In the eve of Opening Day 2009, it's fitting that we should talk about the new baseball facilities that will be unveiled this season.
Seventeen years after the opening of Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards triggered the era of throwback baseball stadiums, the next generation arrives here this weekend.
The new Yankee Stadium and the Mets' Citi Field, costing a combined $2.3 billion, open the gates for exhibition games Friday and Saturday, ushering a new level of luxury to the nation's pastime.
Construction costs were assumed by the two teams, but the projects — discussed for a decade and officially unveiled in mid-2005 — were aided by several hundred million dollars in public financing, tax breaks and infrastructure improvements. That made the deals controversial in a city struggling to fund schools and mass transit amid the recession.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-04-02-baseball-palaces_N.htm
