If they build it

Obviously the economy is having a huge impact on the sports world.

Both the Yankees and the Mets opened luxury stadiums earlier this month. Both teams saw big crowds for the first few games but an interesting thing is happening. When all the hoopla was over the highest priced seats and many of the suites were empty! I wonder if some bond holders are worried they might get stiffed! Wonder if the Mets and Yanks will be looking for bailouts?

Another sign is Corning pulling its sponsorship from their LPGA Event. The Corning stop was the oldest on the women's tour. The May tournament will be celebrating its 31st year this year. Too many companies are getting a lot of bad publicity for sponsoring lavish sporting events in the wake of layoffs. Corning recently laid off 35 hundred workers and says it lost about half a million dollars last year hosting the tournament.

Reports out of New York are tickets are still available for the U-S Open in mid June at Bethpage Black. U-S Open tickets are among the toughest buys every year. However I checked out Stub Hub recently and you could get tickets for 1 day starting at around 70 bucks and a full tournament ticket--including practice rounds and a playoff if needed--for like $400. Not bad since in 2002 you couldn't get near the grounds for under 500 for a single day pass! Big change.