During our
weekend in NY, we attended both a Yankees game and Mets game. Yankee Stadium still had the sign up “United We Stand”.
The stadium had a good crowd but far from being sold out as the lower level seats seem to be quite empty. (probably due to the insanely expensive prices for seats). But in spite of lighter crowd, the stadium was hopping. Fans cheering, making noise, even booing (loudly) in response to bad calls, bad pitches and missed hits! Yankee Stadium feels like baseball.
The stadium had a good crowd but far from being sold out as the lower level seats seem to be quite empty. (probably due to the insanely expensive prices for seats). But in spite of lighter crowd, the stadium was hopping. Fans cheering, making noise, even booing (loudly) in response to bad calls, bad pitches and missed hits! Yankee Stadium feels like baseball.
The vendors are in stands
selling hot dogs, beer, peanuts, cotton candy.
There are vendors on the streets getting the fans hooked up with
cheap fan gear. The fans are yelling,
waving their banners, doing the wave and cheering on the Bronx Bombers. We bought $5.00 tickets at the gate and had
great seats on the 3rd base foul line.
This was in
stark contrast to the Mets game in citiFIELD.
After checking out and heading home on Sunday, my husband decided we’d
go to citiFIELD, check out the new stadium and see a Mets game. Immediately we noticed that there were no
vendors near the park selling Mets hats and shirts. A fan in the parking lot said you could only
buy them in the stadium ($29 and up for shirts, $18 and up for hats). He said the owners wanted to make all the
money and didn’t allow vendors outside the stadium at all.
In order to buy
a burger at one of the ‘restaurants’ scattered on different levels, you had to
show your tickets to go in. If you were
on the wrong level, they wouldn’t let you in.
To buy food? Really?
Our seats were good, similar to where we sat at the Yankees game. citiFIELD was a very nice, smaller stadium and it was filled up more than Yankee stadium was on Thursday. However, we noticed right away the lack of vendors going through the stands but most strikingly the lack of enthusiasm of the fans. Fans minimally cheered on their own and then only briefly when the organ played to get people to ‘make noise’.
My husband feel asleep in his chair.
I guess there is a unique pulse to every stadium. We have been to four so far including Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Citizens Bank Park in Philly and citiFIELD. citiFIELD is a beautiful park, but hands down the quietest we have ever visited. Fans prefer different experiences, but I personally prefer the loud rowdiness of fans enjoying the game, doing the wave, eating hotdogs and having a nice cold beer!
Yankees and Mets games on the same weekend, that sounds so cool. I think the stadiums each have their own personality. We go to a couple Colorado Rockies games every summer and it's fun but there is nowhere near the tradition that's associated with the New York Yankees.
ReplyDeleteDan, I have to tell you, nothing like going to a Yankees game. It is so full of life and animated, even when the stadium isn't full. It's too bad their prices are so high, seems like there are always lots of empty seats. My sons are avid Yankees fans, so I had to buy the MLB package on cable so they can watch the games. Baseball is about the only sport that I don't care who is playing, I just love to watch the games, have a beer and a hot dog and enjoy the day!
DeleteAppreeciate your blog post
ReplyDelete