YANKEE STADIUM Hosts Final Game, Will Be Demolished Slowly

(From Sports Business Daily)

YANKEE STADIUM hosted its final game and Yankees executives indicated the current ballpark "will be demolished relatively slowly, with the main structure still standing well into the 2009 season," according to ANTHONY RIEBER of NEWSDAY.

The Yankees are scheduled to host a "closing ceremony for the Stadium in early November with details to be announced," while the team's front-office staff is slated to "vacate the Stadium in late February/early March to move" into the new $1.3 billion dollar Yankee Stadium.

Select ballpark demolition "will take place in the spring," and items "that are to be sold by the city will be removed during this period."

The "actual ballpark structure will not be torn down until 2010," and it will "not be imploded, as other ballparks have been, because the area around the ballpark is residential."

The city of New York and the Yankees "plan to sell mementos," and fans who attended the last game "were warned they would be prosecuted if they tried to take anything."

ANDREW BRENT, a spokesperson for New York Mayor MICHAEL BLOOMBERG's office, said, "The plans for Yankee Stadium are being finalized. An announcement is expected in the coming weeks."

FEINSAND & McSHANE report the "ongoing debate is over the financial split with the team for items owned by the city."

There also is a "question about which collectibles belong to New York, and which belong to the Yankees."

The city owns the ballpark's "infrastructure, including the seats, the dugouts, the outfield walls,"while the team "owns the items on the field -- the famous outfield monuments, the bases -- and all the clubhouse items."

Meanwhile, Yankees COO LONN TROST sent a "one-page memo to the players reminding them that they were forbidden to take anything from the stadium that did not belong to them."

Trost yesterday said the players "were told if they would like something, they can provide us with a list, and then we will see if we can sell it to them and they will pay the same price as fans."

Yankees center-fielder JOHNNY DAMON said that he "would like to buy the foul poles," Yankees pitcher ANDY PETTITTE "wanted the pitching rubber" and pitcher MIKE MUSSINA "inquired about the flag pole that stands behind the left-field wall."

The players were allowed to keep their jerseys from the last game, but Trost's memo "did ask the players to refrain from selling those jerseys."

SCOTT SOSHNICK from BLOOMBERG NEWS of writes the 2008 season shows "these Yankees are better at business than baseball," as the franchise "will squeeze every last penny out" of the ballpark.

Soshnick -- "Everything must go. Turnstiles. Pitching rubber. Dirt. Lockers. Even urinals."

The seats alone "might generate $20 million."

Yankee Stadium was built in 1923 for $2.5 million.

MIKE DODD from THE USA TODAY reports MLB "authenticators were busy during the game -- the bases were changed and tagged with a hologram after each half-inning, giving the Yankees 18 sets of bases to sell or provide for sponsors."

JACK O'CONNELL from MLB.COM reported Baseball Hall Of Fame President JEFF IDELSON and Trost are in negotiations "about items that will be on display in the future" at the Hall Of Fame.