On his HBO show on Sunday, John Oliver did a segment about the Yankees’ controversial new ticket policy, and especially homed in on comments made by the team’s COO, Lonn Trost, who earlier this year explained that premium-ticket holders don’t like it when someone buys a nearby seat for less money. Explained Trost: “And quite frankly, the fan may be someone who has never sat in a premium location.” Recognizing that Trost was basically saying that the team didn’t want normals infiltrating the team’s exclusive seating areas, Oliver’s show bought a pair of tickets to the first three Yankees home games, and offered to sell them for 25 cents each to fans who used the hashtag #IHaveNeverSatInAPremiumLocation and tweeted an image of what they’d wear to the game.
Well, the Yankees played their (chilly) opening game earlier today, and Oliver’s first contest winners were clearly visible behind home plate — wearing Ninja Turtle costumes.
According to Newsday, the winners were John Welch and Joe Spilo of Yorktown.
In a statement yesterday, Yankees president Randy Levine said that “Everyone is welcome at Yankee Stadium. And I thank John Oliver for buying Yankees tickets.”
There are still two more games left in the Yanks’ series against the Astros, by the way, which means two more chances to see fans gloriously out of place behind home plate, thanks to Oliver.
