Yankees fans are begging: Stop the ‘incessant’ stadium sounds

As Jamie Schneider and his family settled into their lower-level seats at Yankee Stadium on April 4, they hoped for a change. Maybe, the 22-year-old wishfully thought, the “incessant, annoying, droning noise” that the Yankees began pumping into the building midway through the 2024 season would die down in 2026.

“I was really hoping that this year was going to be different,” Schneider said, but he didn’t make it through the first inning before realizing that the noise pollution was “exactly the same.”

“It was like every single pitch had some stupid sound effect,” he said. “It was just so obnoxious.”

Other fans who recently attended games shared similar sentiments with the Daily News..

“It’s just too much,” Mads DeStefano, 19, said.

“Just let the moment breathe,” Freddie Martin, also 19, pleaded.

“They’ve turned it into a nightclub,” Max Mannis, a disapproving 24-year-old, added.

Plenty of other fans have voiced their frustrations with the Yankees’ infusion of synthetic sounds, which are blasted from a thunderous sound system and include rapid-fire song clips, horns, buzzers, the two-strike Star Wars siren — YES Network analyst David Cone calls that one a pregnant whale — demands to “Make Some Noise” and, on some nights, an actual DJ. And while such discord is hardly exclusive to the Bombers — who also lean heavily on an in-house organist — the topic as it pertains to Yankee Stadium has trended on social media a few times. It’s been a subject on local sports talk radio, too.

The comments are rarely complimentary.

However, Jason Zillo, the Yankees’ vice president of communications and media relations, said that Yankee Stadium’s never-ending soundtrack is part of a “concerted effort to increase the tempo and pace” during a game’s quiet moments in hopes of creating “an arena atmosphere” akin to an NBA game. That effort is part of a broader reimagining of the Yankees’ in-game entertainment programming, which has also featured more light shows since 2024.

“Clearly, there’s a lot more going on in between pitches, which is by design,” continued the spokesman, who said that the ballpark’s volume hasn’t increased in recent years. “The stadium experience is constantly evolving and changing, and it’s important to evolve with it.”

Zillo said that prior to midway through the 2024 season, groups of Yankees personnel involved with in-game entertainment visited other MLB ballparks to survey game-day atmospheres.

Those trips, as well as a few other factors, have influenced the Yankees’ recent direction.

That includes player approval. Zillo said “a lot” of pinstripers were “interested in having more of an upbeat, consistent, musical atmosphere.” But all the soundbites — the quick, random noises that seem to irritate fans the most — don’t always get noticed by players. Things aren’t as loud on the field as they are in the stands.

“Walking up to the plate sometimes, they have the volume so low,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Backup catcher J.C. Escarra, meanwhile, said he hears everything from the dugout, but “he’s so concentrated that it actually feels like silence” when he’s behind the plate.

Cody Bellinger also said that he doesn’t hear everything, but he appreciates an influx of music during games. Aaron Judge, known to signal music requests to stadium operators from the field during batting practice, and Aaron Boone have also said that they like when the Bronx is booming.

“I’ve been asking for it since the day I got here,” Judge said. “I go to other stadiums, and they do a better job of getting the crowd into it, pumping up their players. Players ask for music, they play the music. There were quite a few years they just didn’t do that here. We’ve got a job to do, and if there’s any little thing we can do to help motivate our guys in this room, or just create a better atmosphere, it’s all about putting pressure on the other team. But if we play no music, don’t do nothing, the crowd’s not into it. That’s not really an intimidating place to come into.”

However, Judge gets why fans aren’t crazy about Yankee Stadium’s constant cacophony and blaring volume. The captain has thought of a solution, but the Yankees have yet to execute his vision.

“I’ve asked for new speakers, to put the speakers in a different spot, change the speakers — do something — and they continue to just turn it up on the fans,” Judge said. “If I was a fan, I wouldn’t like it, too. But as players, we’re all sitting here and still can’t hear the music.”

Clearly, Yankees players want more noise. That didn’t change the opinions of fans, though.

“It’s great that the players like it,” DeStefano said, “but I think that the fan experience should take priority in this case.”

“If you play well on the field, I will make noise, I promise you,” Mannis chimed in. “You don’t need to make it artificial and you don’t need to ask me for it.”

Zillo also said that an attempt to appeal to younger fans has inspired the inescapable soundscape that Yankee Stadium has become.

But most of the fans who spoke to The News fell into that target demographic. Not only have they had enough, but they also feel like the Yankees aren’t prioritizing patrons who truly love baseball.

“People my age get annoyed by stuff like that. You don’t need to pander to what you think a generation wants,” Schneider advised. “If you want to base your decision completely on the fan experience for the person who won’t be coming back, for the person who doesn’t care about baseball, doesn’t care about the Yankees, then you might as well lean all the way into that. But I really do think if you care about the real fans, the people who come back…. then I think you should let us enjoy baseball.”

“I don’t know if ‘casuals’ is the right word, but it feels like they’re targeting people who aren’t necessarily baseball fans,” Mannis said. “It’s getting to the point where it’s like the people who give them the most money, the people who are their strongest repeat customers, the people who are going to a dozen-plus games a year, are saying, ‘This is negatively impacting the viewing experience for me.'”

Speaking of viewing experiences, Yankee Stadium’s acoustics have also impacted television broadcasts, as the venue’s racket can be heard at home. The same goes for radio transmissions.

“It’s f—ing horrendous. As a Yankee fan, I grew up with Eddie Layton and the organ,” said one older fan, who preferred to remain anonymous.

“[My mom] was watching the game on YES,” Martin added, “and she even said hearing the decibel level through the screen was kind of obnoxious.”

While Zillo understood some of the complaints expressed by fans, he said that not everyone is going to agree on what Yankee Stadium should sound like. What some find grating, he’s come to hear as an “eclectic” combination, which he feels “represents New York.”

“Look, you’re gonna have 40-something-thousand people in here at all times, and they’re all going to have differing opinions on what is too much, what isn’t enough, what type of music we’re playing,” Zillo said. “Some people would prefer quiet. Some people would prefer more entertainment beyond just what’s happening on the field and in between pitches.

“I think we’re taking into account everyone who’s here.”

Some diehards beg to differ, though.

“This has just been bothering me so much,” Schneider said, “and it really hinders the experience of Yankee Stadium for me.”