« The Fantastic Four | Main | Just Wait Till Next Year? »
October 01, 2007
Yanks: New Stadium Not Going To Look Like Times Square
From the Times -
The Yankees are never known for missing opportunities to make money. Yet when they decided to build a new stadium, they declined the potential riches that could come from selling the rights to the name.
“The dollars we passed were incomparable,” said Lonn Trost, the Yankees’ chief operating officer. “Having said that, you wouldn’t rename the White House, you wouldn’t rename Grant’s Tomb and you wouldn’t rename the Grand Canyon. This is Yankee Stadium, and this will always be Yankee Stadium.”
But as they look ahead to the new Yankee Stadium, which will open in 2009, the Yankees have found an alternate way to collect some of the money they might have made from naming rights. They will announce today that they have hired the Creative Arts Agency to market partnerships to corporate sponsors.
“It’s an opportunity for a company to partner with the Yankees and say, ‘We support the Yankees’ decision to keep the stadium as Yankee Stadium,’ ” said Mike Levine, the co-head of CAA Sports.
Trost acknowledged that because of the history of the name Yankee Stadium, a rights deal might have backfired for the company that put its name atop the marquee of the new ballpark.
“If we were foolish enough to have sold it, any company that would have taken the name would have been injured by it,” Trost said.
Knowing that, he said, the partnership with CAA will help the Yankees benefit financially by offering expanded sponsorship deals to companies in the new ballpark. Trost and Levine said specific plans were still in development, but there would be no advertising on uniforms, which is against Major League Baseball rules, and Trost stressed the ballpark would not be cluttered with corporate logos.
“We don’t want to make it look like a carnival or a rodeo,” Trost said. “This will be done intelligently and will not ruin the image of Yankee Stadium.”
Lonn, you mean, like not putting ads on the back of the drag mats that the grounds crew uses during the 5th inning to groom the infield (while doing the YMCA dance)?
Oh, wait, that's right.....
Posted by Steve Lombardi at October 1, 2007 10:46 AM
Comments
Lonn, you mean, like not putting ads on the back of the drag mats that the grounds crew uses during the 5th inning to groom the infield (while doing the YMCA dance)?
==================
I was thinking about the Adidas stripes.
Posted by: Raf ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 1, 2007 12:10 PM
The Yankees have made radio broadcasts unlistenable, due to and endless barrage of in-game sponsorships for 15th outs, caught stealings, lineups, changing of pitchers, grand-slam innings, Matsui at-bats (Benihana), plays of the game, etc.
I'll believe it, when I see it, that the Yankees are capable of turning down "partnership" money to retain some taste.
Posted by: Paul Katcher at October 1, 2007 12:40 PM
While I think everything at the Stadium is all done by the Yankees, the stuff on the radio and on YES is all done by 880 and by YES. I don't think the Yankees do that.
It is really annoying. Corona scorebord. Bigelow weather. LoJack caught stealing. It was annoying at first, then I got used to it, and then they go to My9 or ESPN or something and it's all different sponsers I'm not used to and I get annoyed again.
Posted by: snowball003 at October 1, 2007 02:09 PM
~~~While I think everything at the Stadium is all done by the Yankees, the stuff on the radio and on YES is all done by 880 and by YES. ~~~
But, YES owns the 880 Yanks Broadcast, and the Yankees own YES - so, in the end, it's the Yankees making the call and collecting the money there.
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at October 1, 2007 02:52 PM
so not everyone has DVR yet? it's the greatest invention since the wheel. i fast forward through every single commercial, 'brought to you by's, etc. - it's actually spoiled me as i can hardly watch a game without it anymore (the continuous barrage of ads (guiseppe franco anyone?) is insanely frustrating).
we all hate the greed of professional sports, but it's part of it (and has always been, think about the greed of the early baseball owners). if you think there are a lot of ads in ballparks now, take a look at old pictures. did y'all know the green monster used to be entirely covered with ads?
at least for all of this shit, they're sticking with 'Yankee Stadium.' anything else would have royally pissed off the fans. soon they'll be the only park left without a corporate name. Mets fans have to live with Citi Field, oy. as if blowing the playoffs wasnt bad enough...
Posted by: Travis G. at October 1, 2007 03:27 PM
Travis G: we're talking about like the scouting reports and thet score boards that the show during the game (I am at least). They show it while the game is going on, so it's not exactly something you can forward though.
The Yankees may own YES, but I don't think Big Stein is watching and saying "hey, why don't we have the Corona score board." I don't know. I think you might be reaching on that one. But that's just my opinion.
Posted by: snowball003 at October 1, 2007 07:53 PM
Let the Yanks make every dollar they can. George's model for baseball in NY (and Tampa) have worked brilliantly....plow money back into the organization and the dough will keep rolling in. Baseball's problem was they decided to sit around and vote themselves a share of Yankee fan's money rather than earning it themselves. I've always said, if there was going to be a "luxury" tax, it ought to be accompanied by an attendance minimum. i.e., you've got to come out and support your team if you want to feed at the trough George built.
Posted by: #15 at October 1, 2007 10:26 PM