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February 07, 2008
New Stadium Tab Up To $1.3 Billion
Via Yankees.com -
The location of Yankee Stadium is to change in 12 months, from one side of 161st Street to the other. Not so the identity of the arena in which American sports' most storied franchise conducts its business. Fifty million dollars per year would buy an Alex Rodriguez annually or a Jorge Posada perennially. But the Yankees say they have purchased perfection permanently by rejecting all naming right inquiries.
"You don't re-name the White House or the Grand Canyon," Lonn Trost said Thursday, acknowledging $50 million isn't just a ballpark figure. Moreover, the Yankees COO said the construction cost will exceed the announced $830 million by a half billion. In the name of tradition, the successor to The House That Ruth Built and John Lindsay refurbished will cost $1.3 billion to build.
The cost is for the Yankees to calculate, meet and privately lament. "We'll make it up some way," said Trost.
Trost, who oversees the construction, attributed the increase in the construction figure to the addition of a 58-by-103-foot high definition video screen in center field, construction delays and that the initial estimate didn't reflect the cost of concession areas and all features involved with their operation. But the added expense also may reflect the club's intention to recreate, as much as possible, the building that served Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.
Toward that objective, the Yankees launched a worldwide search for limestone consistent with what was used in construction of the original park, finally finding a comparable product in Indiana. It will afford the new façade a touch of yellow missing in its annually repainted grey predecessor.
I bet it's much easier to spring for that monster HD video screen and the perfect-match limestone when you know it will help reduce your revenue-sharing obligations down the road, under the terms of the baseball CBA. At the end of the day, when it becomes a "use it or lose it" situation, you're going to "use it" every time.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at February 7, 2008 10:10 PM