Yankee Stadium was the sporting world’s grandest stage. It was home to everything from World Series championship teams (26 times) to masses said by the Pope (thrice). “The House That Ruth Built” was also a stunning 85 years old, outliving nearly five dozen stadiums used by other teams since its opening in 1923. But as much as we all loved it, the place had many flaws that the new incarnation will eliminate. Here are 10 of the most important.
10. Cup holders!
9. No more fear of steel beams falling from the rafters onto your head.
8. Wider concourses and seats keep you farther away from the filthy rabble known as Red Sox fans when the Sawx come to town.
7. Cup holders! (Decades after the rest of the sporting world got them.)
6. The Yankees will foot the bill for maintenance of the new stadium, a $35 million-a-year bill formerly covered by your hard-earned tax dollars.
5. No more waiting for the crowd’s reaction to know if a lazy fl y ball down the lines actually left the yard—you can see the whole fi eld from every seat in the house.
4. “Mystique” and “Aura” really are just dancers at a nightclub now (thank you, Curt Schilling), relieving players (cough, A-Rod, cough) of the burden of laboring beside the ghosts of Yankee Stadium past.
3. “The House That YES Built” may not have the same ring to it as “The House That Ruth Built,” but the threefold increase in private suites, a 59-by-101-foot HD scoreboard, and all the other luxuries $1.6 billion can buy should salve those wounds.
2. Drunken college students are now priced out of tier box seats behind home plate, so they’ll never again try to see if the protective netting can support their weight if they jump over the ledge.
1. But seriously... cup holders!
