Cost of new Yankee Stadium up to $1.3B

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-newyankeestadium&prov=ap&type=lgns

Party suites, martini bar: Cost of new Yankee Stadium up to $1.3B
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
February 8, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) -- The granite and limestone exterior is designed to evoke the original 1923 Yankee Stadium, before it was remade in the 1970s.

But the new stadium's interior will offer amenities unheard of in Babe Ruth's day -- or in Reggie Jackson's.

Scheduled to welcome fans on opening day 2009, the new stadium will have party suites, a members-only restaurant, a martini bar and a price tag to match all the luxury -- $1.3 billion, up from a $1 billion estimate last year, the Yankees said Thursday.

"We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle," said Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost, who hosted a media tour of the new stadium.

The new ballpark is being built directly across the street from the old House that Ruth Built in the Bronx. For now, the stadium is a welter of cranes and construction trailers, with hard-hatted workers instead of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez patrolling the infield.

The field's dimensions will be the same as at the old ballpark, which will be partially demolished. But the 58-by-103-foot center field television screen will be six times the size of the current stadium's video screen.

Inside, there will be such features as a conference center with video conferencing, so a corporate group could have a daylong meeting and then stay for a ballgame, Trost said.

A concierge will be available to procure theater tickets or restaurant reservations. There will be 51 luxury suites, two large outdoor suites and eight party suites with seating for up to 410 people in total.

Trost said the cost overruns included $150 million in such enhancements as the giant video screen, $138 million in food and beverage costs not included in the original estimate and $50 million from delays due to a lawsuit by community groups that sought to halt construction of the stadium.

The groups sued because two city parks were razed to make way for the new stadium. The Yankees have said the lost parkland would be replaced at the site of the old stadium and elsewhere in the Bronx.

Asked whether the Yankees had been securing additional financing, Trost said, "We will be."