I had the privilege of attending the first ever game at Yankee Stadium II.

While it was just an exhibition game, it was very cool to be the first crowd through the gates of the 1.2 billion dollar baseball palace. Here are some thoughts:

1) The "Great Hall" as it is appropriately named is...great. Banners and screens filled with ex-players ranging from Reggie to Joe D. It really is the best entrance to a major league ball park.

2) The inside concourse of the stadium has the charm of a Starbucks bathroom. It has concrete and steel mixed with a periodic glowing concessions sign. It looks industrial and boring. There are no TVs. No audio. Nothing. It's like you are in baseball prison.

3) The food at Yankee Stadium is being greatly overshadowed by the line-up at CitiField. While I cannot speak to the quality of the CitiField Shack Shack yet, I can tell you that dog poop on an english muffin would be better than the garbage they are serving at Yankee Stadium. The hot dogs are tiny and steamed. The pretzels cold and dry. The burger without any toppings. The cheesesteak was fine but I did have to wait in line for 3 innings. In that same time frame, if I were at Wrigley Field I could have had two hot dogs, a slice of Connies, an old style, and resuscitated Woo Woo after he hyperventilated.

4) The site line are fine. Seats were comfy and spacious compared to the old park.

5) The jumbotron in center is insane. Its sick. Its legit. Its whatever the kids say these days. I have never seen anything look that good. My hunch would be that they spent over 400k on that thing. And so what if they did? It's like an HD airplane hanger.

In summary, it's fine. The stores are nice. The facilities cleaner. The entrance spectacular. But where did the 1.2 billion dollars go? No concourse TVs. No content filled displays. No timeline of Yankee lore. I am sure the Yankees will win many games in their new home but I will tell my children about the time I went to THE Yankee Stadium and not this overpriced imitation.