Food, Baseball, and why the Yankees need to kick it down a notch.

Since when did a day at the park become a gourmet event? I know that a lot has been written about the skyrocketing cost of going to a game in this lousy economy but some of the amenities and “upgrades” the Yankees and other big market teams have made leave me scratching my head. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Yankees have created their own concession company named Legends Hospitality Management, which will focus on more “high end”, “locally themed” food. The Yanks have also promised dishes cooked up by Food Network personalities. It’s well documented that the Yankees sell their luxury box seats and other lower tier seats to corporations in advance, which guarantees a certain amount of ticket revenue before the first pitch is thrown. However, the recession has messed with the Yankees’ marketing plans:

“If the economy were certain these would have sold out in about six seconds,” Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost told the Wall Street Journal, while showing off the $500+ a piece Legends Club.

“The problem is, people don’t want to be seen in a space like this.”

Those “people” who could afford those tickets before the economic down-turn, are now beginning to be alienated, alongside other working class joe-blow characters that have been dishing out far too much for years. Sure you can get bleacher tickets fairly cheap and I understand that in order to put a great product on the field (at least in management’s eyes) you need to spend a lot of money in order to generate revenue through ticket sales, advertising, and thousands of other avenues.

My question is, why make the new stadium akin to Tavern on the Green, when most fans would love nothing more than a dirty-water dog and an ice-cold beer for under 15 bucks? Why make going out to enjoy our American pastime a seemingly less personal experience than it has already become? I love great food and enjoy cool bells and whistles, but I would rather leave those things out of my trip to the ball park. After all, what is the focus here? Remember the silly game they play on that mind-blowingly expensive field? Are you trying to impress the corporate big wigs and their guests who are at the game to be seen and to rub shoulders with fellow socialites with equally deeper pockets? The answer is probably yes, and that’s really sad.

I say instead of Food Network, bring in tons of local business owners, and have them setup a festival-type lineup of concessions serving the best New York has to offer. Instead of “locally themed” dishes you would enjoy “local dishes” served by real people who need the money to feed their families and put a roof over their head, not to buy a new hot tub or 5-series. This way, visitors to New York, could experience all the incredible culture and diverse array of ethnic foods that make living in New York different than any other city in the country. Say you have a family from Europe who has never been to a baseball game and never been to New York. Instead of offering “gourmet” dishes prepared by your own hospitality management company, you give them options from all around the 5 boroughs. Pizza from Brooklyn, Spanish cuisine from the Bronx, Greek food from the Lower East Side, middle eastern from Staten Island, or Japanese food from Queens.

As far revenue is concerned, The Yanks could take a (small) percentage of the profits made during a game, which may be fair as it’s likely over the course of a game many local owners would feed more patrons than they would on a normal week night. Instead of creating sterilized corporate management companies to offer up over-priced soulless food, how about you invite in the people who are the heartbeat of the city of New York, and true fans that live and die by the pinstripes.

I’m no corporate thinker, but I know a move like this would do wonders for the Yankees who are trying to show their fans a new stadium representing the future of the franchise. I know the Yankees are a brand, but can’t they be more like Taco Bell and less like Wal-Mart? One leaves me bloated with a smile on my face and the other leaves me depressed and yearning for something genuine and comforting. Come on Yanks, we’re waiting on your version of the Crunch Wrap Supreme, a great idea that leaves us saying “Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?”.

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