On Monday we told you that the Yankees had finally reached agreement with New York City for the right to sell truckloads of memorabilia to the public. They released the prices on Tuesday, and they should see a pretty nice return on their $11.5 million investment.
Each seat from the old stadium will sell for $750 and a pair of seats will set you back $1,499. You can also get a specific pair of seats for $1,999, according to Darren Rovell of CNBC. The Mets, by comparison, sold pairs of seats from Shea Stadium for $869, which either speaks to the Yankees' sense of their own grandeur or the superior plastic used in constructing the seats.
If the prices for those seats seem high, just take a moment to think about the fact that there are single-game tickets for the new Stadium which go for $2,500. If you were so inclined, you could watch every Yankee game from now until Armageddon in the seats you buy from the old park which makes them a decent deal in comparison.
Seriously, though, the Mets haven't sold all of their seats and it will be interesting to see if the Yankees fare any better.
It wouldn't be a story about the Yankees and their stadiums if someone wasn't upset about the sale. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a longtime critic of the financing of the new Stadium, criticized the city for agreeing to sell the memorabilia for $11.5 million.
"The carcass of Yankee Stadium is city property and it’s clearly worth more than $11.5 million," Brodsky said. "I know no good reason why taxpayers, having built the new stadium, should not benefit more from the sale."
A fair question, although the answer would have to take into account the removal of the seats, marketing of the sale and assorted other issues which will add to that total down the road. The city may have been able to wring a bit more money out of the sale, but it's safe to assume Brodsky would have said the same thing if the purchase price was $15 or 20 million as well.
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Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.