Yanks Purchase Rights to Yankee Stadium Memorabilia From City
New York City officials have reported agreed to a deal with the New York Yankees in which they will receive $11.5 million in exchange for the rights to sell off seats, signs and other Yankee Stadium Memorabilia salvaged from the Bronx Bombers' former MLB stompin
g grounds.
The New York Yankees have enlisted the help of sports memorabilia giant Steiner Collectibles to assist them in selling their abundance of Yankee Stadium Memorabilia. Among the items being sold through the Steiner label will be sod and dirt from the now defunct ballpark, as well as bricks from Monument Park.
"The city's agreement with the Yankees will generate much-needed revenue for the city and offer fans a chance to own some of the famed Yankee Stadium history," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement Monday.
The Mets sold seats from Shea Stadium at $869 per pair, and the Yankees were expected to charge substantially more. New York City's agreement with the Mets, provides them with 70 percent of the revenue generated from the sale of the memorabilia after factoring in sales costs. They claim to have earned $3.5 million from the sale of Shea Stadium memorabilia under this agreement.
New York City Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a constant critic of the Yankees, disapproved of the agreement, saying, "The value of the relics of Yankee Stadium is clearly much more than $11.5 million. After a yearlong delay which cost the people of the Bronx access to their parkland, the deal that has apparently been struck is again an economic victory for the Yankees and an economic defeat to the taxpayers. There is no dispute that the people of the City owned the old Yankee Stadium, and there is no reason to cap their economic gain at $11.5 million. We also believe an appraisal was required before the deal could be struck, and it is not clear that any such appraisal was done."
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