Yankee Stadium

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Lore & Background

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner began campaigning for a new stadium in the early 1980s. Steinbrenner at the time was reportedly considering a move to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. New Jersey governor Thomas Kean in 1984 authorized the use of land for a new baseball stadium in the Meadowlands, but the state legislature did not provide financing. In a statewide referendum in 1987, New Jersey taxpayers rejected $185 million in public financing for a baseball stadium for the Yankees. Despite the rejection from New Jersey, Steinbrenner frequently threatened to move as leverage in negotiations with New York City. In 1988, Mayor Ed Koch agreed to have city taxpayers spend $90 million on a second renovation of Yankee Stadium that included luxury boxes and restaurants inside the stadium and parking garages and traffic improvements outside. Steinbrenner agreed in principle, but then backed out. In 1993, Mayor David Dinkins expanded on Koch's proposal by offering his Bronx Center vision for the neighborhood. In 1993, New York governor Mario Cuomo proposed using the West Side Yard as the location for a new stadium for the Yankees but would unexpectedly lose to George Pataki in the 1994 New York gubernatorial election, effectively killing that proposal. By 1995, Steinbrenner had rejected 13 proposals to keep the Yankees in the Bronx. In 1998, Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer proposed spending $600 million in public money to add dozens of luxury boxes, improve access, and create a Yankee Village. Steinbrenner rejected this as well. That same year, Mayor Rudy Giuliani unveiled a plan to relocate the Yankees to the West Side Yard for a $1 billion stadium. However, with most of the funding coming from taxpayers, Giuliani tabled the proposal, fearing rejection in a citywide referendum. The West Side Stadium plan resurfaced in December 2001, and by January 2002, four months after the September 11 attacks, Giuliani announced 'tentative agreements' for both the New York Yankees and New York Mets to build new stadiums before departing the mayor's office at midnight on January 1, 2002. He estimated that both stadiums would cost $2 billion, with city and state taxpayers contributing $1.2 billion. Michael Bloomberg, who succeeded Giuliani, called the former mayor's agreements 'corporate welfare' and exercised the escape clause to back out of both de

In Their Own Story

The stadium site is on former industrial land between the River Lea (which rejoins the Navigation below Old Ford Lock), the City Mill River, and the Old Pudding Mill River, parts of the Bow Back Rivers. Another branch of this system, St Thomas' Creek, 200 metres (660 feet) to the south, completes an 'island' surrounded by water. 200 metres (660 feet) to the east is the Waterworks River; with the London Aquatics Centre on its eastern bank. This 'island' site for the stadium lies at the southern end of the Olympic Park. To make room for its construction, the already partially obstructed Pudding Mill River, a short channel of the Lea that ran from the west side of the stadium south-eastwards across the site, was filled in. A number of businesses were required to move for the stadium and park. During the bidding for the 2012 Olympics a group of businesses in Marshgate Lane, where the stadium was to be built, wrote to the IOC to withdraw their support for the plans due to unfair treatment. It was found in 2005 that the site of the stadium was host to Queen Mary College's department of nuclear engineering, which had a small nuclear reactor.

Reader's Guide

The new stadium is meant to evoke elements of the original Yankee Stadium, both in its original 1923 state and its post-renovation state in 1976. The exterior resembles the original look of the 1923 Yankee Stadium. The interior, a modern ballpark with greater space and increased amenities, features a playing field that closely mimics the 1988–2008 dimensions of the old stadium. The current stadium features 4,300 club seats and 68 luxury suites. The stadium was designed by the architectural firm Populous. The exterior was made from 11,000 pieces of Indiana limestone, along with granite and pre-cast concrete. The limestone is from the same quarry that produced the limestone for the Empire State Building. It features the building's name V-cut and gold-leaf lettered above each gate. The interior of the stadium is adorned with hundreds of photographs capturing the history of the Yankees. The New York Daily News newspaper partnered with the Yankees for the exhibition 'The Glory of the Yankees Photo Collection', which was selected from the Daily News collection of over 2,000 photographs. Sports & The Arts was hired by the Yankees to curate the nearly 1,300 photographs that adorn the building from sources including the Daily News, Getty Images, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball. The seats are laid out similar to the original Yankee Stadium's stands, with grandstand seating that stretches beyond the foul poles, as well as bleacher seats beyond the outfield fences. The Field Level and Main Level constitute the lower bowl, with suites on the H&R Block Level, and the Upper Level and Grandstand Level constituting the upper bowl. Approximately of the stadium's seating is in the lower bowl, the inverse from the original Yankee Stadium. 46,537 fans can be seated, with a standing room capacity of 52,325 for baseball games. The new stadium's seating is spaced outward in a bowl, unlike the stacked-tiers design at the old stadium. This design places most fans farther back but lower to the field, by about an average of . Over 56 suites are located within the ballpark, triple the amount from the previous stadium. Seats are wide, up from the previous stadium's wide seats, while there is of leg room, up from of leg room in the previous stadium. Many lower-level seats are cushioned, while all seats are equipped with cupholders.

Did You Know?

• Yankee Stadium hosted the 2009 and 2024 World Series.
• The stadium was built on the former site of Macombs Dam Park.
• A construction worker buried a David Ortiz jersey under the visitors' dugout in an attempt to hex the Yankees.
• The exterior limestone came from the same quarry as the Empire State Building's limestone.