Caption Keechant Sewell's replacement

"Let's alienate parkland in the Bronx instead"

From the Daily News:

City officials are scampering to sign a deal by the end of this month for $300 million in tax-free bonds that would allow the Yankees and a royal from the United Arab Emirates to tear down one of the bankrupt Yankee Stadium garages and build a Major League Soccer stadium, two sources close to the talks have told the Daily News.

A draft of the agreement circulating among Economic Development Corp. staff would require Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio to decide within 30 days of his inauguration whether to approve the deal for the new soccer franchise, the New York City Football Club, the sources said.

Under the complex proposal, the new soccer team — a joint venture of the Yankees and Manchester City Football Club, a British team owned by Sheik Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan — would pay virtually no rent for 38 years for the largely city-owned land on which the proposed 28,000-seat soccer venue would sit.

The new franchise would also be permitted to divert the property taxes it would normally owe the city to pay off its bonds, the sources said — a deal similar to the one the Yankees and the Mets got for their new stadiums in 2005. The soccer club would be exempt from sales taxes or mortgage taxes.

The soccer venture would pay an estimated $25 million to bondholders of the bankrupt Bronx Parking Development firm for its E. 153rd St. garage, which sits on city-owned land. In addition, Yankees President Randy Levine is trying to buy out and relocate a nearby elevator equipment company, GAL Manufacturing Corp., which employs more than 350 workers.

Bill DeBlasio is not very enthusiastic about the stadium.

Yankees join forces with sheik to buy soccer team

From the Times Ledger:

Major League Soccer announced Tuesday the New York Yankees have teamed up with an Abu Dhabi sheik to buy a new soccer team franchise based in the Big Apple, but the announcement cast doubt on whether the crew will eventually play in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

The Bronx Bombers and Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who already owns English soccer team Manchester City, hope the new team, New York City Football Club, will begin play in 2015, according to an announcement from the brand new club, which will compete with another team across the Hudson River.

Manchester City will be the majority owner of the club, with the Yankees acting as an investor, according to the club. On May 25, Manchester City will play a friendly match against another British team, Chelsea FC, at Yankee stadium.

Where the new team will play afterward is up in the air.

Last month, Garber reiterated the league’s insistence on Flushing Meadows.

“If we get this done, it will be in Flushing Meadow Park,” Garber said to the Associated Press. “There is no Plan B.”

But statements by the New York City Football Club in its Tuesday announcement seemed to open the possibility the sports facility could be located elsewhere.

“In considering any stadium site, we will listen first. This is what we have always done in Manchester and what we will do in New York. Only in this way can the club truly represent the city whose name it will carry,” said Ferran Soriano, chief executive officer of Manchester City.

The announcement also mentioned the negotiations, public relations pitches and outreach that MLS has been undertaking.

“New York City FC is committed to seeking a new permanent stadium in New York. Until that time, the new team is arranging to play in an interim home beginning in its inaugural MLS season in 2015. Over the past year, MLS began discussions with the city of New York and other stakeholders about the possibility of constructing a new stadium in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. The club’s new management will continue these discussions with local government officials, community residents and businesses, soccer leagues, and MLS,” the announcement stated. “The club will continue to review other potential sites as well.”

The possibility of another location was welcome news to Queens park advocacy groups.

“As everyone in Queens — except for most of our elected officials — seems to know, the proposed site was a terrible location for any sort of stadium, as it would have horribly impacted the park as well as sat directly on top of the Flushing River, which the Fountain of the Planets currently is sited,” said Paul Graziano, a co-founder of the park advocacy group Save Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which is opposed to commercial development in the green space. “As advocates specifically for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, we are hopeful that we are seeing the last of this awful proposal and that it will evaporate back into thin air where it came from.”

Guv in trouble for stiffing the Yankees and lying about it

From Fox 5:

New York's Public Integrity Commission has charged embattled Gov. David Paterson with an ethics violation involving a gift of free Yankees tickets for the 2009 World Series that could cost him nearly $100,000 in penalties.

The commission says Paterson may also have given false testimony in the case now being turned over to the Albany County District Attorney's office for possible criminal prosecution.

Paterson could face a penalty of $80,000 for violating the state gift ban for elected officials. The commission says Wednesday he also violated a prohibition against using his official position to secure unwarranted privileges. That could cost another $10,000 or more.

The commission found Paterson didn't intend to reimburse the Yankees.

There was no immediate comment from the governor's office.

Uncomfortable in the locker room

Yep saw this live the other night and kept thinking this guy is really pathetic. At least they kept him on mute.

He also secretly is an Angels fan, as per Gothamist.

Coincidence or conspiracy?

Here we are at CitiField, home of the Mets.
Right across the street and visible from Roosevelt Avenue and the 7 train, however, is an ad featuring the logo of the Yankees.

Root, root, root for the home team of your choice!

Teams find out that karma's a real bitch

From the NY Times:

After spending $2.3 billion on new stadiums packed with suites, restaurants and the latest technology, the Mets and the Yankees expected fans to embrace their new homes and pay top dollar for the privilege. Almost every team that has built a new stadium in the recent past has seen an immediate surge in attendance.

Instead, the Mets and the Yankees face a public relations nightmare and possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue after failing to sell about 5,000 tickets — including some of the priciest seats — to each of their first few games after last week’s openers.

The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots.

That's what happens when you take kids' parks away from them and replace them with garage top carpets and push for people's land to be stolen so your fans don't have to suffer the indignity of gazing down upon the working class.

Bronx kids still without parks

From the Daily News:

No one has explained how the Mets managed to tear down Shea Stadium as soon as the season ended, but demolition of old Yankee Stadium hasn't even begun.

Somehow, the new stadium has opened on time, the Yankee garages are on schedule and the new Metro-North station is done.

Only when it comes to replacing the community's lost parkland are huge delays acceptable to the Yankees and Mayor Bloomberg's people. After all, its just thousands of poor blacks and Hispanics who will suffer.

There are student athletes at All Hallows who will go through all four years of high school being treated like gypsies by their city and the big, rich team down the street. What a way to play ball with our kids.

The House that Crap Built

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to report that four crap towers designed by yours truly were included in the new Yankee Stadium. I figured that we'd all had enough of this nostalgic, "homage to the past" stuff. What we really needed was out-of-context glass junk to disgrace this retro ballpark. Like they say, "If you build crap, they will come."

I contributed other design ideas as well, like throwing monument park in a garage under the sports bar and leaving the upper deck concourse open so garbage blows all over the field on windy days. A nice touch are the flimsy cup holders that need to be replaced frequently because people are using them as footrests. It was also my idea to situate the stadium in such a way that it offers a commanding view of two of my other Bronx projects.

Finally, replacing the stolen parkland with nice astro-turf sports fields atop the parking garages was my doing, too. After all, nothing goes together better than toxic fumes and toxic turf. Just ask my inspiration, Mayor Mike.

Monument Park: Then & Now

The old Monument Park had trees and shade and was an inviting place.

By comparison, the new Monument Park looks rather depressing.

Top photo by Wally G on Flickr.

Sounds of silence at the stadium

This past Saturday, there were no announcements or music for a few innings as the Yankee Stadium sound system was on the blink (despite all that juice). Which wasn't so bad because it meant there was no YMCA. Unfortunately, lack of music didn't stop Cotton Eye Joe from dancing.

Eagle flies and hero takes the mound

Challenger the eagle performs after closing of National Anthem at the new Yankee Stadium.


Hero pilot Captain Chesley Sullenberger throws out the first pitch before Cubs vs. Yankees game at the new Yankee Stadium. I'll have more on the new stadium throughout the week.

Yankees fail to produce subpoenaed documents

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

NEW YORK (AP) -- State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky says the New York Yankees have produced only a fraction of the documents subpoenaed as part of his investigation into whether the team's new $1.5 billion stadium is a good deal for the city.

The Yankees turned over documents at a legislative committee hearing Friday in Manhattan. But Brodsky said they weren't all the records legislators sought on the ballpark's tax-exempt financing and ticket prices.

Team president Randy Levine called the assemblyman's inquiry a "witch hunt."

Brodsky is a longtime critic of the stadium deal, which is backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies.

The price was estimated at $800 million when announced in June 2005.

The stadium is due to open April 16.

If you can't take the scrutiny, don't ask for a break from taxpayers.

Sports stadiums suffer from really bad timing

From the Wall Street Journal:

In a case of monumentally bad timing, this year three of the biggest names in pro sports -- the Yankees, New York Mets and Dallas Cowboys -- are opening three of the most expensive stadiums ever built, filled with premium-priced seats and luxury amenities. At a combined cost of more than $3.5 billion, the stadiums were conceived and financed in a vastly different environment, a time when corporations and municipalities were flush with cash. Now they're opening just as corporate America is going through a massive belt-tightening -- and trying to avoid the appearance of extravagance at all costs.

Yankees are rent deadbeats

From NY1:

The Yankees owe the city more than $65,000 in rent payments for the first quarter of last year, according to an audit released by the city comptroller's office today.

Comptroller Bill Thompson says the team has consistently overstated their rent deductions by more than $3.7 million since 2000.

He says the Yankees have a pattern of not paying the city what is owed until it has been audited.

The Yankees are not disputing the audit and plan to pay. Yankees President Randy Levine says that the audit was a routine part of the team's compliance with a complicated lease.

He also said that Thompson should start paying more attention to the mayor's race than the Yankees or else he's going to find himself in a situation similar to a cellar-dwelling baseball team.

Yankee stadium park costs skyrocket

From Crain's:

The cost of replacing more than 22 acres of South Bronx parkland displaced by the new Yankee Stadium has skyrocketed 67% to nearly $195 million, according to a new report by the Independent Budget Office.

Design revisions, project additions, unanticipated cleanup of hazardous materials and construction inflation have driven costs up by $78.6 million, the report said. While the Yankees are financing the stadium — with the help of city and state subsidies — the parks are being paid for by the city.

Funding for the increase has been built into the city’s capital budget, according Doug Turetsky, chief of staff of the IBO, a city agency that operates independent of the mayor. A spokesman for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Breakdown of the Yankees' bond request

From the Daily News' Juan Gonzalez:

There's $137 million to pay for concessions at the new stadium - including a swank new Yankees Steakhouse, a Hard Rock Cafe, a museum and a conference center. The Yankees added most of those items to the stadium budget after the city approved the original financing plan.

Other enhancements include:

- $14.2 million for various scoreboard changes.

- $5 million for fancy public- bathroom improvements, including "burnished and glazed block" and "solid surface countertops."

- $10.5 million for new "suite level upgrades."

- $10.7 million for a huge new "video board."

- $8.7 million for the team's administrative offices.

The financial details that the team submitted list such a complicated split between public and private funding for those costs that it's almost impossible to separate them.

"This is bizarre," said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester), a longtime critic of the stadium deal. "We don't have enough money for our schools or the subways, yet they want to give the Yankees money for a steakhouse and granite ramps?"

Bloomberg keeps telling ordinary New Yorkers we need to tighten our belts in hard times. He needs to tell it to the Yankees.

The NY Times' Jim Dwyer has more:

When New York goes through a drought, it is the custom to shut down public fountains, like those in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art — not because they use all that much water, but because the dancing towers of water give the illusion of abundance.

They just turn off the spigots.

City paying even more (& getting more?) for stadiums

The city has released a cost/benefit analysis of the new Yankees and Mets stadiums, as the city plans to issue a fresh set of tax-free bonds for the projects.

For the Yankees project, costs directly to the city are up substantially since the last analysis in 2006 (from $34.3 million to $209.5 million, excluding new parkland that has also risen in cost); though, somewhat curiously, so too are benefits (from $173.1 million to $438.3 million). The Mets figures showed less of a disparity, as costs were up from $91.4 million to $128.8 million, while benefits went up from $139.3 million to $199 million.

The new numbers are in 2009 dollars, while the prior figures were in 2006 dollars.

The increase in benefits, the city said in its analysis of the new Yankee Stadium, comes as the city is now counting “several project elements that were not known about in sufficient detail to be included in the 2006 analysis,” including parking garages and a new Metro North station. Increased spending on construction would also boost city tax revenues.

City: Costs (and Benefits) of Yankees, Mets Stadiums Increase

The Yankees' $95 million in extras includes $14.2 million for a scoreboard, $10.7million for a giant video board and $10.4 million in luxury suite upgrades.

The team wants more money to make room for two restaurants, a New York Yankees Steakhouse and a Hard Rock Cafe.

Yankees swing for bling in new plan

Brodsky: Postpone Vote on Bonds for Mets, Yankees

NEW YORK (AP) -- A state assemblyman investigating the financing agreements for the Mets and Yankees new ballparks is asking to postpone a vote on additional public bonds for the projects.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky released a letter Friday requesting the city Industrial Development Agency to delay the Jan. 16 vote.

The baseball teams are asking the city for $450 million more in public bonds to pay for their new parks, and the IDA has scheduled a Jan. 15 hearing to discuss the additional public support.

Janel Patterson, an IDA spokeswoman, said the agency had followed the public process and would vote as scheduled.

The Yankees are asking for another $259 million in tax-exempt bonds and $111 million in taxable bonds, on top of the $940 million in tax-exempt bonds and $25 million in taxable bonds already granted for its $1.3 billion stadium.

The Mets want another $83 million, in addition to the $615 million already approved for their $800 million park.

Brodsky has said the first round of public support for the ballparks was granted without sufficient public input, and wants the city to provide more documentation about the process before any vote takes place for more bonds.

Sports columnist wonders why no one is concerned

...one of these days Bloomberg and the people who work for him - or used to work for him when he was trying to get the deal done on the financing of the new Yankee Stadium - need to explain something to the citizens of New York, and to the Congress, in a way those of us who aren't financial wizards can understand:

How more than two years ago the appraised value of the land around the new stadium, land the Yankees need to build the richest baseball stadium ever built, suddenly and magically went from $27 million to $204 million because that made the deal work best for the New York Yankees.

And this really needs to be explained before the city's Industrial Development Agency holds hearings on Jan. 15 about handing over an additional $259 million to the Yankees in tax-exempt bonds so they can finish building this stadium, along with $111 million in taxable bonds.

Because if the city just hands over the bonds at a time like this, it will tell you everything about the way Bloomberg's New York actually works for the rich and the powerful.

The Mets were originally allowed to raise $547 million in tax-exempt bonds, and have gone back to the city now for money they didn't take on the front end. The Yankees were authorized to get $940 million, and now want 30% on top of that. And what happened for them and didn't happen for the Mets was that there was this one magical day when the appraised value suddenly was 10 times more than it had been the day before.

It's a wonderful lie