Since January of 2006 (according to a flurry of recently exposed emails), the City of New York has been stalking the Yankees organization like Alex from Fatal Attraction. Bloomberg’s administration wanted a commitment. They wanted a long-term relationship. They wanted the game AND dinner. They wanted a 12-person (not 8!) suite in left field.

And finally, they got what they wanted.

Here’s the sugar-coated statement from David Lombino, a member of the Gambino Crime Family a spokesman for the city’s Economic Development Corporation about the purpose of the suite:

“Securing the option to use a box at the stadium was one part of a much larger, comprehensive negotiation where we sought the best deal possible for the city,” he said. “Our goal was to make sure that New York had the same advantages as other cities, including the option to use a box, be it for staff outings, for public employees or for visiting dignitaries. The mayor’s office has indicated that no decision has been made as to whether or not it will exercise the option, but it exists for this and future administrations.”

But those damn Yankees are excellent negotiators. They are better than a lousy group of 2-term (or 3-term) City employees. You play with fire and you’re gonna get burned. And they took Bloomberg and his cronies (and, by association, the taxpayer) to the bonfire and threw them in.

Seriously, Bloomie, Hal & Co. repel Scott Boras on a regular basis and you think YOU can outsmart the organization? No chance.

The Yankees, for a suite that sells for $600,000 a year IN A GOOD MARKET, are getting 3 new billboards from the city on the Major Deegan where motorists spend hours luxuriating in the thrilling traffic patterns in the greater NY Metro area. Value? $750,000 per year. But that’s not all, the City also threw in 250 extra parking spaces (to make a grand total of 600) to secure the deal. Value? $820,000. And finally, if you buy now Mr. Bloomberg, you can also sign off on the tax-exempt bonds which will cost the City $100,000 annually in lost revenue.

Again, the suite should sell for $600,000, but it’s now going for an estimated $1.6 Million a year.

SUCKERS!

Hey…this sounds familiar. Do I smell a bailout?

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 11:01 pm and is filed under Fantoo Blog Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.