November 20, 2008
Baseball tunes of the past don't sing as fluidly when updated to the high-tech present, but the New York Yankees are in the process of doing exactly that— changing the tune and high tech tone of the stadium experience for Yankee fans for the 2009 season.
Cisco Systems, the high-tech behemoth, has partnered with the Yankees organization, also known as the most expensive franchise in American sports, and wired the new Yankee Stadium with the latest informational and video-enhancing wizardry that is sure to make waves across the spectrum of 21st century stadium planning, design, and construction for many years to come.
The new Yankee Stadium will boast an astonishing array of newly acquired technologies, including the ability to program 1,100 high-definition TV monitors with live game coverage, statistics, highlight video, promotional messages, and weather and traffic updates which will be broadcasted to virtually every imaginable niche of the new ballpark. Luxury and party suites will be outfitted with special touch-screen phones, enabling company-sponsored attendees and well-off fans to order food and merchandise without ever leaving their seats. Each player will also have a computer installed at his locker that will be fully linked to Cisco's video-conferencing technology installed in the new stadium's business conference center. Although some elements and features of the new high-tech system will take some time to go operational, Cisco claims that the driving force behind the implementation and integration of these technologies at the new Yankee Stadium is their desire to elevate the fan experience.
One fan, who we'll call Joe the Fan because he wishes to remain anonymous, voiced his vehement disagreement with these changes: "The smell of hot dogs and cheap beer will be replaced with a DVR / TiVo mentality. The Yankees might as well partner with major pharmaceutical companies to prescribe drugs at the gate that will enhance the fan experience!"
It is apparent that Joe the Fan here is not the alone in his criticism of a high tech experience at the new Yankee Stadium. Many Yankees fans in fact have responded harshly to the announcement regarding the high-tech wizardry of the new Yankee stadium, complaining that they don't go out to the ballpark to watch the game on a flat-screen TV. Others have expressed concern that the employment of such technologies will make already prohibitively expensive tickets even more expensive, and have suggested that the ultimate goal of the $15 million cooperative venture between Cisco Systems and the New York Yankees organization is to not just to elevate the fan experience, but to elevate the price of attending games in the brave new world of their Yankee baseball future.
In recessionary times Joe the Fan's response reveals a deep-rooted concern that the game experience is being fundamentally changed for the worse. Joe thinks he knows what Yankees ownership has in store for Yankee baseball fans these days: "The Yankees ownership is sticking it to average guys like me. We're asking the baseball higher ups to mellow out, let us watch and cheer like always, while ownership is basically saying that in the future, along with this TiVo mentality, we're supposed to drink champagne instead of beer, eat crepes instead of hot dogs. That's not baseball, that's boardroom."
Photo Credit: NYC.com, All Rights Reserved ©2008
Tags:
2009 season, cisco systems, flat screen tvs, high tech, new yankee stadium
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Posted on 11/20/2008
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