Business of Baseball: Yankees President Randy Levine on Happy Hour

When the gang from Fox Business invited me up to the Bronx to check out the new Yankee Stadium and be a fly on the wall during a live taping of Happy Hour, I jumped at the chance.  This was my first time at the new stadium, and while the Mets‘ new Citi Field is great (although a bit too Dodgery), the Yanks have truly built something incredible.

Before heading up to the Fox Business luxury suite, where I put on a chicken finger-eating clinic, the taping of the show took place at the stadium-adjacent Hard Rock Cafe.

I was blown away by the ability of the Happy Hour crew to move into a crowded space like this (way more raucous than the traditional set at the Waldorf’s Bull & Bear Bar) and put on the show without a hitch.  The camera operators, producers and sound people were literally dodging mohawked-waiters carrying trays laden with wings and beers to satiate the pre-game appetites of the Yankee Faithful.  Eric, Cody and Rebecca went on with the show unfazed by the teeming crowds of fans and spectators behind them.

My favorite segment from the show was the interview with Yankees President Randy Levine.  You would have thought that they would’ve gone easy on him in light of the fact that they were taping basically from his house.  Not so, as Cody & Co asked extremely pointed questions about the pricing structure for tickets, the absurdity of charging $2500 a seat in these times and the fact that Goldman Sachs has it’s paws all over the stadium and it’s financing.

Randy held his own. The interview is below:

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I want thank intrepid Fox Business operatives Jessica and Caley for having me at the event.  Be sure to check out Happy Hour weekdays on the Fox Business Channel at 5pm eastern.