According to a representative in the Yankee ticket office, "standing room only," "Mohegan Sun Sports Bar" and "Outdoor Food Court" tickets will be made available to the public, but there is no date for the sale or price of the tickets. It is shocking that these options still don't have prices or purchase information this close to the first games, but it might be a sign that the Yankees are taking our advice and making these tickets day of game sales only.
Pictured below is an overhead shot of the area in question:
The Mohegan Sun Sports Bar is located inside of the tinted black "batter's eye." These seats will be climate-controlled and will essentially be the equivalent of watching the game from a bar, except you will be at the game. According to a ticket rep, there are "fixed rows of bar-like seating facing the field." Mohegan Sun issued a press release about these 132 seats last May with plenty of additional information. These seats will be great when it is in the 40's and drizzling in April or October, and perhaps when it is in the upper 90's in August. However, most people go to a ball game to feel like they are in the stands and close to the action. It seems impossible for these sports bar seats to offer the classic feel of going to a Yankee game. We'll have to check them out at some point.
Right above the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and in front of the Outdoor Food Court will be the "Outdoor Food Court" tickets, also known as the "cafe seating." These are the seats that are most similar to Fenway's Green Monster offering. In the photo above you can see the blue seats, above the black "batter's eye." These seats offer a rare view of a game at Yankee Stadium and may be the new Yankee Stadium equivalent of the landing spot for home runs hit "into the black." Fans in these seats should not expect a mammoth blast to be hit their way, but when the likes of A-Rod step up to the plate, they should probably keep an eye out. There can't be many more than 40 of these seats per game, so they will likely be hard to come by.
Finally, "standing room only" ticketing will be offered. Information about these tickets is the most vague. An interesting rumor that was confirmed by a ticket rep is that there will be standing room only tickets in multiple locations around the stadium. There are even rumors that there will be "Legends standing room only" that will cost $375 and will offer admission to all of the special amenities for the rich folk. As of now, the Yankees have not yet officially announced the location or price of these tickets, but Lonn Trost indicated in an interview that the cheapest standing room only tickets will be $20, as we have discussed previously.
We're not sure how these standing room only folks will be prevented from sitting in empty seats around the stadium, but perhaps this will be the Yankees' solution to all of the unsold "greatest seats in the world." In that scenario, the Yankees can have the most possible time to sell the really expensive tickets. If, by the day of the game, those expensive seats are still unsold, the Yankees can sell their day of game standing room only tickets. Once these fans are in their designated spots, the Yankees can have their security guards/ushers accompany them to open luxury seats.
The likelihood of the above solution actually occurring is pretty slim, and it would be unfair to people actually paying for the "greatest seats in the world." However, it would be a way for the Yankees to make those seats look filled on TV without officially dropping the price of the "greatest seats in the world." Sometimes you have to think outside of the box, especially with the current economic situation. With word of these interesting ticket options, perhaps the Yankees are starting to expand their thinking.
UPDATE (3/21 1:20 PM) Courtesy of Sliding Into Home, Via Flickr member treman262 with special credit to baseball-fever's "donut726" comes this photo that illustrates a lot of the above-mentioned seats even better:
If you enlarge the photo, you can see the bar-style seating inside of the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar, and you can clearly see the "Outdoor Food Court" seating on top. Read the full post, after the jump
