How Will YES Deal With Those Empty Seats?

In this article by Bob Raissman, he shares this story about how Red Barber lost his job with Yankees.

It was September 22, 1966, and the Yankees were playing the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium. The paid attendance for the game was a grand total of 413. During the game Barber made this mistake:

He instructed the director of the telecast to have PIX's cameras pan the empty Stadium. "I don't know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium," Barber reported. "And this crowd is the story, not the game."

That got him fired.

Raissman then goes on to ask how the YES Network might deal with an attendance problem of their own. What will they do if all those expesive lower level seats aren't sold.

All this is not to suggest games in the new Yankee Stadium will ever be that sparsely attended, but it certainly looks like some locations "downstairs" may not be totally occupied.

What would patches of emptiness mean in terms of how the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network covers the games? Would the Bombers' inability to sell out their new palace be bad for the organization's image and brand?

If the answer to the second question is yes, will it be in YES' and the Yankees' best interests to shade reality? Maybe so, but it would be nearly impossible to do.

Even on YES.

"Well, you never know where the baseball is going, so it's not like you can hide any sections of empty seats," said a baseball TV director who works for an out-of-market team. "On the other hand, there are ways to shoot around the holes (empty sections) when the ball isn't in play."

If there is a section, or sections, of empty seats, Yankees brass are not likely to invite fans in "cheap" seats to "come on down" just for cosmetic affect. A move like that would infuriate fans who shelled out $2,000 to purchase a ticket to a Yankee game.

It would not be surprising if the Al Yankzeera voices already have been briefed on this matter. Who knows, maybe audio of the Ol' Redhead's report has been offered as an example of what not to do. And his ultimate fate offered up as an example of what can happen if you decide to play it straight.

So, outside of the usual report on the daily paid attendance, it's not likely you will hear any Al Yank mouths commenting on the price of tickets. Or analyzing why certain locations are empty. But if the seats are filled, you will hear plenty about how powerful an attraction the Bombers are - even in a bad economy.

And if those seats are not sold, expect plenty of commercial interludes designed to entice you to purchase a seat at the "beautiful" new ballpark.

This could work out great for YES voices. They might even receive commissions on any seats they sell.

If you're a Yankee fan, it doesn't really matter if there aren't enough rich people to fill those insanely expensive seats. You're still going to watch the games. So I don't think this is a real issue for YES. Their ratings aren't going to be effected by a few empty seats.

With that said, people like Randy Levine, Lonn Trost, and maybe even the Steinbrenner's will probably do everything in their power to have YES avoid showing these kinds of images. Mainly because it would make them look bad. Sadly for them I I don't think there's much that YES could do. Maybe cut out on the wide angle shots.