MLB Franchise Notes: Yankees Exceed Four Million Tickets Sold
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Yankees Surpass 4 Million Tickets
Sold For Fourth Straight Year |
The Yankees have exceeded 4 million tickets sold for the '08 season, becoming the first franchise in MLB history to reach the total in four consecutive years (Yankees). In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote under the header, "Yankee Stadium Prices Are Insane!" Lupica noted seats behind the Yankees' dugout, which cost $150 per game in '07 and $250 this season, will cost $850 per game next year at the new Yankee Stadium. Fans currently in those seats who wish to keep them in the new ballpark must "sign a minimum four-year contract, and [the Yankees] want a third of the cost of the first year up front." Under that deal, the most the Yankees can increase the prices "over the term of the contract is 4% a year." Front-row seats from dugout to dugout will cost $2,500 per game. Lupica: "This is the cost of doing Yankee business, or so they say." The Yankees are "out front on this, telling their subscribers that a lot of corporations have wanted the best Yankee seats for years and now have a chance to get them" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/4).
GREEN SCENE: A PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER editorial, noting the Phillies' recent green initiatives, stated the team "should be applauded for taking a lead in the effort to conserve energy." The editorial: "As gas prices soar and global warming becomes a key issue, every little bit helps" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 5/3).
BONDS A BOON? In Oakland, Art Spander wrote the A's should "sign [free agent LF] Barry Bonds." Bonds still can "put balls in the seats and no less importantly put butts in the seats," as opposed to the team "putting a tarp over them." The announced attendance for Friday's Rangers-A's game was a "bit above 15,000, but that was tickets sold." Spander: "To be blunt, nobody cares. It's time to be aggressive, to make people care. For too long the A's have been the other team, No. 2" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 5/4).
SEEING RED: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar reported the Cardinals "might be next to face a lawsuit" from fired KFNS-AM radio host Kevin Slaten, who last week sued the station over "wrongful termination." Slaten's attorney Chet Pleban: "It's very likely we're going to do that." Pleban would not discuss specifics of a potential Cardinals suit, but Caesar noted Slaten when he was fired "accused the team of pressuring KFNS to fire him to remove a voice from the airwaves that often was critical of the team." Slaten said that he "thought the push came from" Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. La Russa said then, "I resent him trying to implicate my involvement with that" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/3).
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