The Yankees sold an average of 45,000 tickets in each of the first 35 games in the Major League Baseball season, leaving the team on pace to sell 3.6 million this year, down from a record 4.3 million in 2008, Moody's said. The Yankees projected generating $331.5 million in stadium revenue this season, based on an expected attendance of 3 million.

Moody's assigned a Baa3 rating to $111.9 million in rental revenue bonds that the New York City Industrial Development Agency is selling on the team's behalf to refinance a bank loan, along with the rest of $1.34 billion in bonds paying for the stadium.

“Revenues generated by ticket sales and suite-license fees are expected to be robust through the term of the financing,” the report said, adding that the team is projected to take in about 4.8 times the amount needed to make its payments now and 14 times the amount needed by 2049. “Therefore, if the Yankees are sill playing in the new stadium, it seems unlikely that Yankees Stadium LLC will be unable to cover the debt service.”

Alice McGillion, a Yankees spokeswoman, didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Price Cuts

The 52,325-seat ballpark opened this season. In April, the Yankees cut season-ticket prices for some premium seats by up to 50 percent and offered refunds and free tickets to some fans who had purchased seats for as much as $2,500 a game. The decision came about three weeks after Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner said a small number of seats were overpriced in current economic conditions. Blocks of premium seats in the ballpark's choicest locations were empty during the team's first homestand.

Revenue from premium seats accounts for about 40 percent of the money pledged to paying debt service, the report said.

“The share of projected revenues that is dependent on luxury suites could be a credit weakness in the current economic environment,” the report said. “However, Moody's understands that only seven of the suites that were available are unsold as of June 2009.”

The stadium has a total of 47 luxury suites.