The New Yankee Stadium: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Majestic

Tomorrow it all begins.  For many Yankee fans it will be the coronation of the new Cathedral of Baseball.  The New Yankee Stadium opens its doors for the first official baseball game in its history.  I will not be there.

The first official game I will attend won't be until this coming Saturday against the Cleveland Indians.  That game won't be the first time I've set foot inside the new ball park. A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of being present at the first unofficial game at Yankee Stadium, the exhibition against the Cubs. 

Although the weather in that game was not ideal for the boys of summer, I did manage to explore most of the ins and outs of the park and walk away with a pretty cohesive opinion on what about the stadium is truly great and what would have been better left alone.

The Good

Everything you've heard about this place is true.  It's beautiful, it's comfortable, it's spacious, the sight lines are good, it's a hundred dollars a ticket.  But if you need to pay a hundred dollars for some entertainment, the Yankees do everything within their power to give you your money's worth.

The second you walk into this place you notice how much more room there is than in most older ball parks. 

Have you ever been to Fenway Park?  Think the exact opposite of that.  Fenway does have its charm and a great atmosphere but it also is very cramped, condensed, dirty, dark, and difficult to get around. 

The Concourse in The New Yankee Stadium has a ceiling several stories high, the walkways are wide and open, you can see the game clearly from many places away from your seat.  Many of the seats themselves are cushioned and have cupholders.  They seem more like seats from a movie theater rather than a ball park.

Many people have supposed that these creature comforts would take away from the purity of the game, but I found much to the contrary, it seemed to enhance it.  The seats seem closer to the field than in the old stadium and the fans cheers actually sound louder.

The Bad

There has been a lot of hullabaloo regarding the ticket prices for The New Yankee Stadium.  They are expensive, at times ridiculous.  But that isn't what bothered me the most about the ball park experience. 

That honor is reserved for the food. 

The quality of much of the concessions has undoubtedly improved.  The food looks better, tastes better, but is up to $3 or $4 more than it was a year ago, in some cases. 

The reason being, as far as I can tell, is that a pizza is no longer just a stadium pizza but now is an Antonio's Stadium Pizza, which will cost you $14. You could probably get the same amount of pizza for $7.50 in mid-town Manhattan (hardly the cheapest place in NYC to buy a slice of pie). 

It doesn't end there, beer is $11 and you will be hard pressed to find anything to eat from a stand under $8.50 at the cheapest.  I guess the logic to this is if you can pay $100 for a seat you can pay $10 for a hot dog, but it certainly is a logic that not many people will enjoy.

The Ugly

To be honest, there was only one thing visually that I didn't like about this stadium. 

The positioning of the monuments in the stadium has been moved from the area in front of the visiting bullpen to the batter's eye.  Understandably, the numbers of the retired players therefore is somewhat obstructed to benefit the players on the field. 

But what I do not like is that the former Monument Park was a garden—it looked like a small park in the outfield.  This looks like a colors box, a black empty stage with numbers on the wall.  Ultimately, it is insignificant, but with so much built on history in this franchise, it would be nice if the history was presented a little more nicely.

The Majestic

As I said above, the park is beautiful.  I have never experienced a game that looked and felt as good as this one, and I was only at an exhibition! 

Many stadiums built in the last 15 years have similar aspects to them but in the $1.5 billion New Yankee Stadium these sights are perfected. 

It is truly one hell of a place to see a game from and if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be able to attain, or afford, a ticket do not take it for granted and enjoy the game!