Two brand new baseball stadiums (subsidized by the taxpayers) adorn New York City as both the Yankees and Mets get ready to open the 2009 season. But the two stadiums designed for a precredit crisis economy may be having some problems filling those $2,000 VIP seats with Wall Street limping along and conspicuous consumption very much out of favor.
The New York Times columnist Floyd Norris
writes:
"I received an e-mail message today from the Yankees proclaiming that 'Tickets for Yankee Stadium's inaugural week are still available.'
"So I checked out the second home game of the season, on Friday afternoon, April 17. The cheap seats are sold out, but there are still some good seats left, at prices ranging from $375 (plus a $12.45 convenience fee) to $900 (plus a $23.45 convenience fee). As it happens, the Mets are in town that same night. There you can get tickets for as little as $60 (plus $7 fee) for seats in what I would have called the bleachers but they call left field reserved. Seats costing as much as $270 (plus a $12 fee) are also available."
With seats like that sitting empty, the teams owners must be pulling for the government's Public-Private Investment Program and other stimulus plans to work fast, so that banks can get back to providing perks. Of course the teams' owners could just lower the prices so that the middle class could afford good seats too, but waiting for that is likely to leave you as disappointed as Mets fans when the playoffs begin.
Fortunately there is hope for bankers that just have to see their favorite New York teams in action. For less than a single ticket at the new Yankee stadium, one can get round-trip tickets down to Tampa, Fla., a rental car, hotel room and a seat at a preseason Yankees game and still have enough left over for a hot dog. -
George White
See NY Times blog post
Continue reading below
