And Randy Levine doubles down on it.

Just remember, there's no front office fantasy league.

I always wanted to outlive George Steinbrenner so I could be a proud Yankee fan again. I am going to the gym so I can outlive Mr. Trost.

The 1% don't want the 99% sitting near them. WAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Fuck Trost! Fuck Levine! Fuck. Them. All.

[3] They make it so damn hard to stay a fan..thankfully the other owners are just as bad, if not so open about it.. :(

[4] Yeah, I hear you. They make it extremely hard.

[3] Couldn't have said it better. I don't know what their day-to-day job responsibilities are, but from my perspective, Trost and Levine are useless. These kinds of comments just alienate more fans. Don't the Yanks have enough ticket problems? Between the constantly empty luxury seats, the moat, and the outrageous ticket prices in the new stadium, haven't they driven enough fans away? Nope, the "kill Stub Hub - the Yankees get to make 5% off every ticket resale" policy will drive away more!

Do you all remember JL25and3? The moat and the rest drove him to stop being a fan. I am sure he is not alone.

Do they not see how many people don't watch football anymore, because of moral/ethical concerns?

The Yanks' ticket prices are sky high, but they haven't made a deep playoff run in years, and the payroll has basically stayed flat for a decade. Coupled with, "We won't invest until we have money coming off the books," it sure seems like the Yanks are playing the ticket buying public for suckers.

Definitely makes it hard some days...

So here's what I'm waiting for: commercial application of virtual reality (VR). Just imagine sitting at home, watching (and hearing) the game from ANY place in the stadium - and it's just like you're there. Then we can say to hell with the nonsense about moats and buffets and corporate bigshots. Sure, it'll cost. But if they get a million viewwrs at 10 bucks a game, nobody would need to go to the stadium, the teams would make more money too.

Related thought: why are they building billion dollar stadiums for football when VR will almost certainly be here (and more profitable) during the lifetime of the new stadiums?

[6] I miss him, he was always game for the threads and the banter here. I don't blame him for losing interest in a team that's pretty much lost interest in folks like him. The more I think about it, the more I think of this as an act of betrayal of the working and middle class fans who have traditionally made up the largest percentage of Yankee fans not just at the stadium, but in general. But it's really on the fans to begin holding them accountable for these kind of things; people like Trost and Levine keep doing these type of things because the fans don't hold them accountable.

[7] it's coming, but will it be soon/accessible enough for many of us to appreciate and partake? There will be a lot of unintended consequences of that model I think until they advance the technology significantly. If the fan experience in reality is not enough to appease the stadium crowd, I'm not sure that making it all into a 3D role playing game will be an enhancement if the particular team's disposition towards their fans remains the same.

Another: http://deadspin.com/yankees-coo-defends-new-ticketing-policy-like-a-true-ri-1759975895

I'm so disgusted by this move.

On top of my in home viewing issue (we only have 2 options for the Yes Network: Comcast or DirecTV). Now, I know the Yankees are only a small piece of YES ownership, but it just adds to the aura of elitism.

I commented earlier about this on the last post. It's despicable.

But my question is: I usually purchase game tickets last minute on Craigslist from holders who can't attend the game. if I can't print these tickets, will I be able to get the bar codes somehow on my phone? Will Craigslist tickets no longer be available (save for actually meeting the seller and picking up hard tickets)?

I split season tickets with a friend for about 5 years of the old Stadium and 2 years of the new Stadium. Upper deck, behind 3rd base. Old Stadium we were in U3, row 4 which was a great view. Tickets were about $20 per game.

New Stadium: we got bumped further away from behind home plate and higher up: Section 422, row 3. Still decent but further from the action.

We got rid of the season ticket plan when the ticket prices went up and when we couldn't sell enough of the games we couldn't go to.

Yanks don't understand that putting a "floor" on the price of the ticket doesn't really help much. Maybe a few more tix get sold at a higher price but more tickets will go not be resold, hurting the season ticket holders who are looking to dump a ticket.

Now I look for last minute tickets, usually on the morning of the game and buy tickets that way. But if I can't get discount prices, then I will certainly go to a lot less tickets. And I can walk to the Stadium from my apartment in Manhattan. So the resale market is getting hurt.

Of course the Yanks have already sold the tickets so it won't affect them this year. But I wonder how many season ticket holders cancel their plan when they can't dump their tix for their games.

The Yanks have been meeting with Stubhub. They heard you guys.

Game threads
[scratches madly at elbow]

Game threads
[facial tic]

WHEN DO THE GAME THREADS GET HERE?
[nibbles on fingernails, whimpers]

Just found out that down here, the Durham Bulls' preseason Fan Fest next week will include a chance to take BP on the field. So I hope none of my children has to go to the hospital or anything, because they'll have to walk. :)

College ball on MLBN this weekend, starting 8 pm tonight. I'll take it.