I'm a red sox fan, but since I live in NYC I have been to the new Yankee stadium twice this summer. I have never seen a more grotesque monument to consumerism and gluttony - it made me sick. And I didn't even see this $10 hot chocolate.

NOT TO MENTION the fact that they sell bleacher seats with an obstructed view of the opposite field (without noting it on the ticket). The stadium, designed in the 21st century with modern technology and hundreds of millions of dollars at its disposal, intentionally created obstructed view seats.

@sammy_b:

That, and the fact that they can't sell out all of the seats directly behind home plate in the post season is rather embarassing.

@sammy_b: It's that way at both stadia and it's tragic. I'm a Mets fan and when I went to Citifield, for the first time in my life, I actually missed Shea. Even in its decrepit state, Shea was still a Mets stadium. Citi is this bizarre product of corporate representation and one team desperately trying to co-opt the history of another. My family's been in NYC since before the Dodgers were at their peak in the 1950s. Dear NY Mets, You ARE NOT THE BROOKLYN DODGERS.

Sorry to go off-topic. I know, I know, they are already hurting from a season where they ended, at best, a AAA team...

Has anyone out there been a vendor at a ballpark? I've always wondered what the pecking order is for what you sell, assuming there is one. I assume the beer guys are at the top, probably followed by soda and hotdog vendors.

But the hot chocolate guys have to be down to be pretty far, considering most of the season is played in the heat and humidity of the summer. Well, game six is their big night! That is, unless they get bumped down to ice cream for the evening by those with more seniority...

I'm a Sox fan, but I'm not generally anti-Yankees. I'm just happy they lost last night because I talked a LOT of shit going into the post-season. I really should know better than that...

I went to the Yankees Red Sox game a few weeks ago and I brought along a bag of nuts, power bars and bottled water spread out amongst us to avoid the $5.00 bottled water(criminal), $10 beer and $4.50 pretzels. Forget the burgers, sliders and cheeze fries, I'm not that hungry.

P.S. Buy pretzels from the guys outside the stadium, they're only $2.00, a real bargain.

@rorschachex: I was at Citi Field five or six times this year and I was ambivalent about it until i went to Yankee's stadium - comparatively, Citi is gorgeous, historic (in a new way), family friendly and much more self aware (if that makes any sense).

I agree with your point about the dodgers, especially since the STILL EXIST, but honoring Jackie Robinson the way that they do I think is a nice way of honoring how far baseball has come in general.

@wgrune:

That is why they have the upgrade contest for fans, because it's embarassing for TV fans to see so many empty seats that the team thought Wall Street execs. would pay obscene amounts for.

@Blueskylaw: I've been to YS twice - once by myself and once on an expense account. Can you guess which time I had a blast, drank beer after beer, ate hotdogs and garlic fries? haha its always a lot more fun when someone else is paying.

@sammy_b: I live in Boston so I generally spend my time at Fenway, but I'm from the New York area and still consider myself a Yankees fan so I went to the new stadium this summer.

Baseball is not supposed to be this consumerism paradise! Walking into that park is like walking into a very expensive casino. There's a huge variety of food - if you still to a hot dog, water and an ice cream it's $10-12 which is pretty normal for a ballpark, but there's also all sorts of fancy food and special cups to draw you. What bothered me the most was the corporate invasion - there's the Citibank lounge, the Polaroid tv screen, the Goldman stairs...you get the picture. Even though I'm a Yankees fan, I think I would see them at an away game at an older stadium or best yet, see them at Fenway Park (if I had a million bucks) before going back.

@lmarconi: fair enough, but I definitely find Yankee stadium to be much MUCH more of a consumerism parade than Citi.

I also went to Camden Yards for the first time this past summer - you can bring food INTO the stadium! brilliant! Even though the O's are one of the worst teams in baseball I really enjoyed how kind and welcoming their home field was.

I ran into a Yankees fan yesterday, he kept shouting at me, "Yeah, I want to see you Phillies in the Series. Y'all aint pulling that sh*t on us! 11 runs! The Dodgers suck!" I said yeah, we'll beat you in 5 games anyway!

I was at the game Friday night--when the $10 hot cocoa guy came into our section (and I imagine others), he was booed out of it.

File this under "as shocking as finding out models do coke." You need not go any farther than two minutes from your own house and pay $8 for twizzlers at the movie theater.

And FYI, you are paying for the collector's cup. A regular hot chocolate at the game is $4. I know because I had about eight of them over the course of the two games last weekend. And they were pretty good -unlike Fedex Field where they hand you a cup of hot water and a powder pack of mix.

Please tell me you have better articles to write than taking about overpriced venue food and drink . . . trite people, very trite.

Here's the thing about overpriced sporting events and overpriced amenities sold at them: The teams charge exorbitant prices, because sports fans generally are willing to pay exorbitant prices for them.

It really boils down to exactly that.

All the sports writers in the world can run all the stories they can find room for, to complain about the exorbitant pricing. And they are not wrong to do so ... because the pricing IS, after all, exorbitant.

But really, until fans stop paying these outrageous prices, teams WILL NOT stop doing so. Sports fans who have more money than brains, and are so fanatic about their teams, that they will pay ANYTHING to get that seat — or that special souvenir, drink, whatever — have created this monster. Only they can kill it by closing their wallets and saying, "No more."

As for this year's World Series ... I'm pulling for the Dodgers to play the Yankees, and for Joe Torre to beat the team that drove him out of New York for no rational reason. I'm no Yankees fan, but I know mistreatment when I see it, and Torre definitely was mistreated by the pathological Steinbrenner family. Granted, I don't think this scenario will come to pass ... but one can always hope.

@katstermonster: Then you are not a real Sox fan, are you?

@sammy_b: It kills me that any stadium these days has obstructed views.

@sammy_b: I don't think the welcoming nature is in spite of the O's record, I think it's because of it. They have a hard enough time filling the seats even with their fan-friendly policies; imagine how many empty seats they'd have if they forced you to buy $8 hot dogs and $6 bottled water.

@bloggerX: Predicting a Yanks World Series loss in 5 games? Benny Agbayani would like to have a word with you...

Frugal consumer hint: AAA Ball - see the stars before anyone else - buy a season ticket for the price of one MLB game.

@PsiCop:

If I'm so willing to pay exorbitant prices, why won't they let me leave the stadium during the game and let me back in with my ticket? Because they know I will go and chow down on the cheap and avoid their usurious profit margin.

Sports reduces grown men to the equivalent of teenagers and middle aged moms talking about Twilight.

Mr. Pi was pacing last night as he watched the baseball game. I'm not entirely sure who was playing, but at the end of it, he jumped up and down in excitement. He doesn't have real allegiance to any of the teams who are in the race, but he loves baseball.

I can't bring myself to spend $60 on a sporting event. Now that there are two of us, it's automatically $120. Since we don't go to live sports or concerts (damn you Ticketmaster) often, it's not such a big deal if once every few years we splurge. We just spent about $120 for hockey tickets.

@j-o-h-n: Plus they're way more fun. I <3 minor league baseball.

@PsiCop: Judging by the amount of empty seats in the stadium, despite the fact that the Yankees have quite a fanbase, it seems that sports fans actually aren't willing to pay the amped up prices.

@Blueskylaw:

They're mainly concerned about ticket sharing. Yankee Stadium lets you bring in outside food, no problem. No outside alcohol, though.

Screw the Yankees. I have the 15 game pack for the Mets (yeah, I know so don't even go there) and Citi Field has no problem letting the fans bring in all their own food and snacks so we bring in drinks and sandwiches and snacks as it's in plastic bottles. No cans or glass allowed.

I'm sure the Yankees are on a tight budget, but $10 for hot chocolate! Really?!?!? It is hot water, a little cocoa mix and a styrofoam cup. I know the vendor has to make some money, but $10?

This is one of the first signs of the apocalypse.

@lmarconi: to be fair, ballparks have always bombarded spectators with ads - not so much for their eyes, but for those watching at home.

what aggravates me is that you can't afford to take the family to a game anymore. when i was a kid, my whole family went to a phillies game at vet's stadium (& got socks even!) - sat right behind the 3rd base dugout. got my autographs during warm-up, high-fived the phanatic, ate my way thru 9 innings.

what father can afford to take his family to that experience today?

it's gonna kill all pro sports eventually. price fans out of the game & eventually they'll find something else to entertain them.

@sammy_b: I like the tag "Damn Yankees". Says it all.

The Chairman of the League lost out to a buncha Lotus Eaters off the coast?
Oh, the horror, the humiliation.

Of course, a real Yankees fan would have seen the price, grabbed their crotch, shaken vigorously and yelled, "I got your inaugural season souvenir riiiight HERE!"

You know, Consumerist, OG-style.

I hate baseball even more today than I did yesterday. It screwed up my DVR recording of House : /

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: Is that what happened?! We noticed around 9 that the channel listing said "Lie to Me" when clearly, House was still on. We compensated by telling the DVR to record the 11 pm newscast.

@pecan 3.14159265: 10 pm newscast.

@pecan 3.14159265: Yep.. apparently the game went long (11th Inning?!??!) and they just started House as soon as it was over.

I didn't know this until it was too late, because I like to watch House after it's fully recorded so I can skip the ads, and by that time Mr. Aroo is done gaming so he can watch it with me. He sat by me and I pushed play and it was baseball >: /

Now I don't know if I'll be able to catch the missing episode somewhere or another.

@AllanG54:

Yankee Stadium's the same way - you can bring in as much food and as many (non-alcoholic) drinks as you want.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars:

It's on Hulu, will be up a week from today (8-day delay).

This is the reason spring training is so nice. Here in Arizona we can choose from so many teams to go watch in the spring. It's cheap (like it should be for a ticket), it's more like it was back in the old days, foods cheaper, more laid back. Just more fun in general. I think all of the pro sports have gotten out of control though. With 50-60 million dollar payrolls they do whatever they can to pay the players. If players were capped at even 3-400 thousand we could actually enjoy games again!!

@eirrom: Don't forget to tip your vendor.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: @NeverLetMeDown: Yep. Just make sure the DVR gets next week's episode correctly so that you can watch it right after you watch this week's episode on Hulu. And then you'll be caught up.

@pecan 3.14159265: @NeverLetMeDown: Grrr!! 8 Days??! That means I can't even watch the new one on Monday either. Friggin baseball.

Is this baseball thing going to keep happening? Comcast DVR doesn't compensate unless they change the guide.

Fenway is such a nice ballpark, it is a shame such a mediocre team as the Dead Sox play there.

As too Yankee Stadium, I, like most Yankee fans, like the new stadium. Didn't think we would, but we do. As too the high concession prices, overall, they don't seem to be any better or worse than many other major sporting events.

Ticket prices for all major market sporting events are out of control, whether it be Baseball, Football, or Basketball. I can't speak to other sports, but one of the problem with the Yankees is that there are too many seats sold to season ticket holders who purchased them with the sole intention of re-selling for a profit. Most Yankee tickets are reasonably priced at the boxoffice, but not enough are available on the day of the game so that anyone would notice.

@NeverLetMeDown:

How is ticket sharing a concern?
Who cares if I leave the stadium and my friend takes my spot for a while?
Only one person can sit in that seat with that ticket.

@katstermonster: I was also one of those "shit-talkers" you speak of.

@Kimaroo - No Stars Upon Thars: I think you'll survive.

@mbd: Yes, such a mediocre team. Are you serious?
Oh wait; you're a Yankee fan, never mind.

@mbd: Also; how dare you get me so worked up on the Consumerist? When did this turn into a Deadspin pissing contest?

@mac-phisto: But at the same time, the day I went was a rainy day and they weren't playing all that great of a team and yet it seems the stands at Yankee Stadium were pretty filled. I went with one other person, but there's got to be some families that are still going. And don't forget that they make a lot of their money from corporations and groups that buy boxes or groups of tickets for a number of games or the whole season.

@sammy_b: I wasn't referring to Citi field, I was referring the the different lounges at the new Yankee stadium that are sponsored by corporations, including citi. That's not advertisers paying for consumers to see their name on TV, that's sponsors paying for people to see their name on their ticket and at the stadium, which is a little more insidious.

ha. the richest team for the richest people, all the while, everyone else hates the yankees. Me included. What the hell do you expect when you spend that much money on talent? a bad team? doesn't make it fair. GO ANGELS!!

@mbd: You're right, a lot of it is because of speculators. Aren't they wonderful? They've given us just about every commodity bubble known ... famously with Tuilp Mania, and more recently with the dot-com bubble, the housing bubble, and the petroleum bubble. Let's hear it for speculators ... they crank up the price of things but add no discernible benefit in return for that added cost. Way to go, folks!