The Mets opened up their new digs yesterday while the Yankees will hold their home opener on Thursday. Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium are state-of-the-art stadiums that will serve to relieve the somewhat dilapidated Shea and old Yankee Stadium. Nevertheless, even putting sentimentality aside, it's kind of ridiculous that these monstrosities were built.
The Yankees and Mets have boasted two of the highest payrolls in the game for years, and per Forbes they are the two of the three franchises that, along with the Red Sox, generate the most revenue in baseball. So they've been doing just fine with whatever dumps they play in. But in their never-ending effort to make the almighty buck, the teams turned to the city to help the poor Steinbrenners and Wilpons fund sweetheart deals for new ballparks.
The Yankees originally received around a billion dollars in tax-free bonds before going back to the city for another $370 million. This is taxpayer money. Sure, a handful of new permanent jobs were created (around two dozen — many more were promised) and a lot of temporary construction work was enabled, but $1.4 billion? The dealings between the Bronx and the Bombers were underhanded, too. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) cried corruption on the disparity in the appraisals of land, as the $204-million figure the city used, which was set by a city agency, strongly differed from the $40-million estimate by an appraiser.
As a taxpayer, I feel that I own part of these stadiums. I won't say that I deserve free admission, since that wouldn't be realistic. I understand that in addition to paying for the stadium, I will also deal with raised ticket prices. That's all part of the deal that I implicitly agreed to upon my taking residence in New York City in first grade. However, I will say that when I do buy my own tickets, I ask for a helmet of Dippin' Dots on the house. Those are delicious. That is all.
The new stadiums cost the city $500 million, and the city is giving both the Yankees and Mets discounts of at least $500 million over their 40-year leases. The Mets, though, while not costing the city as much money as the Yankees, do face other problems. Citibank purchased the new stadium's naming rights for $20 million per year over 20 years. Before the Mets could even break the tape on the new ballpark, Citibank was bestowed $45 million in bailout funds. And Citibank's not even relinquishing its naming rights! That means I'm paying for the naming rights to the field. I would like it from now on to be called the J-Breeze Thunderdome. That is all.
There's an even worse problem going on in Florida. I would never trash Larry Beinfest and Jeffrey Loria's business acumen. The Marlins continually operate at a positive income and understand how the revenue curve and franchise appreciation and all that good stuff work. Hey, Donald Sterling operates his franchise as a business, a money-making one, but that doesn't stop people from hating him.
Anyway, what the Marlins have done is receive public financing for a stadium that will cost the city $2 billion. Miami needs a new stadium. The Marlins' attendance figures were embarrassing, and that's not simply a matter of them fielding an embarrassing team. The stadium was located in the middle of nowhere. But that's no reason to have the city pay for your mistake. So the Marlins have done what the Nationals and Yankees and Mets have all done in recent years, except they've taken it to an extreme. The city will finance three-fourths of construction, which should be completed by 2012, while the Marlins will keep all stadium revenues. And all this is happening with the economic crisis in the forefront of our minds.
Again, I don't blame the teams. The Yankees, Mets and Marlins are within their rights to ask for every penny they can get from their respective cities. But whoever's running these joints — Bloomberg in New York or Flo Rida in Florida, I don't know — whoever it is that's allowing this excessive spending to happen under their nose while every city in America is swirling in financial turmoil is being irresponsible. I just think attention must be paid.
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Jeremy Greenhouse is a sophomore majoring in English. He can be reached at Jeremy.Greenhouse@tufts.edu.
