Yankees officials and the political pooh-bahs that are financing it with $900 billion in bonds broke ground today on the new Yankee Stadium. My visceral reaction to the beginning of the end of the stadium where I experienced most of my favorite baseball memories is negative, but it's probably time to move on.
While the dimensions of the field will be the same and the look will make the new Yankee Stadium look like the pre-1975 House that Ruth Built, fans lose out with fewer seats, especially bleacher seats. I've always thought that there's a thin line between "pro-business" policy and a pernicious soft corporatism, with business working on behalf of government and vice versa, to the detriment of regular people.
Should a city or state be able to use its borrowing power for a stadium? Probably not, but that's the way it's been for too long to change without a major ideological shift. At the very least, the public should demand something in return for the bonds, eminent domain and infrastructure improvement. Make the tickets cheaper, or at least put in more cheap seats. A brand new stadium isn't a good investment if it means that fewer people can enjoy the games, especially if games sell out so often (Yankee stadium averages over 50,000 attendance per game).
At the very least, don't give it an unweildy corporate name. The greatest team in the history of professional sport should not have to play at Merril Lynch Park.
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