"New Yankee Stadium destined to be a cash cow" Globe and Mail 9/24/8

Click the title to read the entire article. Here's an excerpt:

Think about this: Bank of America, one of the few remaining entities in the People's Republic of Wall Street, has reportedly agreed to pay $20-million a year over multiple seasons for naming rights to … well, something. See, the Yankees won't sell naming rights to Yankee Stadium. They're going to sell naming rights to different parts of the stadium, such as gates. You know: “Hey, let's meet outside the Bank of America gate.” Or, “Let's get tickets in the Bank of America bleachers.” You get the picture. They're talking about sponsoring each entry gate at the ballpark. That's right: each stinking gate.

There's a cottage industry in baseball right now guessing about the ultimate impact of the new Yankee Stadium on revenue. The Yankees will be allowed to amortize their stadium-financing costs over 40 years, under terms of baseball's collective agreement, which will skim just slightly less than $8-million off the amount they'll pass along in luxury-tax payments – or about 8 per cent of the Blue Jays' payroll. If you want to look at it in a cock-eyed way, lessening the amount of money the Yankees will be required to throw into revenue-sharing means other teams are subsidizing the new ballpark. Nice.

In a 2006 bond prospectus prepared in conjunction with New York City's Industrial Development Agency, the Yankees estimated a new stadium will generate at least $250-million from ticket and luxury-suite revenues, compared to less than $200-million in the old park. The team could net $30-million annually on concessions. Those figures are acknowledged to be conservative...