page_title: Yankee Stadium
section_title: Opening and public perception
hierarchical_section_title: Yankee Stadium / Public opinion / Opening and public perception
caption_attribution_description: Yankee Stadium during a rain delay, June 18, 2019.
context_page_description: Yankee Stadium is a baseball park located in Concourse, Bronx, New York City. It is the home field for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball and New York City FC of Major League Soccer, as well as being the host stadium for the annual Pinstripe Bowl game. The $2.3 billion stadium, built with $1.2 billion in public subsidies, replaced the original Yankee Stadium in 2009. It is located one block north of the original, on the 24-acre former site of Macombs Dam Park; the 8-acre site of the original stadium is now a public park called Heritage Field.
  The stadium incorporates replicas of some design elements from the original Yankee Stadium, and like its predecessor, it has hosted additional events, including college football games, soccer matches, two outdoor NHL games, and concerts. Although Yankee Stadium's construction began in August 2006, the project spanned many years and faced many controversies, including the high public cost and the loss of public parkland. The $1.5 billion price tag makes the new Yankee Stadium one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.
context_section_description: Although Yankee Stadium has been praised for its amenities, it also has been widely criticized for high ticket prices. Seats within the first eight rows in the lower bowl, called the "Legends Suite", are among the highest-priced tickets in professional sports. Tickets cost $510 on average; the most expensive tickets cost $2,600 each. Legends Suite Seats have been regularly empty, with many ticket holders in this section having given up their tickets, and others remaining unsold, despite most other seats in the ballpark selling out. This has created an embarrassing image on television of the seats behind home plate being almost completely vacant. Consequently, a surplus of tickets for Legends Seats have emerged in the secondary market, and with supply exceeding demand, resale prices have dropped. Empty seats in the Legends Suite could even be seen during the 2009 playoffs, including World Series games. Even though all playoff games were sellouts, Legends Suite ticket holders were in the lounges and the restaurant underneath instead of their seats. Overall, the average ticket price is $63, the highest in baseball.
  Legends Suite seats are also separate from the other lower bowl seating and are vigorously patrolled by stadium security, with the divider being described as a "concrete moat." Fans who do not have tickets within this premium section in the front rows are not allowed in the section. This includes standing behind the dugouts during batting practice and to seek autographs. The least expensive seats, the bleachers, initially left many fans disappointed, as the indoor club seating area in center field obstructed the views from bleacher seats on both sides in sections 201 and 239. These severely obstructed sections would ultimately be removed during the 2016–2017 off-season in favor of outdoor bars and patio called Franks Red Hot Terrace in left center and Toyota Terrace in right center. These new areas are complete with standing terraces accessible to all ticket holders, in addition to replacing the seating on top of the center field club with standing terraces, drastically reducing the number of obstructed views from center field in the process.
  The Yankee Stadium staff was also criticized for an incident during a May 4, 2009 game, which was interrupted by a rain delay. Fans were told by some staff members that the game was unlikely to resume and consequently, many fans exited the stadium, only for the game to eventually resume play. The fans that left the ballpark were not permitted to re-enter, per the stadium's re-entry policy, and many subsequently got into arguments with stadium personnel. In response to the backlash the Yankees received for the incident, the staff members were required to sign a gag order preventing them from speaking to media, but they did indicate that communication for rain delays would be improved.
  Late in the stadium's first season, cracks were seen on the concrete ramps of the Stadium. The Yankees are trying to determine whether there was something wrong with the concrete, or the ramps' installation or design. The company involved in inspecting the concrete was indicted on charges that its employees either faked or failed to perform some required tests and falsified the results of others.
  The stadium has also been criticized for its lack of fan noise. During a Sunday Night Baseball telecast in 2012, commentator and former Red Sox manager Terry Francona spoke about the different atmospheres in the old and new stadiums saying that "As a visiting team, especially for the Red Sox, by the time the (national) anthem was over, you couldn't wait to get back in the dugout. Now (there is) a little different (kind) of fan sitting around down there by the dugout." Games at the new stadium do not feature the same deafening crowd moments and often sound eerily silent. The lack of fan noise was noticeable in the 2012 playoffs as well, with thousands of unsold seats for Game 5 of the ALDS and Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS. "This is a very easy place to play now," said Quintin Berry of the Detroit Tigers, th
caption: Yankee Stadium before a game, in what became a rain delay, June, 2019.
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