

the new one will keep that tradition
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03722.jpg

i'll try and get back there during the daytime

[Locofresh55]

Nice to see a lot going on...thanks for the pics....yeah my cousin in yonkers says he was gonna go to a game in late may and would try and get some pictures. He says his buddy is working there until end of the year....so he might try and get some up close pics. I haven't been back to New york since 98 and that was winter time so no games unfortunately. I wanna take my kid to the old stadium just like my dad took me when i was a boy. I was looking at some old pics of my family from 20 years ago when we went to cooperstown and yankee stadium......I'm sure gonna miss this thing but the new one will be a true monument....Mets new ballpark will be a serious upgrade from shea....too bad it's still by LGA.

[SportsWorld]

It looks exactly like the present Yankee stadium.

[Scruffy]

are you talking from the renders or from the pics. cause this:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03721.jpg
is the current stadium. just illustrating how close it is the elevated train. and
this:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c81/Scruffy88/DSC03715.jpg
is how far the new one has progressed.

[Locofresh55]

Scruffy,

The new stadium is supposed to look like the Pre 1970's renovation stadium. That's what I mean. The old stadium as it looks today wasn't "renovated" more like it was rebuilt completely.....the new stadium is gonna be built with the limestone they used to build the original stadium in 1923. You look at the pre 1970's stadium and it just looks massive and beautiful. It would be nice to see them bring back Death valley and put Monument park outside the stadium.

[Locofresh55]

nevermind scruffy....thought you were talking to me....apologies...

[Scruffy]

Loco, no worries.
I can't wait to stroll this and Citifield (hate calling it that). I love the throwback to golden days of baseball with the architecture. They could have gone all hi-tech like Jets Stadium in Manhattan was supposed to be, but thats not NYC baseball. I love the way it looks. Citifield looks fantastic too, but that suffers from location. The airport, the situation in a sea of parking lots. But that not really fixable.

[Razqal]

the new stadium looks like the current stadium. why not just re-renovate the current stadium since it pretty much looks like the same stadium anyway. :shrug:

[NYguy]

I love the throwback to golden days of baseball with the architecture.

A lot of people don't like that trend with the new stadiums, but I think it adds to the unique baseball stadium quality and atmosphere.

[skyscraper]

A lot of people don't like that trend with the new stadiums, but I think it adds to the unique baseball stadium quality and atmosphere.

my objection to retro stadiums is that they miss the point: they are trying to re-create a quaint aesthetic from a bygone era, but when those stadiums were originally built (wrigley, fenway, the original yankee stadium, connie mack stadium, etc), they were the most advanced, modern stadiums ever built. in those days, baseball was foreward thinking and contemporary. steel and concrete were new, modern materials. THAT is what should be continued, the trend toward innovation and progress. the only real innovation we have now are retractable domes. those are significant, but are not necessary everywhere. just recreating the look of older stadiums that we now think of as quaint is a step backward, and are hypocritical in that they do provide a lot of creature comforts that the older stadiums lacked, but still go for the look of old. they admit privately that we like modernity, but put a retro public face on it.

[NYguy]

my objection to retro stadiums is that they miss the point: they are trying to re-create a quaint aesthetic from a bygone era, but when those stadiums were originally built (wrigley, fenway, the original yankee stadium, connie mack stadium, etc), they were the most advanced, modern stadiums ever built. in those days, baseball was foreward thinking and contemporary. steel and concrete were new, modern materials. THAT is what should be continued, the trend toward innovation and progress. the only real innovation we have now are retractable domes. those are significant, but are not necessary everywhere. just recreating the look of older stadiums that we now think of as quaint is a step backward, and are hypocritical in that they do provide a lot of creature comforts that the older stadiums lacked, but still go for the look of old. they admit privately that we like modernity, but put a retro public face on it.

Are you saying these newer stadiums aren't better equipped for the public than the older stadiums? The new stadiums give you more room, more amenities, more restrooms, generally better views of the field itself, I have no problem with that at all. Let the baseball stadiums look like baseball stadiums.

[skyscraper]

Are you saying these newer stadiums aren't better equipped for the public than the older stadiums? The new stadiums give you more room, more amenities, more restrooms, generally better views of the field itself, I have no problem with that at all. Let the baseball stadiums look like baseball stadiums.

no: in fact, I addressed that at the end of my post. what I said was that they provide more creature comforts than the old stadiums did, but are made superficially to look like they are old. if you're going to be retro, be real retro; make the seats out of wood, make the aisles narrow, make guys pee into a trough, put steel columns in lines of sight. in philadelphia, our new ballpark has brick panels cladding the exterior, because connie mack stadium and others from that era had brick exteriors. they use a modern process of prefabrication to emulate an old tradition. why not use a modern process like prefab, which I am in favor of, but use a more contemporary material, like glass, like the new football stadium does right across the street from the baseball park?

[Locofresh55]

the new stadium looks like the current stadium. why not just re-renovate the current stadium since it pretty much looks like the same stadium anyway. :shrug:

Steinbrenner already "renovated the stadium" in the 70's....which pretty much meant he had the thing rebuilt. The stadium in all it's glory stinks too bad and is falling apart....there's only so many times you can renovate. Besides....they are gonna do much more to improve the area other than the new stadium.

[NYguy]

A couple of quick vids taken last summer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v6q4am4QQQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTbtHz-tgk

[zerokarma]

Good update

[Geebrr]

A lot of people don't like that trend with the new stadiums, but I think it adds to the unique baseball stadium quality and atmosphere.


I think it is AWESOME that they are trying to maintain the history of the park, that is really cool.

Otherwise you end up with Parks like the ones in Pittsburgh, or Detroit, or the Reds park.

I hope if/when the Redsox get a new stadium they do the same thing.

[philliesphinest]

Just saw this thread. The new stadium looks like its going to be awesome! I thiught that i had heard that the were keeping old Yankee stadium. If its coming down soon I'll have to get up there to see a game. I live in Philly and as nice as the Phillies new park is, I still miss the Vet with all its flaws. I wish they kept it for concerts and other events but now it is just a nice parking lot.

[Geebrr]

Just saw this thread. The new stadium looks like its going to be awesome! I thiught that i had heard that the were keeping old Yankee stadium. If its coming down soon I'll have to get up there to see a game. I live in Philly and as nice as the Phillies new park is, I still miss the Vet with all its flaws. I wish they kept it for concerts and other events but now it is just a nice parking lot.

Thats what I mean...its like dome syndrome all over again.

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/sports/baseball/01sandomir.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

Latest Developments in a Crosstown Rivalry

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/05/01/sports/01sandomir.1.600.jpg

Jeff Wilpon, the Mets’ chief operating officer, giving a tour of the Citi Field construction site last month.

By RICHARD SANDOMIR
May 1, 2007

Home plate at Citi Field in Flushing is marked by a patch of Astroturf. In the Bronx, an outcropping of New York schist was leveled by chisel hammers attached to earth movers to clear the land for the future home plate at the new Yankee Stadium.

The pitcher’s mound in the Bronx will be where a yellow Dumpster rests, while a steel span in Flushing that emulates the Hell Gate bridge over the East River will soon support the concourse in right-center field.

The Mets and the Yankees are racing to open their new stadiums by opening day 2009. Those passing the construction sites — huge rocky pits that are filled with cranes, earth movers, steel, giant pieces of precast concrete — see the concrete frame of one stadium rising in the Bronx over former parkland and another one of steel ascending over parking spaces beside Shea Stadium.

“This place is so big, so wide open now, but when it’s filled with grass and seats, it will envelop you,” said Jeff Wilpon, the chief operating officer of the Mets, as he walked through the Citi Field site during a recent tour.

Behind him, Shea remains, a vestige of an unadventurous period in sports architecture. “A dull, dingy place,” Wilpon said.

In his office, Wilpon keeps a miniature replica of Ebbets Field, a daily reminder of the architectural muse of Citi Field. It includes the rotunda through which Brooklyn Dodgers fans, including his father, Fred, the Mets’ principal owner, used to enter. He removed the tiny rotunda piece from the rest of the model and said, “Fred can tell us how it used to smell in there.”

A reimagined rotunda, which will be named for Jackie Robinson, is also beginning to take shape; so is the footprint of the Great Hall, a meeting place, among other things, through which many of the fans visiting the new Yankee Stadium will enter. It will stand 60 feet high and span left field to right field, along 161st Street, from Jerome Avenue to River Avenue.

“It will be unparalleled, similar in scope to the Grand Central Station waiting room,” said Valerie Peltier, a managing director for development of Tishman Speyer, on a tour of the Yankee Stadium site last week. Tishman Speyer is overseeing construction of the $800 million stadium. Jerry Speyer, the company’s president, is on the board of Yankee Global Enterprises.

Executives from each team said that they were not competing with each other over who would have the better ballpark. It is almost enough that the deals were made, with city and state contributions for infrastructure and other nonconstruction costs, to let the teams build new ballparks. Since 1991, 18 new major league stadiums have been built.

“After nothing happening for 15 or 20 years, it’s all happening here in the same time period,” said Dave Howard, an executive vice president of the Mets. Beside the ballparks, the Devils’ arena in Newark is nearly done, the Jets and the Giants are planning construction of their shared Meadowlands stadium, and the Nets hope to start building their arena in Brooklyn soon.

The first level of the steel structure in Flushing is nearly in place, with yellow caution tape flapping in the wind, affording a raw view of a design fiat: fans will be able to see the field nearly anywhere they walk along the 40-foot-wide concourses, except from behind the Sterling luxury boxes that are 18 rows from field level, a club on the Promenade level and a restaurant in left field.

“In the old stadiums, nobody thought about that,” Wilpon said.

Three levels of concrete structure are in various stages of completion at the new Yankee Stadium, more along right field than left. Rakers, 40-foot pieces of steel onto which the seats will be installed, will be arriving next week. A crane to handle the steel is being assembled.

The construction already obscures a portion of the rusted elevated train tracks and takes place around a New York City Transit substation that will eventually be blocked by the giant outfield scoreboard.

Nascent dugouts are visible in little excavations several feet below field level across a rocky landscape from which 350 cubic yards of dirt were removed before construction began. The future site of Monument Park is below a platform that supports several office trailers.

“The most interesting thing to me,” said Lonn Trost, the chief operating officer of the Yankees, looking over the site, “is to take the tradition of Yankee Stadium, replicate it here, and provide fans with something new.”

The new stadium will have the same field dimensions as the current one, with more seats angled to the infield. It will also resurrect the original exterior with limestone, concrete and granite, and recreate the frieze that ringed the stadium, with 39 sections of white-painted steel weighing six tons each, to be made in Quebec. The new frieze should not turn green in the air, as did the old copper one, which was removed in the 1974-5 stadium renovation.

Some of the 24,000 pieces of precast concrete that will comprise the Citi Field exterior are already in Flushing, some weighing 1,000 pounds. The front of each piece is covered with bricks, which are sliced lengthwise to reduce the weight yet create the impression of a brick facade. It is so different in architectural ambition and style from the original Shea design of blue and orange tiles arranged over exposed ramps.

“By the end of this season, most of the exterior facade will be in place,” Howard said. “It will look like the virtual model we have online.”

Shea still serves a purpose, beyond housing the Mets for two more seasons, and it is not simply to underscore the limits of the dual-purpose stadiums. Inside an unused section of the World’s Fair-era hulk, the Mets have built a showroom that depicts what the 10 Sterling and 40 Excelsior luxury suites will look like (the former will have bathrooms modeled on the Four Seasons restaurant’s). Various types of seats can be tested for comfort.

The team is also using the showroom to assess carpeting, tile, color and other design schemes — Jeff Wilpon, who grew up in the family’s real estate development business, can offer a spiel about terrazzo floors — for the suites, clubhouses and concourses. The concourses may have glazed wall tile.

“I want to know what we’ve designed before we sell it,” Wilpon said.

The $600 million stadium will reflect its era, as its predecessor did. Shea’s opening was envisioned for 1962, the Mets’ inaugural season, but after delays, it took about two more years to complete. The original Yankee Stadium took an astonishingly quick 284 days to finish in time, providing the team with a home of its own after being told to leave the Polo Grounds.

“How often do you get to build Yankee Stadium?” Peltier said. “Never.”

Well, almost.

[beanhead4529]

i love how the stadium looks on the outside. it really looks like the old pictures of the stadium in the 20's and 30's, except in color. i hope they put more room for concessions in the mezzanines.

i hate that stupid restaurant beyond centerfield. it seems very cheesy.

[russbaseball]

^^^

i agree about the restaurant.. I need to get to a game and take some photos of the new stadium.. i cant find pics anywhere.

[NYguy]

Pics from stadiumpage.com
(May 22, 2007)


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/80195852/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/80195852/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/80195853/original.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/80195855/large.jpg


http://www.pbase.com/nyguy/image/80195858/original.jpg

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07212007/news/regionalnews/yanks__bronx_on_right_track__pols_regionalnews_david_seifman__city_hall_bureau_chief.htm

YANKS & BRONX ON RIGHT TRACK: POLS

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07212007/photos/news02a.jpg

By DAVID SEIFMAN
July 21, 2007

The official groundbreaking for a $91 million Metro-North station at Yankee Stadium provided officials yesterday with the chance to declare that The Bronx is on the permanent comeback track.

Gov. Spitzer noted that ESPN is airing a TV series based on the 1977 Yankees, who won the World Series during a tumultuous era in both the team's and the city's history, titled, "The Bronx is Burning."

"Everything that was going wrong 30 years ago is going right in this great city today," said Spitzer.

"Instead of 'The Bronx is Burning,' we're going to call ESPN and say they should do a sequel, and it's going to be called 'The Bronx is Booming.' "

The new station is scheduled to open in June 2009, two months after the new Yankee Stadium now under construction is scheduled for completion.

The MTA is picking up $51.2 million of the cost, while the city is chipping in $38.6 million. The city is also spending another $59 million to rebuild a pedestrian bridge.

"That will mean every major stadium and arena in New York City will be accessible by both subway and commuter railroad," said Mayor Bloomberg, who used the occasion to make another pitch for his congestion-pricing plan.

The station is expected to accommodate 6,000 to 12,000 fans each game, according to Spitzer.

_____________________

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/20070522metronorth.jpg
nymag.com

[NYguy]

http://mta.info/mta/news/releases/images/mnr-rendering-may17.jpg
mta.info

[MasonsInquiries]

the bronx is getting a really nice-lookin' stadium. kudos!!

[Dac150]

Is the old stadium being demolished??????????

[Locofresh55]

NOT quite demolished....although it will be converted into a minor league stadium. It will keep the same dimensions but the upper decks and the out field facade will be torn down. They want to keep the out field open so that they may be able to see the new stadium.

[Thskyscraper]

NOT quite demolished....although it will be converted into a minor league stadium. It will keep the same dimensions but the upper decks and the out field facade will be torn down. They want to keep the out field open so that they may be able to see the new stadium.

Oh really? I didn't know that they'd have a minor league team there. I knew that they weren't completely tearing down the old stadium. But, anyway who will be playing there, the SI Yankees?

[Benhamin]

I think it is AWESOME that they are trying to maintain the history of the park, that is really cool.

Otherwise you end up with Parks like the ones in Pittsburgh, or Detroit, or the Reds park.

I hope if/when the Redsox get a new stadium they do the same thing.

But the first three parks you mention are all amazing stadiums, how can you say otherwise? What were they supposed to do, keep the charm of Three Rivers Stadium???

As for a new Sox park, they should have done it in the late nineties when they had the chance. The foundations of Fenway are rotting, etc, but the current ownership is hell bent on keeping the same stadium, and just upgrading it forever, so a new Sox park won't happen for decades.

[Scruffy]

i hadn't heard about the salvaging of yankees stadium. thats awesome news.

[LaSalle.St.Station]

re saw the pride of the Yankees the other night and from the clips saw what a stadium Yankee was..... totally NY back in the day in size and majesty... completely matched the city....... Not now though, although I think NY can pull off an 80,000 stad if any city can .... man those old pics of old yank stad lookd boss......... wish i could have been there.

[ski82]

Steinbrenner already "renovated the stadium" in the 70's....which pretty much meant he had the thing rebuilt. The stadium in all it's glory stinks too bad and is falling apart....there's only so many times you can renovate. Besides....they are gonna do much more to improve the area other than the new stadium.


Also, with the current collective bargining agreement in the MLB the revenues from normal ticket sales are subject to being shared with other teams while revenues from luxury suites are not. Needless to say, the new stadium will have fewer seats and many more luxury boxes to protect its own revenues. The stadium will pay itself off rather quickly becuase of this.

[CarlosV]

photo courtesy of MIZZ LIZ flickr


old and new

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1381/1111238638_5c46bdbb0a.jpg?v=0

[Locofresh55]

NICE PIC.......people don't realize how close Yankee stadium is to Manhattan. I kinda wish the new stadium would be flipped and have the outfield near the river. I'm excited to see how this thing is gonna look. Between this and CITI FIELD....New Yorkers will have some quality stadiums to be proud of.

[ThisSideofSteinway]

I kinda wish the new stadium would be flipped and have the outfield near the river.

Actually the stadium was designed that way so that the sun would never be in the batter's eyes, which is also why Shea (and CitiField) are facing east.

Still, as awesome as a skyline view would be, there's just something special about a bunch of old tenements and the Bronx County Courthouse (sure beats the hell out of a U-Haul warehouse and the Whitestone Bridge ;) ).

[skyscraper]

Actually the stadium was designed that way so that the sun would never be in the batter's eyes, which is also why Shea (and CitiField) are facing east. ).

all ballparks are designed this way. nothing unique about it. MLB has some design standards, and this is one requirement.

Still, as awesome as a skyline view would be, there's just something special about a bunch of old tenements and the Bronx County Courthouse (sure beats the hell out of a U-Haul warehouse and the Whitestone Bridge ;) ).

why do people care about the view from ballparks? you're there to watch a game, not gawk over the skyline.

[John F]

The view is just something to compliment the location you are. You're not just at the game but you're in (insert city). The view can certainly add to it. I mean, Chicago and north Chicago at Wrigley are a point. You can't see much at fenway but it's undeniable things beyond the stadium play into the view with some fans in attendance (not that there is much). Elysian Fields plays as an awesome backdrop at Dodger Stadium (with Downtown viewable from the top of the stadium/behind home plate)...

But the ultra-urbanism with Pittsburgh and Detroit are just factors that add to everything. I dunno. It really shouldn't be a big deal but I love the act both skylines are viewable from the park. It adds to the ambiance. You feel like you are ON Fisherman's Wharf at ATT Ballpark in San Fran... and conversely - you feel like you are lost in a bland zone at Dolphin Stadium in Miami for the Marlins.

[the pope]

a nice happy compilation of updates, thanks

[dallasbrink]

Yawn.......

[Seat24inNJ]

Absolutely beautiful. Cant wait till it opens. Kind of reminds me of the Rangers ballpark without all of the suck inside of it.

[dallasbrink]

Absolutely beautiful. Cant wait till it opens. Kind of reminds me of the Rangers ballpark without all of the suck inside of it.

caugh caugh WHAT!? this looks nothing like The Ballpark in Arlington. he Ballpark in Arlington took parts of its design from Yankee Stadium.

[hoosier]

caugh caugh WHAT!? this looks nothing like The Ballpark in Arlington. he Ballpark in Arlington took parts of its design from Yankee Stadium.

Fuck you asshole.

[dallasbrink]

what? I said our stadium took its design from there stadium. Your blind sided man. Read better.

[gripja]

Glad the Yanks and the city finally got their heads of their asses and are gonna open up a Metro-North station, The Deegan is an F'in mess during games. (Too bad they never did it when the station was right NEXT to the tracks). Hopefully they can figure out how to get the schedule to work with the games -- I wouldn't hold my breathe tho when it comes to the MTA and anything making sense.

[NYRY85]

WNY 11/25

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/2052450500_5708c250af_b.jpg

[NYguy]

WNY 11/25

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/2052450500_5708c250af_b.jpg


I like the double stadium look (though not particularly at Shea). It's too bad the original can't stand as is.

[Dac150]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There just taking off the upper decks right?

I still feel there is nothing wrong with the current one. It's going to be wierd watching them in a new stadium. It won't be the same.

[priji]

On February 6, 1921, the Yankees announced the purchase of 10 acres of property in the west Bronx. The land, purchased from the estate of William Waldorf Astor for $675,000, sat directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, where the Yankees' had played since 1913. On their newly acquired property, the Yankees would build the most famous ballpark in history.

As originally designed, Yankee Stadium was to feature three decks and a roof which completely encircled the playing field. However, ownership scaled back the plan such that the grandstand didn't quite extend to the foul poles. The left field grandstand was extended in 1928. In 1937, the right field grandstand was extended and concrete bleachers replaced the original wooden ones, bringing the stadium to its current configuration.

For forty years, Yankee Stadium was home to a steady stream of championship teams. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig passed on their legacy to Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto, who then passed it on to Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. So mighty were the Yankees, and such a draw was the team and its stadium, that by 1958 the the Giants and Dodgers, New York's other Major League Baseball teams, had moved to California. For four years, from 1958 through 1961, there was only one place to go to watch Major League Baseball in New York City.

However, in the late sixties, an uncharacteristic drought of Yankee championships befell the team. Meanwhile, the expansion Mets where playing and winning championships in the new Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadow. By the early seventies, Yankee Stadium had become an old and obsolete stadium in a decaying neighborhood hosting a mediocre team.

Renovations were made in 1966 and 1967, but more than that was needed. In 1972, the team sold their stadium to the city and signed a thirty year lease. During the 1974 and 1975 seasons, the Yankees played at Shea Stadium while the city made major renovations to Yankee Stadium. The many steel columns which supported the roof and upper decks were removed, and the upper decks were cantilevered over the lower deck. The original roof and its famous copper facade were removed and replaced with a smaller, more modern roof. The facade was replicated above the new scoreboard which ran the entire length of the bleachers.

The renovated Yankee Stadium opened with much fanfare in 1976, and the Yankees wasted no time living up to their "new" stadium. The team appeared in the World Series in each of the next three years, winning the fall classic twice. Players like Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Ron Guidry picked up where Mantle and Berra left off a decade earlier. Except for brief period in the early 1990s, the Yankees have always fielded winning teams since their ballpark was renovated. In the late 1990s and 2000s, the Yankees have been the team to beat, appearing in six World Series while winning four of them. A cavalcade of stars, including Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens, have graced Yankee Stadium during these years.

[TheStudGuy]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07118.jpg

[TheStudGuy]

some test seats in.....just a mok up.....

[TheStudGuy]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07114.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07110.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07109.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07057.jpg

[TheStudGuy]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07101.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/YankeeStadium12-26-07093.jpg

[Busy Bee]

Has any of the facade gone up yet? I'm anxiously awaiting how it will look.

[TheStudGuy]

SO funny you would say that.....i was there today.....and they put ONE test peice up.....next time i go ill remember to bring a camera:koko:

[Brian.]

SO funny you would say that.....i was there today.....and they put ONE test peice up.....next time i go ill remember to bring a camera:koko:

Are you involved with the precast on that project?

[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/nyregion/07stadium.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Stadium Goes Up, but Bronx Still Seeks Benefits

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/07/nyregion/07stadium.span.jpg

The new Yankee Stadium, with a 2009 target date, is being built near the old one in the Bronx.


By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
January 7, 2008

Several years ago, as the Yankees negotiated to build a new stadium in the South Bronx, the neighborhood faced the realities of a massive construction project in its midst: parks would be closed and moved, traffic would be horrendous, life would be, for a while, a hassle.

So, as one way to make up for these inconveniences, the Yankees and elected officials signed a community benefits agreement. It required that the team would give roughly $1.2 million a year, starting when the work began, to various community groups through a special panel. The deal was similar to agreements in other major projects, like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Columbia University’s expansion into Harlem.

But nearly 17 months after construction began, as workers race to complete the new Yankee Stadium by opening day 2009, none of that money has been distributed, and the group responsible for administering it has never met.

The seven-member panel also has not chosen a permanent chairman, registered as a charity with either the Internal Revenue Service or the state attorney general’s office, or selected recipients for $800,000 in grants or $450,000 in free tickets, merchandise and athletic equipment.

Elected officials have complained that they are in the dark.

“I feel embarrassed because I don’t know anything about what’s going on,” said City Councilman G. Oliver Koppell, who represents the northwest Bronx. Mr. Koppell had suggested that the Bronx council members meet to discuss the agreement. “I was involved when we negotiated it, but I have not been involved since. I urged that we have a Bronx delegation review, but nothing’s happened.”

The Yankees say the community groups will get all of the money that they agreed to give according to the community benefits agreement, or C.B.A., including the first 17 months’ worth, once the panel meets. Alice T. McGillion, a team spokeswoman, said that the money was in an escrow account and that the club was not responsible for the delays.

“Please ask Bronx Boro President’s office about any delays in the fund and advisory panel being set up,” Ms. McGillion wrote by e-mail. “As the CBA specifically states the fund and its establishment is independent from the New York Yankees.”

The Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., has been “too busy” for the past three weeks to discuss the stadium fund in an interview, said his spokesman, Michael Murphy. Last month, Mr. Carrión announced his candidacy for city comptroller in 2009. But Mr. Murphy wrote in an e-mail message that the process to release the money to community groups was moving along.

“There were many people deciding who would be the most appropriate candidates for the panel,” Mr. Murphy wrote, in explaining the delays. “It took time for people to look at the list and come to a consensus.”

The fund was part of the agreement and was to be established the day stadium construction started, Aug. 17, 2006, and distributed annually through 2046.

The agreements are enforceable by courts, but officials who normally ensure that the terms of a contract are carried out — such as the city comptroller — have no oversight because municipal money is not involved.

The agreement for Yankee Stadium was unusual, however, because it was not negotiated or signed by community members. It carries only the signatures of four elected officials, who said they were acting on behalf of the community, and a representative of the Yankees.

None of the officials who signed the agreement agreed to be interviewed for this article. The signatories were Mr. Carrión; Randy L. Levine, the president of the Yankees; and Bronx City Council members Maria Baez, Joel Rivera and Maria del Carmen Arroyo.

Mr. Murphy referred most questions related to the fund to the Yankees, or to the panel itself, but he would not disclose the names of its members, with the exception of the group’s acting chairman, Serafin U. Mariel.

Mr. Murphy would not say who had selected Mr. Mariel, 64, a Manhattan resident who is the former president and chief executive of New York National Bank.

Mr. Mariel, who, campaign finance records show, has donated to the candidacies of Mr. Carrión in the past, acknowledged that the group was far behind schedule. “It has taken some time to choose the advisory panel, but while some of that time has been lost, I don’t think any of the funding commitment will be lost,” Mr. Mariel said during a telephone interview last month.

“I am in the process now of arranging a meeting of panel members so they can meet each other and establish guidelines,” Mr. Mariel said.

Councilwoman Helen Diane Foster, who represents the High Bridge neighborhood and who opposed the stadium, said she had neither been briefed nor been asked for an opinion on the board. She said she had sent letters requesting information to Mr. Carrión and to council members Ms. Baez and Ms. del Carmen Arroyo without response. “I have no idea how people were selected to the panel,” she said. “It concerns me, but I’m also wise enough to know that a lot of people are hinging careers on how great this deal is, so I’m not surprised we haven’t had this conversation.”

However, Mr. Carrión’s spokesman, Mr. Murphy, said that the borough president was open to discussing the issue with other elected officials. “This process has been participatory since the beginning,” Mr. Murphy wrote via e-mail. “Every Bronx elected official can at any time address his or her concerns directly to the Borough President. He has an open door policy regarding addressing any concerns his colleagues might have.”

[TheStudGuy]

Are you involved with the precast on that project?

no i work for a steel construction consultant......but i am there often enough to see the progress

[TheStudGuy]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/Yankee001.jpg

[TheStudGuy]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b30/bigwiggen/Yankee003.jpg

[Busy Bee]

VERY COOL. Whats the material used? Steel? Painted aluminum?

[TheStudGuy]

painted steel.....heavy solid, steel

[Exodus]

Another one bites the dust:( There's only Fenway and Wrigley left.

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Another one bites the dust:( There's only Fenway and Wrigley left.

You are right. As a Yankee fan I have my doubts about the necessity of this new stadium. Of course Yankee Stadium wasn't quite the same after the 1976 renovations, but still it was Yankee Stadium.

But I am glad that the name Yankee Stadium will remain and that the Yankees did not sell the naming rights to the highest bidding company.

I truly hope that the Red Sox and the Cubs will cherish their ball parks until the end of time.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162008/news/regionalnews/sign_ing_up_315369.htm

SIGN-ING UP
NAME SET AT YANKS' NEW PARK

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162008/news/regionalnews/stadium/photo01.jpg

By BILL SANDERSON
January 16, 2008

The House That Jeter Built has a new sign that unmistakably promises great baseball will be played there.

The words "Yankee Stadium," solidly etched in gold-leafed stone, were hoisted by crane onto the team's new South Bronx home this week.

And now there's rock-solid proof that unlike countless other sports teams that have given up stadium-naming rights to big corporations, Yankee tradition is not for sale.

The words appear on the façade of the stadium's 30,000- square-foot Gothic-style Grand Hall, which will be the main entranceway to the new ballpark and is expected to offer retail and restaurant space year-round.

"Yankee" went up Monday, and "Stadium" went up first thing yesterday morning, team officials said.

From the outside, the stadium's elegant limestone and granite façade will have the feel of the 1923 design of the original stadium - the House that Ruth Built - which for now still stands across the street.

Team officials were tight-lipped about the project yesterday, except to say construction is proceeding on schedule for Opening Day 2009.

But the progress on the $930 million stadium is evident: The steelwork appears mostly done, and the dimensions of the ballfield - about the same as the 1923 stadium - are now clear, as are the twin decks of the stands.

Enough construction work has been finished that employees of the team's media-relations office were able to visit the stadium's press box this week. It was during that visit that they saw workers hoisting the new sign, and took these pictures.

The new stadium will hold around 51,000 people - smaller than the current stadium's 57,000 capacity.

And while the look of the façade will be old-school, the stadium's interior will be thoroughly modern, with improved sightlines, high-tech signage and ample concessions and restrooms.

In the last few weeks, the city has moved ahead with plans to spend $238 million on new parking garages, which won't be complete until 2010, around the stadium. To the south of the site, work is proceeding on the big Bronx Terminal Market shopping mall.

And sometime amid the building of the new facilities, the old stadium - with all its tradition and memories - will be torn down.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162008/news/regionalnews/stadium/photo02.jpg


http://www.nypost.com/seven/01162008/news/regionalnews/stadium/photo03.jpg

[TheStudGuy]

i had heard rumor, that the old stadium would not be COMPLETELY torn down, but the field, and a small section of stands would be kept for a future minor league team?~

[excel]

Looks like a cool stadium.

[Crawford]

i had heard rumor, that the old stadium would not be COMPLETELY torn down, but the field, and a small section of stands would be kept for a future minor league team?~

I have heard this too.

The field and some stands will definitely be kept (this has been in all the official documents), but the minor league team is a rumor.

Anyone have details?

[Locofresh55]

It will be a ballpark that the local community will use. They're not looking to put a minor league team there. Instead, some of the local high schools and even little league teams will use this ball park for games. Steinbrenner was looking to have district championships here that way it's easier to schedule.

[Exodus]

You are right. As a Yankee fan I have my doubts about the necessity of this new stadium. Of course Yankee Stadium wasn't quite the same after the 1976 renovations, but still it was Yankee Stadium.

But I am glad that the name Yankee Stadium will remain and that the Yankees did not sell the naming rights to the highest bidding company.

I truly hope that the Red Sox and the Cubs will cherish their ball parks until the end of time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1sKMHUE6co

[NYguy]

More pictures from mlb.com via BenYankee (http://flickr.com/photos/benyankee/)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2185/2197836072_1e1cfe5853_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2197835864_a7d88cfd82_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2170/2197835840_508722a69f_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2117/2197835888_df55a7df42_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2163/2197836018_9b5e7dc1e3_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2226/2197047463_44e417bd1c_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2337/2197835948_057054517d_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/2197836000_63f423a72d_o.jpg

Well done guys.

[NYguy]

More photos by topkidnum1 (http://flickr.com/photos/20503670@N05/)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2146927875_935e59af2d.jpg?v=0


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2118/2146926975_5f5d691191_b.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2043/2146946329_fe963ba8d4_b.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2003/2147738272_fe3fab9115_b.jpg

[StatenIslander237]

Watching that sign being put up is freakin' awesome. NYGuy that last picture was freakin' awesome, and it's freakin' awesome how the 161st Street station is right up against the stadium. Forgive me if I am being redundant. ;)

By the way NYGuy, to answer your question, yes I have much love for New York.

[UrbanSoldier]

Here are some pictures I took this week while at Jury Duty in the courthouse.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/2251263018_7c0c01b728.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2251263042_10cec4bffc.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2208/2251263064_8f812126f6.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2061/2251263094_5d80af37ea.jpg?v=0

[NYguy]

By the way NYGuy, to answer your question, yes I have much love for New York.


Glad to hear it...:tup:

[NYguy]

Here are some pictures I took this week while at Jury Duty in the courthouse.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/2251263018_7c0c01b728.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2251263042_10cec4bffc.jpg?v=0

Poor kid.

Somehow, this stadium looks like its been there the whole time. I was looking at some of the new features on the news the other day. This will be great for both the team and the Bronx.

[NYguy]

You know, I had actually forgotten that Joe Torre won't be back this year...


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/sports/baseball/08sandomir.html?_r=2&ex=1360213200&en=39b75ffdc88c0305&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

You Can’t Buy the Naming Rights, but Call It the Billion-Dollar Ballpark

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/08/sports/08yankee1.600.jpg

The new stadium, which is set to open in April 2009, has its name inscribed into the stone and highlighted in gold leaf.

By RICHARD SANDOMIR
February 8, 2008


The old Yankee Stadium cost Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast Huston $2.5 million to build and $100 million (or so) for the city to rebuild. The cost to replace it is now about $1.2 billion — not $930 million ($830 million and financing) as originally estimated.

Then there’s another $135 million, still to be financed as part of a separate company in the Yankees’ realm to create the food and beverage business the team will start, rather than invite an outside concessionaire like Aramark to build it.

However you calculate the costs, it is hard to envision what the $1.2 billion ballpark will look like, what with all the mud, cranes, uninstalled seats, unbuilt luxury suites and hundreds of construction workers at the site. There is still a lot of concrete and steel to build on.

Surely, it will be a dandy replica of the original ballpark, which dates to 1923, and not a facsimile of the stadium that emerged from the unimaginative 1974-75 renovation.

Or, as Yogi Berra said during a video produced by the Yankees to market premium seating at the ballpark, “It’s going to be like a new stadium.”

It was Lonn Trost, the Yankees’ chief operating officer, who noted the new costs Thursday during a news-media tour of the construction site. They will be borne by the team, not the city and the state, which are footing the bill for new parks, new garages and a new Metro-North station, and financed by borrowing beyond the $866 million in tax-exempt bonds and $64 million in taxable bonds that are financing the stadium’s construction.

The team’s debt service will surely rise — and it won’t get any help from a naming rights deal. Trost said the team has rejected offers of at least $50 million a year — two and a half times what Citigroup is paying the Mets — to name the stadium for a corporation. He did not say which companies would pay such a fee.

Still, even without naming-rights booty, Sal Galatioto, who runs a sports investment banking company, said the Yankees shouldn’t have much trouble finding more financing. “The Yankee name carries a lot of weight with investors,” he said. “They have a good story to tell, especially if some of the increased expenses will increase revenues.”

About $150 million in higher costs are going to a fancier scoreboard than originally envisioned and enhancements to luxury suites, club suites and restaurants that went beyond the original architectural plans — all designed to produce cash.

The scope of space dedicated to the wealthiest’s pursuits in suites and pampered club areas is stunning. The two-level Legends Suite Club will serve the 1,800 ticket holders who will sit closest to the field in 1,800 cushioned seats extending along the baselines from home plate. Hopefully, when ticket prices are announced, the wealthiest in their premium areas will subsidize the regular Joes.

(There is also a conference center — if a meeting breaks out in the sixth inning.)

Another $60 million is to pay for security improvements that were recommended by the New York Police Department and $50 million was associated with starting construction several months late in August 2006 because of lawsuits.

The stadium is starting to look like something, much like Citi Field, which is rising in Flushing beside Shea Stadium. Both ballparks are racing to be completed by April 2009.

The dueling Yankee Stadiums face each other across 161st Street. The partly finished granite and limestone exterior of the new one winks at the ancient House That Ruth Built as if to say, “I’m going to be look better than you — and I’ll have wider seats.”

Gate 4, at the corner of 161st Street and Jerome Avenue, gleamed in the gray chill.

YANKEE STADIUM is inscribed into the stone and highlighted in gold leaf. Circular holes on either side of the inscription await the arrival of sculptured medallions of eagles that were part of the original design by Osborne Engineering.


“I just ran across Ruppert’s 1924 income tax return where he started amortizing the $2 million construction cost,” Trost said. “For $2 million, we can build a seat.”

Actually, arithmetic proves that the 53,000 seats will cost $22,641 each. (Cheap!)

Inside, much of the steel structure is completed, and the most striking feature so far on display is a 21st-century rendition of the rooftop frieze that defined the old stadium’s design. The old one was copper and turned green through oxidation. The new frieze is made of steel, painted white and was delivered in 39 six-ton pieces.

About half are in place, giving the new place its first indication of grandeur.

Trost’s tour of the construction site meandered from outside (with what appears to be a much gentler grade to the seating, offering fewer steep views), to the inside, where he walked through the Yankees’ clubhouse, showers and weight room. He gestured down a corridor and said, “Torre’s office is that way.” Reminded of the transfer in power from Joe Torre to Joe Girardi, he added with a smile, “You know it’s Joe’s office.”

[caltrane74]

my word......

[StatenIslander237]

HEY! What the hell? Where's the updates on this stadium? It's been over a month now....

[NYguy]

HEY! What the hell? Where's the updates on this stadium? It's been over a month now....


Go ahead, we're wating...;)

[TheStudGuy]

ill have some updated pics this week! i never rememebr to take my camera, i have lots of pics from giants stadium ill post those up soon, that stadium is going up faster then you can imagine! and for a design build everyone is doing there job well!!!

[StatenIslander237]

Go ahead, we're wating...;)

LOL Geez I wish, but being in Chicago doesn't help me take pictures of New York....and even if I was home, I doubt you'd catch me in the Bronx anyway. :haha: I may be working for my dad's union this summer, Local 3 Electric, so I may be finally able to give back to this site. :banana:

Thanks Stud Guy! I look forward to it.

[NYguy]

LOL Geez I wish, but being in Chicago doesn't help me take pictures of New York.....

True enough, but you don't even have to be in New York to get updates.

[NYguy]

More renderings...
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/image_gallery.jsp


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/LSLEGENDS_SUITE_CLUB_UPPER_LEVEL_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/LSLEGENDS_SUITE_DUGOUT_LOUNGE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/club/CLUB_SUITE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/club/SUITE_LOUNGE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/stadium/GREAT_HALL_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/stadium/SPORTS_BAR_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/stadium/MUSEUM_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/stadium/STEAK_HOUSE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/LSVIEW_FROM_FIRST_BASE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/LSVIEW_FROM_THIRD_BASE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/terrace/VIEW_FROM_FIRST_BASE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/terrace/VIEW_FROM_THIRD_BASE_popup.jpg


http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/components/ballpark/premium_seating/images/gallery/terrace/VIEW_FROM_HOME_PLATE_popup.jpg

[antinimby]

I tried but can't seem to find a rendering with a view of the stadium from centerfield looking back towards homeplate.

Strangely, we don't know what that part of the stadium will look like because there just isn't any renderings from that perspective.

[Dac150]

It'll certainly be an amazing stadium. I'm looking foward to attend 'Opening Day 2009'.

[Don098]

Wow, I'm a Phillies fan (sort of...I really am only truly passionate about the Flyers and Eagles) and not a fan of the Yankees and the negative connotations they have come to symbolize, but I have to admit, this is a spectacular stadium. Will it have nice views of your skyline? I also love the placement directly next to the subway. Very smart, and kind of a no-brainer but in a lot of cities around the country, sadly that's not always on the radar... two thumbs up! I'd love to see a game there.

[ThisSideofSteinway]

Wow, I'm a Phillies fan (sort of...I really am only truly passionate about the Flyers and Eagles) and not a fan of the Yankees and the negative connotations they have come to symbolize, but I have to admit, this is a spectacular stadium. Will it have nice views of your skyline? I also love the placement directly next to the subway. Very smart, and kind of a no-brainer but in a lot of cities around the country, sadly that's not always on the radar... two thumbs up! I'd love to see a game there.

There isn't really any skyline view to speak of, since Manhattan is to the south and ballparks generally face east - on the other hand, one of my favorite parts of the Stadium was the fact that it looked out onto the neighborhood. It makes it feel more accessible and integrated, IMO.

The renderings are nice, but it's hard not to get a bit rankled a bit at how much emphasis is being placed on the luxurious features as opposed to the sections of the park geared toward the great unwashed (which, admittedly, anyone who's been following the progress will have seen coming a mile away, but it's still irksome).