I am sorry that you don’t like my fandom, but maybe it’s because I don’t have the sense of entitlement. I’ve been a Yankee fan for over 25 years and have never once felt the Yankees owed me anything but good baseball. I realize that there are some who just want good seats; some that want cheap beer; some that want to watch players who share their world view. I just want good baseball and expect the Yankees to do everything they can to deliver that.

If getting seats behind a foul poul is too much for you, then maybe you should drop the team altogether. I don’t really know what to say about that. I just know I’d rather sit behind a foul poul than watch a team that counts its money and doesn’t invest back on the field. To me “loyalty” to the team doesn’t end because I get a less than desireable seat assignment, but everyone is free to define the term as they see fit. Maybe if the Yankees had fewer fans, they could take the approach you want, but that’s not the case. Ultimately, if losing a few fans is the cost of doing what’s best for the majority , then I guess that’s a price the team has to pay. Call me cynical, but when and if the team struggles for an extended period of time, I know I’ll be there, but I don’t think many of those complaining will be…regardless of how they were treated in this process.

It’s still flaky – the feed will drop maybe once a game (often during the most tense moments!), but for $110/yr, it’s pretty hard to beat – and it includes home and away radio feeds, and now both the home and away TV feeds. My complaint with the service is the quality, not the price.

Now you’re starting to get condescending. My seats on my terms would be affordable seats behind home plate. I’m willing to compromise a whole lot on that – I’d take expensive seats in the outfield. They’re offering me seats behind a goddam foul pole, so I can’t even see the pitcher’s mound. If that’s loyalty, they can shove it.

Honestly, I’m beyond thinking of winning as the only consideration. it’s really not the only thing that brings me enjoyment. You and the Yankees seem to have a wonderful relationship, and you’re welcome to it. Your fandom really isn’t the sort that interests me, which is exactly why this team may finally have beaten the loyalty out of me.

My point was that you don’t need to have high ticket prices to field a competitive team. I don’t think that was the case with the Braves from 1991-2005, but as I mentioned before I don’t have their ticket pricing scheme.

While it’s great that the Yanks are able to sign players, they’ve been doing that since the dawn of free agency. I don’t think that having low ticket prices will mean that the Yanks have to field a lousy team.

I still hate the restaurant, but surely there will be a market for $5 seats.

Being a fan means you follow one team…and it should be that team’s responsibility to make every possible effort to win. If the Yankees main concern was me getting my favorite seats, well, then I’d be very concerned about their priorities. Everyone has their own best interests in mind, but I think the Yankees have to look out for the collective…if that means a few fans lose interest, then so be it…that’s better than giving the greater fan base a lesser product.

Would this even be an issue if the Yankees simply decided to not include the 200 or so obstructed seats (again, that’s a guess that could be too high or too low)?

Only because Trost was just interviewed on the Fan: he said that 600 bleacher seats would be obstructed. That’s more than 10% of the total bleacher capacity. In my mind, that is simply slack design.

This said, he did claim that they would be sold at a discount price, which is step in the right direction.

And, [53], I find that having a great team really isn’t the only thing that matters to me. If it were, why wouldn’t I just decide to follow whoever was in first place? The whole point of being a lifelong fan was that they were my team no matter what.

I enjoyed being a Yankee fan just fine when they weren’t a great team. Now they’re probably going to be great, and I find no pleasure in it.

*Can’t* may be too strong. Perhaps better is that it would be highly improbable. As a kid I grew up in rural upstate NY, with no access to WPIX, so we followed all games on the radio. After my college years (when I had YES or whatever it was called then on cable), I spent ten years or so in Ohio. Lots of Reds and Indians, not so much Yankees.

Now, I live in Montreal (I think I’ve mentioned that here before?): lots of Blue Jays, not so much Yankees. The MLB premium package (what is it called, Extra Innings or something?) is ONLY available on the local cable monopoly if you buy a three sport package with the NFL and NHL, and keep the inscription for a full year. I’m not shelling out that kind of money.

But I can usually pick up a fuzzy radio feed from NYC, so I’ve come full circle!

===

Yes, I know, I can get the games on the interweb. I subscribed two seasons ago, but the feed quality wasn’t worth the money, nor the cost of upgrading my monthly download limit. Plus, my wife almost killed me when I had the computer wired through the TV to watch the games. Maybe I’m just cheap.

I just wanna know if I’m gonna be completely shutout at this point, I don’t even care about location or days. Upper deck on Tuesdays? Fine, just let me know.

[47] The Yankees owe you a good team, IMHO, nothing more, although I’m sure some would argue they don’t owe you even that. Loyalty is a two-way street, afterall. I wonder if the same people who think they should be given their favored seats for life, would be willing to pay for the right (maybe buy the tickets for the next 50 years)?

I’d love the Yankees to really care about me personally…but why do I matter more than you or any other diehard? If they give me exaclty what I want, doesn’t that mean someone else will likely get the shaft? The one thing we should all have in common is the desire to see a great team, and I think the Yankees do a very good job at trying to accomplish that.

[50] Out of curiousity, why can’t you get 162 game access?

Is there any chance the Yankees will drop the cost of the most expensive tickets to entice buyers in these difficult economic times?

Said Trost, “No, our prices are our prices.”

[46] You are spot on. Amen to that.

[47] I’m not trying to convince you of anything, but doesn’t the love for baseball and a team you’ve supported for years supplant the stupid mishandlings of the front office? I think they are thinking one thing: how do we recoup our investment? What is the most profitable thing to do today? I don’t think they are thinking big picture, long term thinking, which means they are not thinking about the diehards. They assume that they will always be around because team loyalty transcends. Yes, it’s like an abused spouse. We’re taken for granted. And if we don’t go to the games, we always can juice with our YES habit.

Guess what, in my case I can hardly watch a handful of games per year, and it has been like that for years. I get most of my games via radio, which is what I did in 1982.

I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer trade cheaper prices for 162 game TV access (which, if available, I would also pay for). I’d have to think about it.

What was that, Wilbur?

In 1982, I could have my pick of seats at Yankee Stadium for meager prices, but I couldn’t watch every single game on TV (nor could I watch every out of town game). The explosion in revenue has resulted from the increase in the availability games. If I had to choose, I would rather watch all 162 Yankee games than get to sit behind home plate 10 times.

I know it’s tempting to harken back to the good old days…but we need to remember what it was really like back then. So, while we can’t walk up and buy a great ticket, we can turn on the TV and head to the internet for wall-to-wall, full year coverage. I know I would have killed for that growing up as a kid.

But then why would I want to feel the slightest loyalty towards them? Just out of habit? Why on earth should I feel any interest in their performance if they make it so clear that they don’t five a crap about me?

First are “fans”, people like me, who either live too far away from the Bronx or otherwise never (or rarely ever) attend a game. Our primary consideration is that the Yanks put the best team on the field; concerns about tickets, seats, etc are secondary at best, but probably non-existent. I’d say we’re very satisfied with the current situation, because the team looks damn good.

At the other end are “customers”: the corporations and others who shell out the most cash for the luxury boxes and the best seats, but are not (necessarily) fans the way you or I are (though I’m sure some are). That is, their seats/boxes are primarily for business purposes, and so their primary consideration is their seats and the amenities. The Yanks fielding a good team is perhaps a concern, but certainly secondary, if it exists. Even if the Yanks are bad, there’s a lot of cachet in the Yankee/Yankee Stadium brand, enough to make a trip to the ballpark a good client outing (particularly for those who don’t know or care about baseball). I’d say the “customers” are very satisfied with the current situation.

Then there are the “customer-fans”, people who love team AND buy tickets. I’d call these the real “hardcore” fans, because they not only follow it closely, they shell out cash to go to games (and more cash when they get there). The Yanks ought to have a big interest in keeping these people the happiest, because I’d argue these are the people who will keep shelling out for the tickets even when the team sucks – and many instances likely have been shelling out for tickets for years (if not longer). Yet it seems like these are the exact people – the Yanks’ best customers, in every sense of those words – who have been treated the worst. They’ve been given the shaft in so many ways, and clearly at the expense of the “customers”, who, of course, pay a lot more money.

As “healthy” as the secondary ticket market is, I wouldn’t mistake that as “it doesn’t matter if we screw over people who’ve been customers for years, there are plenty of people to take their place”. Rather, I’d view it skeptically, because there’s only one “last year of the Old Stadium” and “first year of the New Stadium”. In any case, I think this horse is dead.