Concert for closing ceremony at Yankee Stadium canceled

This comes via the NY Daily News -

According to the Yankees Media Relations department, the team has decided against a concert on November 9 as part of a "closing ceremony".

What is not clear from this article is whether there will even be a closing ceremony. Former Yankees such as Joe Torre have voiced interest in attending such a ceremony and rumors have been running rampant that EVERY past Yankee player would be invited. As of now, those are simply unsubstantiated rumors.

Unfortunately, no date has been set nor has a closing ceremony even been confirmed. In addition, the Yankees have not set a dismantling date for the old Yankee Stadium.

UPDATE: AM New York was the first to report this, and they are saying that there will be no closing ceremony at all. Epic fail by the Yankees in their final season at the old Stadium. I can understand though, being in the stadium on a regular basis as a season ticket holder gave me a "good riddance" feeling toward the old Stadium. I can only imagine what it felt like to the people who had to work there.

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

New York Yankees Media Relations: "We don't care about blogs"

This will come as little surprise to anyone, but the New York Yankees media relations department is far too important to be bothered by these new-fangled webblogs that all of the kiddies are talking about these days.

With the offseason upon us, I decided to take a proactive approach for story ideas to post on the blog. My genius idea was to call the media relations office of the New York Yankees, explain that I have a Yankees blog and see if I could get some questions answered.

Before I go any further, let me state that I work in public relations for a brand within a Fortune 500 company. That is about as much personal information as I will divulge. Currently "blogger outreach" is a HUGE part of the company's strategic goals going forward. Of course, I don't work for a sports franchise, but a consumer goods company, so I can see how the Yankees wouldn't have the same enthusiastic approach with bloggers. However, I never thought I would be met with the cold response that an unnamed member of the Yankees media relations staff provided.

The phone conversation

Me: "Hello, I calling to ask a couple of questions. First, is there any information about the Yankee Stadium closing ceremony on November 9th

Male Yankee Stadium media relations employee [cuts me off]: No, we have not released any information on that yet.

Me: "When this news is released, will the information be found at the press release section of Yankees.com"

Male Yankee Stadium media relations employee: yes

Me: "I have another question - when will Yankee Stadium tours start in the new Yankee Stadium - has that information been released yet.

Male Yankee Stadium media relations employee: no

Me: "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, I own and operate a mid-size Yankees blog. I wouldn't say I am at the top line of the Yankee blogs out there, but I would consider my site up and coming. Am I wasting my time calling the Yankees media relations office for information? Do the Yankees have any interest in communicating with the blogosphere?

Male Yankee Stadium media relations employee: I don't want to say you are wasting your time, but the Yankees don't talk to blogs. We are never going to give you any information that is not readily available.

Me: "Ok, I had gathered as much. I work in public relations for a company with a completely different outlook on bloggers, so I thought I would reach out to you guys.

Male Yankee Stadium media relations employee: Yea, we are never going to have that approach.

Me: "Thanks for your time, goodbye.

[click]
(The above is all paraphrasing the actual conversation)

I don't know what I was thinking calling up the Yankees for firsthand information. God forbid someone other than the mainstream media writes and reports on the team. I have no interest in actively pursuing offseason stories, but the two items I called about pertain to Yankee Stadium. From analyzing the web traffic that NYYSI receives, it appears that many people find this site when looking for an answer to a Yankee Stadium question. For most of these google searches, this site indexes higher than Yankees.com for their answer. It behooves the Yankees to ensure that I have up to date and accurate information.

Sadly, as soon as I said the word "blog" I was looked upon as a mere fan, instead of the purveyor of information that this website has become.

It seems that my passion and loyalty are only appreciated when I am forking down thousands of dollars on season tickets.

Are all sports franchises this rigid toward bloggers, or is it just because the Yankees perceive the franchise to be at the top of the Sports World?

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