[And not just working people. The Yankees are building a new stadium, and a prime impetus seems to be that the old stadium has only 18 "fairly spartan" suites, whereas the new one will have 57 "luxury" suites. Also, the "premium" seats in the new stadium will be "wider, more thickly cushioned" than what's currently available -- no doubt because people overall are wider and more thickly cushioned than they were decades ago.]
September 29, 2007 Yankee Suites for the Ogling By CHARLES V. BAGLI
The Yankees are taking a page from the playbook of upscale apartment builders.
The team recently signed a lease at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, for a showroom of luxury suites for the new 51,000-seat stadium under construction in the Bronx, just north of the team's current home.
When the showroom opens in January, potential buyers will be able to walk into a series of plush models of the 57 suites. Shoppers who visit the display, on the 32nd floor, will also be able to test the wider, more thickly cushioned premium seats that will also go on sale when the stadium opens, presumably for the 2009 season.
Those 5,000 to 10,000 premium seats, naturally, will have the some of the best views of the field.
Anyone who wants to know what a regular seat will be like is going to have to wait.
The 18 suites at the current stadium, as well as the boxes at Madison Square Garden, Shea Stadium and Giants Stadium in New Jersey, are considered fairly spartan compared with the operations at other new stadiums and arenas across the country. The suites at Yankee Stadium sell for roughly $265,000, with a few running as high as $350,000. Team officials said they had not yet priced the seats and suites in the new stadium, but there is little doubt that the numbers are headed skyward. ...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/29/nyregion/29yanks.html>
Carl