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Financing of the New Yankee Stadium
Rather than the $800 million value affixed to the stadium (which
is for only the stadium and not for the parking garages, highway
improvements and other items associated with the construction),
independent analysts have set the tab for the complete project
closer to $1.3 billion. The city's share includes allowing the
Yankees to occupy 22 acres of Macombs Dam Park and John
Mullaly Park (which is already used for stadium parking on game
days), and to build parking garages on those parks. City-funded
artificial surface will be placed on top of those parking garages
to make up for the lost parkland. The city would retain
ownership of the land, but would not charge the Yankees rent or
property taxes. The city currently charges rent at Yankee
Stadium; no sports teams pay property taxes in New York. In
addition, the city would foot the bill for acquiring scattered
parcels of land near the waterfront, about a half-mile away, and
building smaller parks there, even though the project was
precipitated by the Yankees' desire to acquire the current
parkland. The cost of renovating the existing parkland would be
about $25 million; building new parkland will cost $150 million.
That cost includes demolition costs for the historic Yankee
Stadium, which would be completely torn down. The building's
destruction would be paid for entirely by the city and replaced
with parkland. The city will also issue tax-exempt bonds for the
Yankees' new stadium. The Yankees would repay those bonds
with payments in lieu of taxes; the Yankees have not paid taxes.

New York state taxpayers will pay $70 million to help the
Yankees build parking garages (as authorized by the State
Legislature). The parking-garage project would cost $320
million. No one has specified who will be responsible for the
remaining $250 million and where the parking proceeds will go.
State taxpayers, through money that has accumulated from the
MTA's budget since the 1980s, will also pay all of the costs of a
train station on the Metro-North commuter railroad.

In addition to the public subsidies and billions of dollars of
increased revenue, the Yankees will benefit from a change to
Major League Baseball's 2002 collective bargaining agreement
(CBA), which allows teams to deduct new-stadium building costs
from the revenue-sharing payments they make. For the
Yankees, whose $200 million player payroll makes them the
largest contributor to the revenue-sharing pool, this means 40
percent of their share of the price tag may be borne by the
remaining 29 baseball teams. All told, the Yankees and the
taxpayers can each expect to pay about $450 million, with the
remaining costs to be shared among the other baseball teams.

Still, the cost of the stadium resulted in the Yankees opting
against a design with a retractable-roof, even though New
York's climate might make one appropriate.

While the stadium will have Yankee Stadium in its name, the
team is considering the sale of partial naming rights. Possibilities
include Yankee Stadium at (sponsor) Plaza, as well as naming
gates similar to the practice at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Undecided Features of the New Stadium
The Yankees have not indicated what ticket prices will be in
their new stadium, but team officials say they have not ruled out
charging a "license fee" for each seat. This is a cover charge of
several hundred dollars (or several thousand dollars,
depending on the seat location) that each fan pays for the right
to then purchase season tickets. Several teams have used this
method to generate more revenue from their new stadiums. The
Yankees no longer use the terms "season tickets" and
"combination plans" in renewal notices to holders of these
tickets. Two years ago, the Yankees began calling these
packages "ticket licenses", and ticket "Account Holder" became
ticket "Licensee." To date the Yankees have not charged any
additional fee for being a ticket "Licensee."

What also has yet to be addressed is what sections of the new
stadium would correspond to the old stadium, for ticket license
holders, particularly given the fact that there will be fewer seats
in the upper deck, and more in the lower level. It is unknown if
current Tier Box licensees would be assigned or have a choice
between the new upper deck or the expanded lower level, and if
Tier Reserve license holders would be secondary to those Tier
Box holders in remaining in the upper deck.

Other elements that are unknown include whether the stadium
will have a Hammond Organ, since many newer facilities have
eliminated organs in place of more seating, as the Yankees
have reduced its usage in the past decade, and even more so
after the 2003 season, with the retirement of noted organist
Eddie Layton. Also unclear is whether the new stadium will
include studios for the YES Network, which are currently in
Stamford, Connecticut. The current stadium has a small studio
which has rarely been used by YES after many years of use by
MSG Network.