New Yankee Stadium, Citi Field set to open

NEW YORK — The whitish limestone and gray granite walls of the new Yankee Stadium rise imposingly in the Bronx, a structure meant to awe like a modern Colosseum or perhaps Versailles. Across town in Queens, the red brick exterior of Citi Field frames its arched entries, leading into a massive rotunda that evokes ballparks of half a century ago. The New York Yankees and Mets will play exhibition games on Friday to open their new homes, $2.3 billion worth of ballparks meant to be the ultimate statement in comfort for players and spectators. Just ahead are the official regular-season debuts on April 13 for the Mets against San Diego and three days later for the Yankees versus Cleveland. “Two different philosophies, two different ways of doing business — and they both work," Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said. “I think the fans are going to love both, different ballparks." Conceived in the final years of a gilded age in which no touch was too much, they are filled with restaurants, exclusive lounges, shops and attractions that can make the actual games seem incidental to the commerce around them. Opening now, with ticket prices of up to $2,625 for the Yankees and $695 for the Mets — yes, that’s a single game — they may seem out of step with a suddenly and sharply more restrained era. But coming near the end of a ballpark boom that began with the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards in 1992, they mark a defining moment for a sport ever caught between trying to keep modern while reverentially retooling its past. “They’ve very contrasting buildings in some ways, and they have certain things in common. They’re both buildings that look back as much as forward," said Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for The New Yorker magazine. “Yankee Stadium is somewhat palatial — it certainly wants to you to think so on the outside. It’s very grandiose. The architecture at Citi Field is much more casual to me and relaxed. But again, there’s always been something much more relaxed and casual about the Mets." Designed by Populous, the firm formerly known as HOK Sport, they are nothing like their predecessors. The original Yankee Stadium, Major League Baseball’s first three-deck ballpark, opened in 1923 at a cost of $2.5 million, then lost most of its charm and distinctiveness when it was remodeled from 1973-75. Shea Stadium was a circular multisport stadium that cost $28.5 million and opened as part of the 1964 World’s Fair. It proved to be ideal for neither baseball nor the NFL and became known as one of MLB’s coldest ballparks — both architecturally and weather-wise. Although Shea Stadium was home to World Series champions in 1969 and 1986, it was never beloved. So while the original Yankee Stadium was lauded with tributes and still stands awaiting demolition, the Mets couldn’t raze Shea quickly enough, and its last traces were knocked over on Feb. 18. Now the Mets have put up an $800 million ballpark with roughly 42,000 seats that they hope makes tickets far harder to obtain than they were for Shea, which held 57,343. The new place gets its name from Citigroup, which said its $400 million, 20-year naming rights deal remained binding despite the company’s government bailout to stay in business. Inside the ballpark, the Mets are going for intimacy when you’re watching the game and luxury when you’re not. Fans can peer through a skylight into the two-lane batting cage across from the Mets clubhouse. The bathrooms in the pricier sections are modeled after those in Four Seasons hotels. Players will stroll from the batting cage, through a clubhouse that is 2½ times the size of the Shea dressing area, to a water room containing hot and cold therapy pools and a Hydroworx training pool with submersible treadmill and an underwater window for trainers to observe and record. The Yankees spent $1.5 billion, the second-most ever on a new stadium behind the $1.57 billion for the new Wembley Stadium in north London. The result is a celebration of self and all that comes with it when you happen to be a Yankee: 26 World Series titles, 39 American League pennants, and stars such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Reggie Jackson. The homage to 1923 starts with a re-creation of the old ballpark’s original exterior, down to the cathedral windows and 7-foot, 4-inch (2.24-meter) eagle medallions outside the main entrance. There are manually operated scoreboards on the outfield fences, a gap in the wall that allows subway riders to peer into a ballpark that’s 63 percent larger. “The goal was to try and honor our legacy and the past with the most state-of-the-art amenities in food and merchandizing and seating that there could be," Yankees president Randy Levine said. About those amenities, there are three team stores, an art gallery, a collectibles boutique, and more than a dozen specialty restaurants and bars. Fans could spend an entire game in the ballpark without taking time to watch a single pitch. “I heard someone describe Yankee Stadium as a five-star luxury hotel that happens to have a ballpark in middle," said Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, who launched the ballpark counterrevolution when he was with the Orioles and helped design Camden Yards. Both ballparks have gone way beyond the luxury suite, although there are plenty of those. Each team built business and conference centers, and hope to make the ballparks year-round destinations suitable for weddings and corporate functions. You don’t even need tickets to eat at two of the Yankee Stadium restaurants. Both clubs received public backing for the bonds used to finance the ballparks, which lowered the interest rates, and they seem happy with what they built. Next up is Target Field in Minneapolis in 2010, to be followed by the 22nd new ballpark starting with Camden Yards, the Florida Marlins new retractable-roof stadium in Miami. Only Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914) remain from the great ballyards of old. And that’s fine with the Red Sox, who keep adding bells and whistles to their jewel. “They’re going to be playing in a grand stadium," Lucchino said, “and we’re going to be playing in a nice ballpark." – AP