Yankees Introduce "Café Seating" On The Field Level For $75

ATTENTION: NEW STADIUM INSIDER HAS MOVED TO NYYSTADIUMINSIDER.COM. FOR ALL OF THE INFORMATION YOU COULD EVER WANT ABOUT CAFE SEATING AT YANKEE STADIUM, PLEASE VISIT OUR NEW AND IMPROVED WEBSITE!

To follow up on our previous post, we have received the following from a source at the Yankees ticket office:

I think in the end they'll be called café seating...They are only in place on the field level between sections 115-125. They are completely sold out for the Boston series, but I think we might still have some available for KC - they are $75 in advance. It's really a test run to see how traffic flow and security can handle things, if it works I'm guessing they'll be in place for the playoffs and next year.

$75 is a very reasonable price point for these tickets - especially since there are "tall, metal bar stools" that are set up at the café tables. We had mentioned $50 as a price point if they were true standing room, but the bar stools, combined with the excellent views make $75 a fair asking price.

In the comments section of our previous post, someone pointed out that they will likely quarantine these "café tables" by placing ropes or bars around them to prevent squatters like us from standing/sitting there. With the addition of seats, it will be much easier for security to patrol, but ropes will likely be necessary to prevent people from surrounding the tables and invading the space of the ticketed fans.

It looks like these "seats" are going to be sold in advance, which is the only disappointing aspect. We have said all along that day of game standing room ticket sales for the playoffs would be a very fan friendly idea. Still, if these are $75 for the playoffs, we suggest you RUN - not walk, to purchase them.

Read the full post, after the jump

Standing Room Only Tickets WILL Be Sold At Yankee Stadium For The Playoffs

We have very limited details at this point, but according to reports from a stadium employee, "cafe tables" are being installed at each standing room location on the field level of the new Yankee Stadium.

Throughout the 2009 season, savvy Yankee fans have been setting up shop directly behind field level "100's" sections and getting a great view of the action on the field. Below you will find a couple of photos we have snapped from these great standing areas:

On the one hand, tickets sold in these sections will give fans a better view than a large portion oft he seats in the stadium. On the other hand, standing the entire game definitely gets tiring, and it is hard to envision someone spending more than $50 per ticket to stand for an entire game.

As we mentioned, we have taken advantage of standing in these locations for most of the season, but it has been free. The success/failure of selling standing room tickets is going to depend largely on the pricing scheme. We also have some concerns about how security is going to ensure that only ticketed fans stand in the specified locations, but they have been alleviated by the reports of cafe tables being installed.

At the end of the day, this is good news for the stadium, as it allows more fans to pack in to the "new house" and see the important postseason games. It is disappointing for the hardcore fans who have enjoyed these locations for free during the entire season, but we all have to realize that selling tickets in these locations is the smart and fair decision. As soon as we have photos of the "cafe tables" we will post them on the blog.

Read the full post, after the jump

Yankees Confusing Pre-Sale For 2009 Postseason Tickets Is Apparently Working Wonders

As we briefly mentioned in our ridiculously verbose "excuse for not posting post," the Yankees opted to try a different method of divvying up the limited postseason tickets available for partial plan ticket holders in '09. From reports we are hearing, it was largely a success.

Without getting too deep into the confusing details, there was what was dubbed a "preliminary pre-sale" this past Wednesday that allowed a small number of partial plan ticket holders (who won a free raffle) the opportunity to buy ALDS and ALCS tickets before anyone else. Keep in mind, the number of tickets available for these games were extremely limited. Full-season and half-season planholders received tickets to every game and the clubs gave out tickets to the MLB, etc. After the preliminary pre-sale people got their chance to buy a total of 4 tickets spread across the ALDS and ALDS, the rest of the partial plan ticket holders had their "pre-sale" this morning.

With a system this convoluted, it seemed like an outrage among frustrated partial plan ticket holders was inevitable. A casual onlooker would assume that the Yankees ticket office would have done due dilligence to provide fans the most fair system for postseason ticket purchasing, but savvy planholders were likely more skeptical. After all, it wasn't so long ago that the Yankees front office and ticket office botched the new stadium relocation and sent out typo-ridden memorandums (can't find a link to this anymore but it happened. Multiple times).

It turns out that the casual onlooker was right in this case. Reports that we have received about the pre-sales from hardcare partial plan ticketholders/NSI blog readers/Twitter users have been glowing:

Legendary23: omg...freaking psyched....got both and will be standing next to @stadiuminsider behind home plate for both...see ya there

Muller1234@StadiumInsider i won that raffle to get tix weds i got game 2 CS and game 1 DS

yankeegirl049@StadiumInsider everyone I know got tix. I had a presale from my SI Yank package and got them within seconds.

jonsel@StadiumInsider Success here, although I thought it was restricted to 1 game total. I got tix to two games.

andrewtesta@StadiumInsider EPIC success. Great price, easy to buy. Props to the Yankees on this one.

leokitty@StadiumInsider I've never been so pleased with a Yankees presale. Easily got bleachers for both series.

DeanLand@StadiumInsider Re playoff tix. We're partial planholders. No luck in Wedn lottery but got great Game 1 seats in 2nd chance leftover bid.

trebleahead@StadiumInsider had good luck Wednesday in the preliminary pre-on-sale, despite a password issue early on

In reading the above, it seems that the Yankees have made the most of limited ticket availability. It also seems that Twitter working hard on killing proper syntax, but that is a story for another day. In honor of Twitter's "follow friday," if you use the social networking site, be sure to "follow" all of the great Yankee fans above.

As of late, it seems that Lonn Trost is working to save his job and has begun to hire competent people. The last few moves by the Yankees regarding tickets have been a success. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that this continues going forward. Read the full post, after the jump

Our Absence From The Blogosphere

Dear loyal readers,

Stating the obvious, this blog has failed at being a blog. We have long been believers in quality over quantity and that belief flies in the face of conventional wisdom regarding "how to run a successful blog." In the blogosphere, quality seems to be appreciated, but once a readership is attained, quantity retains them and good ol' quality is free to take a back seat. At a certain point, we decided that instead of forcing the issue, we would only post when the mood struck and we needed to let something off of our chest. In other words, the blog went back to being a hobby and stopped being a source of information.

In the past month, we missed the news about next year's Yankees tickets being the same price as in 2009, and in some cases, cheaper. We never discussed the ridiculously convoluted method of selling postseason tickets (pre-sales, preliminary pre-sales, pre-preliminary pre-sales, etc etc). There will certainly be some sob stories about loyal partial plan season ticketholders who will be left out in the cold once playoff tickets go on sale because of the decreased capacity of the new stadium. We'll probably miss the boat on that story as well.

Regarding the stadium experience, we have been sitting on some food-related stories - one discussing the sale of natural casing Nathan's hotdogs at Yankee Stadium (spoiler alert - they sell them, and they're $6 for a hotdog the same size as the $3 kiddie dog, but according to a foodie tipster, they are totally worth it). Another post we never wrote was one discussing a not-so-great experience at our beloved Audi Yankees Club (undercooked prawns, overcrowded seating areas, horrendous service).

The fact is, life got in the way of this humble little weblog that we created back in 2007, and in order to achieve the quantity of posts expected of us to continue growing, we would have had to badly hurt the quality and originality of our work. Some combination of new Yankee Stadium burnout, an increasingly stressful "day job," an engagement, writer's block and general apathy led to the downfall of New Stadium Insider as some of you knew it back from January - May 2009. Never have we appreciated the work of blogs like RiverAveBlues.com like we do today. Those guys plug away and continue to put out quality work day in and day out. Perhaps it is their "day job," but regardless of their circumstances, running a blog like that is no easy feat. Trust us on that.

We completely intend on owning a space in the interwebs for the foreseeable future, we just don't plan on outwardly marketing the space and seeking out growth opportunities. There are plans to reinvent the NYYStadiumInsider.com domain sometime in the new year (hopefully with a fresh, new design) and put NewStadiumInsider.com to rest - after all, the stadium won't be new forever! We would love for tipsters to continue to send us stories involving our Yankee Stadium niche, and when time permits, we will craft stories that we hope will take a unique angle on the Yankee Stadium experience. When bad weather strikes the NYC area on Yankee game day, you can bet that we will be obsessing over every radar and passing along the information to all of the google-directed passers-by who happen across NSI.

If you really love our opinions and ramblings, you can find us on Twitter, where we average 8,286 "tweets" per day (actually 45), mostly containing opinions on the current state of the Yankees. We also contantly tweet from the games and offer our witty commentary (did I call this a humble little weblog earlier?) in real-time. If you like New Stadium Insider and you like Twitter, you'll like to follow us on Twitter. It is that simple.

So there we have it. We're going back to being an unconventional, casual blog. We're not shutting down shop, but we're not making any promises about when and how often there will be new blog posts. We'd recommend using an RSS reader, adding our feed and never missing a new post again. You can also continue visiting the web version of the site and click on ads. If we can earn money for doing absolutely nothing, we'd greatly appreciate that as well.

In all seriousness, we'd like to thank everyone who made this site a smashing success this Spring, and we're sorry to have disappointed any of you by stepping away for a while. Back in April the site received nearly 100,000 page views - something we consider our crowning achievement. Never did we expect for our writings to reach so many sets of eyes and it really is flattering. To all of the fellow weblogs who have graciously linked to our posts ( specifically Deadspin.com, RiverAveBlues.com, Big League Stew, FackYouk, MetsPolice.com), thanks for helping to spread the good word. Without you guys, the only ones reading this site would be us, our girlfriends and our parents.

If you read this far, you should win a prize. Unfortunately, MLB will probably serve some kind of cease and desist if we offer one, so you are SOL.

For now, it is time to enjoy the Yankees' quest for championship No. 27.

Best regards,

New Stadium Insider Read the full post, after the jump

Don't Forget To Join Fansnap's Haiku Contest For a Chance To Win $1,000 In Event Tickets

We mentioned this on Friday, but it might have gotten lost in the weather posts. If so, please check it out now...

Fansnap has a fun Yankees/Red Sox smack talk haiku contest going on right now, through September 23. All you have to do is submit a haiku supporting the Yankees or bashing the Red Sox, and you'll have a chance to win $1,000 in event tickets. We expect to see some hilarious entries from Yankees fans. Don't disappoint us, and feel free to leave any especially funny ones in the comments section below. Read the full post, after the jump

NSI Gameday Weather 9/12/09 - Some Rain Showers In The Forecast for Yankees vs. Baltimore

Update (9/12/09 - 11:15 AM): This courtesy of Steve:

Weak bands of showers are rotating through central New Jersey and will move through the Bronx this afternoon. These showers are generally light and should not cause a postponement, but will likely produce an environment favorable for delays.

Stop Map

Storm Tracks

Total Precipitation

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Regional Radar

» A d v a n c e d R a d a r T y p e s C L I C K »

Zoom Map Click: Zoom In Zoom Out Pan Map (Full Zoom Out)

Original post follows:

Well, last night was quite the evening. Nearly three hours worth of delays, but it was all worth it since they got the entire game in and Derek Jeter made history. Today's game won't have nearly as much drama, but the Yankees still haven't clinched anything yet, and are battling for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. There should be a big crowd in the house, so there are probably some people wondering about how the weather will impact the game.

Here is what Steve from NYNJPAWeather.com has to say about the lingering rain in the area. Everyone should remember to check out Steve's great website, which provides much more detailed forecasts than we have here. He also has a blossoming consulting service for small businesses. Definitely check that out if the weather conditions affect your business. Without further ado, here is Steve with Saturday's Yankee Stadium weather forecast:

The coastal low will slowly exit the region this afternoon with overcast skies and a few lingering showers. Drier conditions can be expected as the game progresses. Winds will back to the north around 10 to 15 mph. Temperatures will range from the mid to upper 60’s through the game.

Game Delay Potential: Moderate: Showers will linger through the start of the game with a potential for a delay of the start of the game.

Game Postponement: Low: The showers will become light and decrease in coverage through the game. With drier conditions setting in, I do not expect a postponement.

Series versus O’s: On Sunday, high pressure will take hold with clearing skies, a northwest wind around 5 to 10 mph, and temperatures in the mid 70’s through the game.

Rest of the Home Stand: Strong high pressure will take hold by Sunday night and remain in control through Wednesday. Optimal playing conditions are expected for the remainder of the home stand.

Wind direction today

Also, Steve wanted us to let the readers know that although he is a Mets fan, he will be at Yankee Stadium to see what it is like to see a winning team in a pennant race. He is in section 225, row 9, seat 3, so go and say hi if you are a fan of his weather forecasts. Also, be sure to follow his updates on Twitter. Read the full post, after the jump

UPDATE: NSI Game Day Weather Forecast 9/11/09 - Jeter and The Yankees Set For A Battle With Rain, Orioles

Update (9/11 - 6:15 PM):

This comes via Steve of NYNJPAWeather.com:

The Bronx is currently between two bands of light to moderate rainfall. As the evening continues, these bands will lift north and west, eventually moving over Yankee Stadium. Expect periods of rain, on and off through the game with delays at times. No other changes in the forecast will be needed.

I think the Yankees will try very hard to get this game in no matter how long it takes.

Update (9/11 - 5:00 PM):

I'm no meteorologist like Steve, but the radar seems to be drying out:



I wouldn't be surprised at all if the game started without a delay. If you are a hardcore fan, you should head up to the stadium. If you don't care for sitting in very unpleasant weather conditions, stay home.

Update (9/11 - 2:30 PM):

Steve has checked in with an update, and it is BAAAAAAAAD news:

The coastal low is expected to now stall over central New Jersey through tonight, which is bad news for those going to the game tonight. Moisture is being driven right into the Bronx from the Atlantic at almost all levels of the atmosphere, which will keep the rain threat alive through tonight. As a result, waves of rain will continue to move into Bronx this evening, some of this rain will be heavy at times, which will likely make playing conditions very difficult if not impossible. The wind is also going to become an issue as a stiff easterly wind is expected to range from 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. This wind is going to blow in towards home plate, which will have a significant impact on any fly balls or pop ups. Temperatures will hold in the mid 60’s through the game.

Game Delay Potential: High: Waves of showers are expected over the Bronx this evening, which will lead to potentially long delays in the game.

Game Postponement: Moderate: Rain will be a constant threat through this evening and playing conditions are going to be significantly impacted. Logic will dictate that this game should be postponed, however the schedule may force the Yankees to find a way to play this game tonight as the one off day the Yankees did have will be used to play a rained out game against the Angels. So while the conditions clearly point to a postponement, the Yankees may have no choice but to find a way to play at least 5 innings before calling it a night.

Can't be much worse of an update than that.

This morning's post (with speculation about makeup dates) follows :

Thousands of people who swarmed StubHub for tickets following Jeter's record-tying single on Wednesday night probably don't want to hear this, but there is plenty of rain in this evening's forecast.

As always, Steve from NYNJPAWeather.com is on hand to provide us with the pertinent details. The forecast seems grim, but Steve believes they'll play the game. We will update this post throughout the day if anything changes.

A strong coastal low will slowly exit the region by this evening, which will leave lingering showers over the Bronx through the game after a drenching rain that fell through most of today. Field conditions will be significantly impacted by the rainfall, however the heaviest rainfall will be finished by the start of the game. Winds will back from the east to the north around 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph, especially at the start of the game. Temperatures hold in the lower 60’s through the game.

Game Delay Potential: High: With a constant threat of showers rotating through the Bronx through at least 8 PM, there will be a high potential for scattered showers to produce a lengthy delay of game.

Game Postponement: Low: While conditions will not be best for baseball, I think that unless this storm unexpectedly stalls off the coast, that the steady rain will be over for the Bronx by the time the game starts. However, I am keeping the threat for a postponement at low (suggesting a possibility of postponement) due to the conditions of the field being significantly impacted from the heavy rain through the day.

Series versus O’s: Showers will continue to linger over the Bronx through early Saturday afternoon, however as the afternoon wares on, drier conditions can be expected. Temperatures on Saturday will range from the upper 60’s to lower 70’s with a north wind around 5 to 10 mph. On Sunday, high pressure will take hold with clearing skies, a northwest wind around 5 to 10 mph, and temperatures in the mid 70’s through the game.

Rest of the Home Stand: Strong high pressure will take hold by Sunday night and remain in control through Wednesday. Optimal playing conditions are expected for the remainder of the home stand.

Wind Direction This Evening

If tonight's game is postponed, people who have spent hundreds of dollars on the secondary market to see Derek Jeter surpass Lou Gehrig on the Yankees hit list will be out of luck. The teams will have to make up the game since every Yankees game still has home field implications.

However, tickets for tonight's potentially postponed game would be valid for a makeup game which won't happen until Sunday at the earliest (FOX has an exclusive window on Saturday afternoon). There is a good chance that Jeter will have gotten a hit by then, meaning those people spent a lot of money to see a meaningless September game against the Orioles. Let's all just hope the rain ends in time for the game to be played this evening.

Read the full post, after the jump

Some Information On Secondary Market Ticket Prices For Tonight's Game

Our buddy Christian from the invaluable fansnap.com has checked in with some secondary market ticket information regarding tonight's Yankees game. Prices for the game rose dramatically after Jeter collected 3 hits on Wednesday night, and here are the numbers to prove it:

Date Average Price
9/10/09 $208.97
9/9/09 $80.30
9/8/09 $80.30
9/7/09 $79.97
9/6/09 $79.56
9/5/09 $80.30
9/4/09 $80.30
9/3/09 $79.00
9/2/09 $80.30
9/1/09 $82.50
8/31/09 $84.70
8/30/09 $82.50
8/29/09 $82.50
8/28/09 $84.70
8/27/09 $85.00
8/26/09 $84.70
8/25/09 $84.24
8/24/09 $82.50
8/23/09 $82.50
8/22/09 $83.60

Right now, the "get in the door" price is $105 (cheapest seat), according to Fansnap. Expect this same increase if/when tonight's game is canceled due to rain, so you might want to hedge your bets as soon as possible.

Speaking of Fansnap, they have a pretty fun Yankees/Red Sox smack talk haiku contest going on right now, through September 23. All you have to do is submit a haiku supporting the Yankees or bashing the Red Sox, and you'll have a chance to win $1,000 in event tickets. We expect to see some hilarious entries from Yankees fans. Don't disappoint us! Read the full post, after the jump

Standing Room Only Tickets Likely Not On The Way For The Playoffs

Earlier this week, we pointed out that tickets for the 2009 Yankees postseason will be reasonably priced, but hard to come by - especially for the general public. We also mentioned that Yankees fans shouldn't get their hopes up about the long-promised standing room only tickets bumping up the capacity for the playoffs.

While there have been rumors about issues with the FDNY permitting the sale of standing room tickets, a Yankees spokesperson insists that is not the case. "No standing room tickets [have] been sold - it remains a traffic flow issue. [It has] nothing to do with the FDNY." As of now, there are no plans to sell standing room only tickets for the playoffs, but the team is still keeping their options open. We wouldn't bet on it.

At a certain point, we are going to have to come to grips with the fact that standing room only tickets are not going to be sold any time soon and the capacity of the new stadium will always struggle to top 50,000. The flow of fans is definitely still an issue in certain areas of the stadium, especially the bleachers and the main level. However, the field level concourse is wide enough that fans can stand four or five deep and still get a decent view of the field. The Yankees can definitely sell a limited number of SRO tickets without worrying about clogging up the walkways. The view from section 120a is especially enjoyable, and we'd pay at least $25 to stand there during the playoffs.

If you are counting on standing room only tickets as your way into the stadium for the playoffs, you should probably prepare yourself with a plan B - namely, Stubhub.com.

Read the full post, after the jump

Orioles Fans, Jesus, Hate The Yankees

The kicker about the above photos? They weren't even taken during last night's near perfect game by Andy Pettitte. These photos were shot during Baltimore's game on Saturday against the Indians.

Nope, this is not clever or creative - you can buy it online at Busted Tees for $20. When a team is bad, it trickles down to the fanbase.

Kenny Singleton has a tear in his eye right now, weeping for his sad city of Baltimore.

Read the full post, after the jump

The Dark Side Of The Yankees Postseason Pricing Press Release - The Amazing, Shrinking Yankee Stadium

Lost amidst the jubilation of the Yankees announcing surprisingly cheap postseason ticket pricing is the sobering fact that the general public probably won't get to enjoy those cheap prices. In the past, Yankee Stadium was packed to the gills for postseason games. 56,315 people witnessed the final postseason game at the old Yankee Stadium back in 2007, and crowds of nearly 57,000 were commonplace during the Yankees 13 year postseason run.

In yesterday's press release, the Yankees announced the capacity of the new Yankee Stadium as 50,235 and fired a warning shot toward the general public regarding availability of tickets for non-season ticket holders:

Please note that the quantity of postseason tickets available to those who are not 2009 season ticket licensees will be limited and vary for each postseason round. Yankee Stadium has a seating capacity of 50,235, excluding standing room. For each postseason game, the first opportunity to purchase tickets is provided to current season-ticket licensees, which represent in excess of 37,000 full-season equivalent ticket licenses. Major League Baseball directs clubs to dedicate approximately 3,000 tickets per game for players of the participating clubs and to accommodate the media. In addition, Major League Baseball requires approximately 5,500 tickets per ALDS game, 7,000 tickets per ALCS game and 9,500 tickets per World Series game.

Doing some quick math, that would mean the following number of postseason tickets will be available to the general public for each round (before even considering yet to be announced pre-sales):

ALDS: 4,735
ALCS: 3,235
WS: 735

Those of you still waiting on standing room tickets shouldn't hold your breath. There are unconfirmed reports that the FDNY has denied the New York teams permission to sell these standing room only tickets thus far in 2009, and our sources say that SRO won't be on sale until 2010, if ever.

Those sounds you hear are ticket brokers who have been taking a bath on their 2009 Yankee tickets licking their chops. With a smaller stadium capacity, cheaper tickets and an exciting team, the secondary ticket market is going to be flush with buyers. The good news is, the prices on the secondary market will probably be equivalent to what the market price for Yankee postseason tickets have been in the 2000's, leaving everyone relatively happy.

Read the full post, after the jump