Rich, poor mix in Bronx
NEW YORK – Down in the plush, teak-armed seats of the ultradeluxe Legends Suite section, Rose Mattiello sighed in the glorious sunshine Thursday as she enjoyed the treat of a lifetime – a gift from her son of opening-day tickets at the new Yankee Stadium.
Out in the bleachers, in a section with an obstructed view, Melanie Mugno was fuming. She couldn’t see left field from her $5 seat. She couldn’t see the flat-screen TVs placed too far below her, or the huge scoreboard just above.
“Look at this,” she said in exasperation – the benches didn’t even have seat backs.
The christening of spanking-new, $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, with its exquisite dining, private clubs, conference rooms, martini bar, farmer’s market and crazy prices for the best seats – $2,625! – had a decidedly “Upstairs, Downstairs” feel about it.
And yet the outraged Mugno was in the minority. Most fans were philosophical about the extravagance that strikes some as crass and insensitive in the midst of a crippling recession. The stadium was conceived long before the downturn, many reasoned.
And hey – it was a truly gorgeous day.
“I could care less about all that stuff,” said Mario Valente, of New Milford, N.J., sitting next to his awe-struck fourth-grader, Michael, in $375 seats. “It’s opening day, and I’m here with my son.”
While you can still catch a game for as little as $5 – in an area obscured by the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar – attention has focused on the seats behind home plate, which go for as much as $2,625 for single games and north of $200,000 for a season ticket. Even Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner has acknowledged some may be overpriced.
On Thursday, those seats held likely suspects from the worlds of high finance and politics. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani among those who watched the Yankees lose to the Cleveland Indians, 10-2. But there were also some regular folks who’d shelled out the money for one unforgettable experience.
“It’s really for this little guy that I’m doing it,” said Eldon Chan, a banker accompanied by his 3-year-old son, Evan, in the front row to the right of home plate. “It may never happen again for him. We’ve got to enjoy it while it lasts. I can’t see paying this on a regular basis, but for today, it was worth it.”
Mattiello, the Staten Island mother, tried to be realistic: She once held season tickets but has long since been priced out. This trip to the Legends section was likely her last. But for a few hours, she was going to enjoy it.
She had options, especially for dining. She could order penne with veal and chicken bolognese at her seat if she wished, or an Italian antipasto wrap prepared by Fresco by Scotto, a noted Italian restaurant in Manhattan.