The New York Daily News is reporting that a new Yankee Stadium is in the works to be opened by 2009.
# The stadium will be comprised of two separate structures: one, the exterior wall, constructed to replicate the original Yankee Stadium, built in 1923, and the other the interior stadium itself, rising over the top of the exterior. From the outside the structures will look like one building, almost identical in materials and design to the original stadium. There will be a "great hall" between the exterior wall and the interior structure, featuring five to six times more retail square footage than the current stadium.
# The signature frieze, the lattice work that once rimmed the original stadium roof and was recreated in the outfield of the current stadium, will be added to the new stadium's roof. The frieze (commonly but incorrectly known as "the facade") was painted white during the 1960s, as it now appears above the outfield. But the new stadium will return to the original copper.
# The city will provide $50 million worth of infrastructure for the new stadium. But the city and state, depending on the agreement, will build and control all 11,000 parking spaces in the area, a cash cow for taxpayers that one consultant told the Yankees was "too generous," a source said.
Perhaps best of all for the parties involved, there is no significant opposition to the project.