A financial analysis of the new Stadium by Crain's NY Business (and an NYY Stadium Insider mention)

Crain's New York Business ran an interesting piece today about the financial ramifications of the new Yankee Stadium.

I found this part especially intriguing:

For example, in the prospectus for the $942 million of tax-exempt debt raised in 2006, the Yankees said, "Projected 2009 revenues at the new stadium are expected to be $253.2 million based on an assumed attendance of 3.4 million people."

Pitch is low

As rich as those estimates may sound, they are quite conservative. The projection assumes that only 42,000 people will attend each home game next year—about 20% below this year's average to date.

Its no wonder that the Yankees have little concern over their $200MM in payroll expenditures year in and year out. The new Stadium is going to be a goldmine. I guess this is fairly obvious, but the actual numbers are mind-blowing, especially considering the Yankees modest attendance expectations. I am pretty sure EVERY game next year is going to be sold out.

I would also like to point out that Aaron Elstein interviewed me for this piece and included some information about this blog and also a quote at the end of the article:

Many season ticket holders are worried about being priced out of the new stadium. Ross Sheingold, who runs the blog NYYStadium Insider.com, says the cost of his season tickets, located high in the upper deck directly behind home plate, was increased by a painful 47% this year. He sold his tickets this year at face value and may have to cancel his plan if prices rise any higher.

"I have no illusions that prices will remain the same for too long, even if they are the same next year," Mr. Sheingold says. "However, I have been dreaming of a new stadium for so long that I have to have season tickets if the opportunity presents itself."

The mainstream media and blogs working together to get more information out to the public. Buzz Bissinger would be proud.

Talk about it in the NYYSI Forums! Read the full post, after the jump

Finally some concrete information on new Yankee Stadium 2009 Pricing in the "cheap" seats

The AP is reporting on the new Yankee Stadium 2009 pricing with splashy headlines about how much more expensive things are going to be.

However, buried at the end of the article is this juicy bit of information that has me pretty excited as a season ticket holder in the Tier Reserved MVP section:

As for the regular seats, the Yankees hope to send out a relocation plan in April. Through Thursday, the Yankees had sold 39,141 full-season equivalents.

Trost said there will be about 11,000 non-premium seats at field level and 12,000 at the main level. He said 25,000 seats from the final year of the current ballpark won't be increased for 2009.

"Of the non-premium seats, 88 percent will be less than $100," he said. "It's easy to say that that's not cheap, but on the other 55 percent of the ballpark is going to be $45 or less. That's over 24,000 seats. We recognize everybody can't afford the suites. At the same time, we're trying to allow those suite prices to subsidize the other seating in the stadium. Look, the bleachers are $12, will be $12. The grandstand is $20 and $25, will be $20 and $25."

The "he" in the quotes is Lonnie Trost, COO of the Yankees.

This is clearly good news as it looks like next year will NOT see a price increase for the Tier Reserved, MVP seats.

However, I am in section 1 right now (DIRECTLY behind home plate) and have around 4 years of seniority. The HUGE question remains - where will my seats be located in the new stadium?

As soon as I receive that relocation guide in the mail, I will post the exciting information here.

Talk about it in the NYYSI Forums! Read the full post, after the jump