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Eric
07-17-2008, 11:40 AM
Yankees May Sell Stadium Memories; Jeter's Locker for $100,000

By Danielle Sessa and Laura Marcinek
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&iid=i2bmIv15MT_A
http://images.bloomberg.com/r06/news/morephotos.gif (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=photos&sid=al17jChS314M)

July 17 (Bloomberg) -- The New York Yankees may score a hit with their fans even if they don't win the World Series.

The team will sell pieces of Yankee Stadium before the 85- year-old (http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/stadium_history.jsp) ballpark is torn down. The blue plastic seats alone could generate more than $20 million, according to sports memorabilia experts.

While the baseball team hasn't said what may be sold, items such as team Captain Derek Jeter (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Derek+Jeter&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)'s locker, the pitching rubber and pieces of the famous facade would attract fans interested in salvaging a sliver of Yankees history, said Mike Heffner (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mike+Heffner&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), president of Lelands Inc. auction house.

``There is nothing in the world that compares to Yankee Stadium,'' said Heffner (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Heffner&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), whose company, located in South Dennis, Massachusetts, handled the auction of the Boston Garden. ``Anything in there is sellable.''
The Yankees are working with New York City, which owns the stadium, on a deal to auction memorabilia as the Major League Baseball team prepares to move into a new $1.3 billion home next season. The New York Mets are also building a new ballpark (http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ballpark/citifield_overview.jsp) set to open next year and are negotiating a separate arrangement to sell pieces from 44-year-old Shea Stadium.
Andrew Brent (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Andrew+Brent&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), a spokesman for the office of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, confirmed discussions on the sale of memorabilia from the stadiums and said plans will be announced when final. The mayor is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

Steaks and Martinis
The Yankees are replacing the old ballpark with one that will have triple the number of luxury boxes and amenities such as a steakhouse and martini bar, and private lounges for premium ticket holders. The new stadium (http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/new_stadium_comparison.jsp) will accommodate about 4,500 fewer people than the current one.
The Chicago White Sox were one of the first teams to auction off pieces of their history. The club sold memorabilia from Comiskey Park in 1990, donating the $1.1 million raised to charities. Items from the Boston Garden, home to basketball's Celtics and hockey's Bruins, were sold to fans in 1995, and in the past four years the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals sold remnants of their old ballparks.
Owning a chunk of Yankee Stadium, where Babe Ruth (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Babe+Ruth&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), Mickey Mantle (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Mickey%0AMantle&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) and Reggie Jackson played, may capture the imagination of more fans than any previous sale, said Peter Siegel, founder of Gotta Have It! Collectibles Inc., a memorabilia store in midtown Manhattan. The franchise won a record 26 World Series titles and sent 25 players to the Hall of Fame.

$1,000 Seats
Seats are the biggest revenue generator in stadium sales because they are so plentiful. Not all of the more than 56,000 Yankee seats can be salvaged because of the difficulty in removing them, though 20,000 could be an easy target, Heffner said. One seat may sell for $1,000, he said.
All fans needed 25 years ago was $7.50 and five empty packs of Winston cigarettes to buy an original Yankee Stadium seat in a promotion by the now-defunct Korvettes department store. Korvettes bought up all the wood and cast-iron seats that were ripped out as part of a renovation after the 1973 season. Today, they sell for $4,500 apiece at Gotta Have It!

The locker where Jeter has suited up for his entire 14-year career (http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/new_stadium_comparison.jsp) might go for $50,000 to $100,000 if the team auctioned it, while pieces of the white frieze that encircles the top of the ballpark may fetch $100, according to Heffner.

The Mets, which started in 1962 and have won two championships, can't match the history and tradition of the Bronx Bombers. The team will give season-ticket holders the first chance to buy their seats before offering the items to the general public, said David Howard (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=David+Howard&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), the Mets executive vice president for business operations.

'Feeding Frenzy'
The auction might take place this season because the Mets want the sale to occur before Shea is razed, Howard said. Demolition may begin within two weeks of the team's final home game Sept. 28.
A seat at Shea may be worth $350, Siegel said.

``There will be a feeding frenzy more so for Yankee Stadium than Shea,'' Siegel said.

The Yankees have an agreement with New York-based Steiner Sports Marketing & Memorabilia Inc. to sell game-used merchandise. Steiner also sells autographed Mets gear and has advertisements at both stadiums and sections on its Web site (http://www.steinersports.com/ssm/control/home) dedicated to the final seasons of the New York ballparks.

The company didn't reply to messages seeking comment.

The Yankees and Mets auctions won't compete with each other, said David Hunt of Hunt Auctions Inc., in Exton, Pennsylvania. Fans rather than collectors would be purchasing the bulk of the items based on their memories at the ballparks.

``It's really less about the scarcity of the artifacts than it's about the emotional attachment that people have with their teams,'' Hunt said.
``There would be little crossover.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=al17jChS314M&refer=home

godwulf
07-17-2008, 01:04 PM
The Yankees are replacing the old ballpark with one that will have triple the number of luxury boxes and amenities such as a steakhouse and martini bar, and private lounges for premium ticket holders.

Of course this immediately brings to mind that Miller Hi-Life commercial, up in "Section La-de-dah". ("Can anybody tell me what inning we're in?")

Maybe now people will stop giving the DBacks crap for having a swimming pool. :rolleyes: