More depressing stories of fans being extorted at the new Stadium -
... our worst fears about the transition to the new Yankee Stadium [were] not only realized, but surpassed beyond our wildest diminished expectations.
we logged into our account to discover the damage. Instead of being offered our $25 seats, or even anything between the bases, we had been assigned $85 seats in section 107...
... right behind the right-field foul pole. Obstructed view, at more than triple the price of what we were prepared to spend. Are you kidding me? No, really, ARE YOU &*^%$#@ KIDDING ME?
Without even discussing the desirability of the particular seats which, to put it politely, are about as far as you can get from the type of ballpark experience that I typically pursue, that kind of monetary outlay is an impossibility for our group, leaving us no choice but to decline the seats...
The Yankees deserve every pixel of bad publicity they receive over this, every blankety-blank karmic quantum of bad yankety-blank karma. My friends and I are hardly the only customers wronged in such a fashion; an informal discussion with a few other longtime Yankees ticket holders who write for various sites (including this one) reveals similarly shoddy treatment. Indeed, all of us who have something at stake short of a full-season ticket package are being screwed because the Yankees have bungled this so badly that they can't possibly fulfill the demand. So naturally, their impulse is to trample the loyal customers who helped carry them past the three million and four million attendance milestones over the past decade. This is a story worth illuminating, not only to fellow Yankee fans who may commiserate about finding themselves up the same fetid creek, but to baseball fans everywhere.
It wouldn't be surprising if the Yankees now surpassed the Red Sox as having the highest ticket prices in baseball. It's yet another reason I'll be attending fewer games at the new park (despite the novelty) than any season in recent memory.
- Baseball America released its top 100 prospects list. Three Yankees made it: Austin Jackson at 36, Jesus Montero at 38 and Andrew Brackman at 92.