For One Night, Fans Catch a Free Pass at Yankee Stadium

Posted on 09. Dec, 2009 by Ryan Hatch in Bronx, Money and Economy, Sports, Uncategorized

With one swing of the bat, Alex Rodriguez choked the life out of one stadium and propelled another into a state of euphoria.

“Go, go, go!” Sree Xaiver screamed as she watched A-Rod’s ball ricochet off the left-field fence and Johnny Damon raced home. “Yes! Yes! Go, score!”

He did score.

And the Yankees won moments later, sending the crowd at Yankee Stadium into a frenzy and the Philadelphia Phillies’ park into a dead zone as the boys in pinstripes won Game 4 108 miles down the New Jersey Turnpike in Philadelphia.

Seated along row 14 in section 111, Xavier, 30, and several thousand fans watched as the New York Yankees took one step closer to becoming world champions for the 27th time after a 7-4 comeback win over the Phillies. Game 4 of the World Series was played in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Sunday night, but fans in New York were invited to come, free of charge, and watch the game at Yankee Stadium on the 6,000-square-foot Jumbotron behind the center-field fence.

“This is great, we never could have afforded to come up here if they hadn’t done this,” said Xavier, who brought her 9-year-old daughter to the game after walking in Sunday’s NYC marathon.

A Brooklyn native, Xavier said it was her first time in the “House that George Built,” which opened its doors earlier this season. A group of four behind her also said it was their first time inside the new stadium. All claimed it was due to the skyrocket ticket prices for not just the playoffs, but most of the regular season. As of Monday evening, the cheapest ticket price on StubHub for Game 6 at the stadium was $420.50 to sit in the upper deck levels. The most expensive were $20,000 to sit right by the dugout. The same seats occupied by Xavier and others in section 110 (field-level down the right field foul line) are listed at $1,100 for Wednesday night’s game.

The high price of tickets to Yankee Stadium has been an issue since the stadium opened in April. Single-game ticket prices for seats directly behind home plate were listed at $2,500. By early May, the Yankees cut those tickets in half to $1,250 due to widespread outrage from fans, but the team continued to suffer a public relations hit when nationally televised games showed still-empty seats despite the “discount.” It resulted in a boycott by many season-ticket holders, which gave way to more Kate Hudsons and Jay-Z’s filling the stadium’s best seats.

In 1970, principal owner George Steinbrenner bought the team and took out an $800,000 loan to cover all operating expenses when outfield tickets cost only $1. He wanted to brand a globally recognized team.

It worked.

Fast forward 40 years to 2010, when purchasing season tickets for a family of four behind the dugout will end up costing $405,000, slightly half of what Steinbrenner paid for the entire organization in 1970.

On Sunday night, Bronx Bomber fans who might not earn $820,000 in a lifetime had a chance to enjoy a game and enjoy seats that will probably elude them the rest of their lives.

“We are the real fans in here tonight,” Teede Williams, 32, said while drinking a $10 Bud Light on the concourse behind section 111. “Most people in here probably can’t afford the prices to get into actual games. But these are the real fans. You can tell they’re the ones who really care.”

Only the field-level sections of the stadium were open to the public — foul pole to foul pole on the lower level. Each seat in the different sections are generously padded, a feature of only the first level.

Jim Ross, senior vice president of business development for the Yankees, said management decided to open the stadium to foment some “camaraderie among the fans and let them watch the game on our spectacular screen.” He declined to speak on why the prices were so high, but said that $1,250 and $1,500 tickets have sold well.

Other Yankee officials in the ticket office could not give an exact head count on Monday since no tickets were electronically swiped when people walked though the gates.

Hottest Tickets in Town

Posted on 22. Nov, 2009 by Ryan Hatch in Money and Economy, Sports

By Ryan Hatch

Standing under the elevated subway platform outside Yankee Stadium on East 161st street and River Avenue in the Bronx, two middle-aged men in shiny blue jackets wait for the No. 4 train to arrive and dispense another wave of eager baseball fans.

In hopes of finding people arriving to the game without tickets, the guys each take one more sip of coffee as a new crowd departs the train and descends down the metal steps.

“Who needs tickets, right here, who needs tickets, I got four together, four together,” one of the men says in a loud voice as he walks upstream on River Avenue through jackets and sweatshirts of dark blue and white. “Any seat you want, anywhere in the stadium I got, I got.”

Well, not exactly. They don’t have every seat in the house. They only have about a dozen, really. But tonight for Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Angels and Yankees, those 12 tickets for seats at Yankee Stadium are some of the hottest in town. Hot enough, in fact, to possibly fetch upwards of a couple thousand dollars in all.

“I’m hoping for three,” Mingo, 43, says, referring to the goal of making $3,000. “Any less and it’ll be a bad night.”

Mingo and his pal and co-worker “E” (“E” for excellence, he says), both of whom declined to give last or full names in fear of legal action from police, came up empty with the latest group even after wading into the crowd on River Avenue. They returned to their post under the subway and waited for the next crowd to cascade down the steps seven minutes later. Again, no luck.

“It’s still early,” Mingo, 43, donning a Yankees jacket, black gloves and faded jeans, says as he comes back to his perch near the McDonalds rail. “Give it some time. It’s still early. It’s still early.”

It is still early. The clock above the bridge on 161st street reads 4:32 p.m. This gives the guys roughly three more hours of business before their commodity becomes fruitless. First pitch is scheduled for 7:57 p.m. EST.

“Just have to keep moving around, never stand in one spot too long,” Mingo says, as he blows warm air into his clenched fist.

It’s seen as a dying art, this pay-to-play haggling of tickets outside sporting events. More commonly known as “scalpers,” the brokers trying to sell tickets right before an event have watched their business shrink over the years as fans have begun flocking to the Internet to buy tickets.

“They’ve hurt us,” E says of the online brokers. “There’s no doubt about that. Fans are skeptical of us because some people come out here selling fake tickets and ruin our reputation. A few bad apples spoil the bunch.”

So far, StubHub.com stands as the biggest bully the scalpers continue to fight. The site works as a marketplace for people wanting to sell tickets to concerts, sports and theatre, taking a 25 percent commission (10 from the buyer, 15 from the seller) on each transaction.

According to Quantcast.com, a site that monitors web traffic, StubHub had about 2.3 million unique visitors in September 2009. 53 percent of the users were male and nearly three-quarters were between the ages of 18-49. In January of 2007, Ebay purchased StubHub for $285 million at a time when the company had a profit margin of about $10 million with $400 million in annual sales. It’s safe to assume much of that $400 million used to belong to scalpers.

An advantage buyers have on StubHub is a protection guarantee that assures each ticket is real with the chance at a refund if found to be counterfeit. It’s also better equipped to gobble tickets the very second they’re available to the public, automatically purchasing them online. It freezes out scalpers who must wait at the stadium box office for actual, physical tickets and then stand at least 1,000 feet away from the box office to sell. Scalping tickets is legal in 38 states, including New York.

“It’s tough, man,” Mingo, says. “But we’re still working it. We’ll be okay.”

Inside the McDonalds sits Charlie Powell, a 57-year-old Vietnam vet who’s taking a break from the dropping temperatures by drinking coffee and having a hamburger.

“Nobody’s buying anything today,” Powell says. “Look at this stuff. They sell it for four times this much at the stadium but I can’t give it away.”

Holding several boxes of Yankee apparel including wool hats, wooden bats and over-sized foam fingers, Powell, a native of the Bronx, has resorted to selling merchandise instead of tickets due to the rapidly changing business environment for scalpers outside of stadiums.

“I used to sell tickets but it just ain’t what it used to be,” he says. “In ten years, I doubt we (scalpers) even exist anymore.”

An hour passes as the restaurant becomes busier with dozens of people seeking shelter from the harrowing wind and light rain.

Outside, the clock reads just before six.

“Okay, it’s time to move,” Powell said, finishing his Big Mac and zipping up his jacket. “Somebody’s gotta pay my electricity bill.”

For a Young Ironbound Boxing Club, A Strong Showing Against Puerto Rico Falls Short

Posted on 21. Oct, 2009 by Christian Yarnell in Sports

TRAPPED:  Lisandro Tupete, in blue, falls partially through the ropes in a fight on September 18 against Keith Tapia, in red.  The bout was part of a two-night event with New Jersey boxers facing off against competitors from Puerto Rico. Photo by Christian Yarnell.

by Christian Yarnell

Puerto Rico’s national team outclassed a group of New Jersey’s up-and-coming boxers at a September 18-19 fight night doubleheader at the Ironbound Boxing Club, the first major event at the three-year-old Newark club.  Puerto Rico won seven of the 13 head-to-head bouts.

The Puerto Rican side dominated day one of the competition, winning five of seven.  Keith Tapia, born in the Bronx but competing for Puerto Rico, impressed with a victory  against Patterson’s Lisandro Tupete in the 178-pound weight class.  Tapia pounded Tupete with big right hands, at one point in the first round almost knocking Tupete through the ropes and out of the ring.  Tapia, 19, won gold at the 2007 Cadet World Boxing Championships in Azerbaijan and is a young boxer worth watching.

But New Jersey was not without a hero of its own.  Ibn Akbar Richardson, 22, from Gladiator Gym in Newark’s West Ward, won a hard-fought bout with Puerto Rico’s Jose Soto, 19, also in the 178-pound weight class.  Richardson, whose long, pulled-back dreadlocks protruded from his headgear and had to be wrapped in plastic, found his rhythm in a fast-paced second round, mixing shots to his opponent’s body and head.

By the end of the third and final round, both fighters looked exhausted; Richardson’s hands often dropped to his waist.  Even Richardson’s dreadlocks had begun to escape their plastic wrapper.  But he held on, dodging a flurry of punches from Soto in the last 30 seconds, and won by judges’ decision.

“I was seeing his punches pretty well,” Richardson said after the close contest.  “I thought I hurt him, but he just stayed there.”

Alex Perez, a 27-year-old Newark-born prizefighter known as “The Brick City Bullet,” and current WBC Continental Americas Welterweight Champion, was supporting Richardson, his cousin, from the crowd, yelling advice after each round.

Perez pointed out that he, too, made his way up the amateur ranks.

“Just like for any kind of work, this is how you build your resume,” said Perez, during a break in the action.

The event shined a spotlight on the Ironbound Boxing Club itself.  Housed as part of the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club at 11 Providence St., the boxing club was started by Tim Flohr, a youth counselor, to provide an outlet for teenagers who might otherwise find trouble on the streets.

“It’s easy to complain about an area,” said Flohr.  “We wanted to do something about it.”

Flohr, 35, who boxed growing up in Omaha, Neb., started the Ironbound Boxing Club in 2006 and now has about 30 regular members.  Much of the focus is on healthy living and discipline.  His wife, Marta, teaches a nutrition and wellness class on Saturdays as part of the program.

“I started mainly to get in shape,” said 21-year-old Cesar Volquez, one of Flohr’s first disciples.

He was a victor by decision in the September 19 Undercard bout.

“It’s the longest six minutes of your life,” said Volquez, of the two three-minute rounds for boxers in the novice division.

Before the event, Puerto Rico’s head coach Ricky Marquez had predicted a close competition, noting that all of his boxers were 21 or younger.  Marquez said he had brought a younger group than usual for international competition to give some of his up-and-coming prospects more experience.

The New Jersey side did have more success on night two, winning four of the six head-to-head matches.  Miguel Diaz, from Irvington International Boxing Club, was particularly impressive in the 122-pound weight class.  Diaz knocked down his opponent, Alberto Machado, 18, once in the second round.  Machado came out strong in the third round, but, after about a minute, Diaz connected with a vicious left hook that seemed to stun Machado and turned the tide in Diaz’s favor for good.

For the more talented boxers, like Diaz, the goal is clear.

“These guys want to make the Olympic Team,” said Jose Rosario, President of the New Jersey Association of USA Boxing, who attended both days of the competition.

While this event was unlikely to attract the attention of Olympic Team officials, it did give the young boxers more experience and an opportunity to build their resumes. It also gave a chance for some real novices to try their luck in the ring.

Dennis Martinez, 16, and another of Flohr’s boxers, stepped into the ring for his first-ever fight in the September 18 Undercard.  Martinez, who did not fare as well as Ironbound Club compatriot Volquez, was pummeled by Robert Terry, a more experienced boxer from Bayonne, and ended up in the emergency room with a dislocated left elbow.  Yet he never went down or called it quits, standing tall throughout.