“A tuft for the windowsill? A pallet for the backyard?” wonders the New York Times’ John Branch, unveiling the latest product to bear the Bombers’ trademark.
œIt™s just capitalizing on what we have and what we™ve done, said Rick DeLea, vice president of DeLea Sod Farms, which his grandfather founded in 1928 and has supplied turf for Yankee Stadium since the 1960s.
On a recent morning, Mr. DeLea swept his hand across a portion of the 80 acres of Yankees Sod on a vast hillside in South Jersey. Last fall, some of the secret blend of bluegrass was peeled in broad strips, hauled north on trucks and laid inside the new Yankee Stadium. But most of it was still here, greening under a late-winter sun.
œIt™s going to be one of those ˜Why didn™t I think of that?™ stories, said David Andres, the energetic and entrepreneurial man who came up with the idea of selling sod and grass to fans.
Mr. Andres, a self-described œsell ice to Eskimos kind of guy, took the idea of licensing the product to the Yankees and Major League Baseball. He received the requisite stamps of approval and started a company called Stadium Associates to market Yankees Sod and Yankees Grass Seed.
It makes one wonder if other licensed permutations will follow ” Cubs Ivy or Daytona Asphalt or Cameron Indoor Hardwood Floors, using the same vine, road mix or batch of trees as the sports arenas.