Stadium notes: how suite it isn’t

Via The Biz of Baseball comes a story about new Yankee Stadium and the current national financial situation. Due to the slowing U.S. economy, the Yankees still have some unsold suites and have yet to wrap up their stadium sponsorship deal with the Bank of America.

The AP has more:

Seven luxury boxes down the foul lines priced at $600,000 remain available for the 2009 season, the first at the new Yankee Stadium. The team still had seven available in August, too.

“There’s no getting away from the fact that the world is different than it was, so traffic slows,” chief operating officer Lonn Trost said Tuesday. “So you don’t have 10 people banging on the door. You may only have two people.”

Trost said in August that 44 of 51 suites priced at $600,000 to $850,000 had been committed, and that the $650,000 and $850,000 suites had sold out.

Basically, it sounds like the big-ticket buyers — the ones who opt for the premium suites — have made the decision that the investment will cover itself. The Yankees are having trouble finding buyers for the mid-range suites that won’t take up primo real estate and would sell to mid-level firms. I’m sure when push comes to the shove, the suites at the new stadium will be at 100 percent occupancy in April.

The AP report has a few more tidbits about the new stadium:

• Construction is 12.5 days ahead of schedule. Even if New York has a particularly brutal winter, the new stadium will still be completed well in advance of Opening Day. So much for those early season rumors about the stadium’s being behind schedule.
• The new Metro-North stop will open in the middle of May.
• While Shea Stadium is mid-demolition, old Yankee Stadium won’t face the wrecking ball until next summer when the dismantling will be on full view for every fan to see. The Yankees have yet to announce their plans to sell off stadium memorabilia.
• Old Stadium tours have been extended through Nov. 23. At this point, Monument Park is gone, but you can still walk on the field, check out the press box and enjoy the view from the dugout. Registration is available here.