The New Yankee Stadium

If you were fortunate enough to watch the last home game the New York Yankees played at the original "House that Ruth Built," you saw a tradition end, a farewell from former players, fans, celebrities, and basically you said goodbye to an old friend.

But we live in the twenty first century, which means down with the old and in with the new. At a cost of $1.6 billion dollars, the new stadium already has the distinction of being the most expensive sports venue ever built. In collaboration with New York City officials, the Steinbrenner family, and New York Yankee fans, the stadium will remain in the Bronx, across the street from the old Yankee Stadium. The plan right now is that in a little over a month, on April 16, 2009, the New York Yankees will play the Cleveland Indians, in the season home opening game. The stadium will be of course state of the art, with various shops, restaurants, and monuments saluting the Yankee greats of the past. It is interesting that the seating has been dropped approximately 4,500 seats from 56,866 to 52,325. However, luxury suites have almost tripled from 19 to 56. The field dimensions to the fences have stayed the same at 318 feet from the left-field stands to home plate, 314 feet from the right field stands, and 408 feet from center field. The video scoreboard with today’s technology will be incredible. The old screen size was 25 feet high by 33 feet wide in standard definition LED. The new screen will expand to an amazing 59 feet by 101 feet in high definition LED.

But there is one thing that will never change, and that is the Yankee tradition. New records will be established, there will be a long list of all the new firsts being recorded, and great ball players will wear the Yankee uniform. The history and pride of playing at Yankee Stadium will always remain.