The Boston Red Sox previewed improvements to Fenway Park on Wednesday morning ahead of this week's home opener.
Since 2002, the Red Sox have invested over $400 million in the preservation and improvement of Fenway Park. Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Gilulua were joined by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at an event Wednesday to preview the offseason improvements to the ballpark.
"We're really, really excited," Gilullua said. "We think this is consistent with our approach to improve the fan experience here at Fenway."
The Red Sox are scheduled to face the Minnesota Twins at 2:10 p.m. Friday in their home opener.
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Here's a quick overview of some of this year's Fenway upgrades:
The Truly Terrace
The Truly Terrace is a newly constructed 8,800-square-foot open-air concourse space located at the back of Bleachers Sections 39, 41, 42 and 43. The area includes a new row of barstool seating directly behind the Bleacher seats, new standing room areas with drink rails, and new restrooms.
The Truly Terrace will also feature new food and beverage stands including: a large, 360-degree island bar that will offer local craft favorites and a variety of flavors of Truly; a grab-and-go drink market that will have the most diverse set of beverage offerings in the ballpark; a visual recognition and AI smart self-checkout system; and a new “Truly Takeout” food stand with specialty items that will utilize self-order kiosks and pick-up windows to help speed up checkout.
The NESN Studio at Fenway Park
Located within the Truly Terrace behind Bleachers Section 39, a newly constructed NESN Studio at Fenway Park will be NESN’s new broadcast home for their pre- and post-game shows during Red Sox home games.
The 20-by-24-foot studio space, which includes a signature mural wall consisting of nearly 2,000 baseballs and 60 wooden bats, will replace NESN’s temporary stage located on Jersey Street and feature the Fenway Park façade behind home plate and the playing field as the backdrop to the broadcasts.
The 521 Overlook
The 521 Overlook is a new, 7,600-square-foot event space located directly above the Truly Terrace that offers sweeping views of Fenway Park. Designed to accommodate a variety of functions of different types and sizes, the indoor space has a capacity of up to approximately 600 people that can be subdivided into as many as four rooms for smaller groups.
The west side of the function room features a 130-foot-long and 10-foot-high wall of windows that lead to a spacious balcony with sweeping views of the entire field and ballpark. The name of the space is a reference to the number of home runs Ted Williams hit during his career and, coincidentally, the approximate distance in feet of the space relative to home plate.
The 521 Overlook is sold by the Fenway Park Events team for a variety of private functions on game days and non-game days.
New Video Boards
Sitting directly above the 521 Overlook and below the New Balance sign is a new, expanded video board that stands approximately 62 feet wide and 16 feet tall. Twice the width of the board that previously resided in this location, the new video board will have the ability to display more game information including team lineups, situational batter statistics, and batter walk-up song information.
Additionally, two, new LED boards have been installed along the fascia between the Truly Terrace and 521 Overlook that each run nearly 50 feet long. During games these two fascia boards will display the line score, in-game starting pitcher stats, and reliever information when pitchers are warming up in the bullpen.
Fenway Park Fully Cashless
Fenway Park has transitioned to a fully cashless environment for the 2022 season. For convenience and to improve speed of service, concessions stands throughout the ballpark will only accept credit cards or touchless payment with smartphones.
Hawkers will have cashless point-of-sale devices so fans can easily tap their mobile devices or swipe their credit cards to purchase concession items from their seats. Fans with cash can stop by the Gate E Concourse, Home Plate Concourse, and the Kids Concourse to load their cash onto a Mastercard debit card using a Cash-2-Card exchange kiosk. In addition to Fenway Park, the debit cards will be accepted at any business that takes Mastercard.
New Fenway Park Concessions
Fenway Park concessionaire Aramark will debut several new menu offerings for the 2022 season. New items featured and available at stands throughout the ballpark include Sal’s Pizza, Mozzarella Sticks, Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls, Jalapeno Cheetos Hot Dog, Turkey Gyro’s, Grillo’s Pickles, Platanos Maduros, Fluffer Nutter Fries, and the Doritos Walking Taco.
The Truly Awesome Burger will be a new signature item available at the new Truly Takeout stand at the Truly Terrace and includes Savenor's Butter Smash Burger, Melted Vermont Cheddar Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, and Thousand Island Dressing on a Brioche Roll.
Concessions stands on Jersey Street and the Sam Deck as well Fenway Park’s in-seat service will feature MingsBings, a healthy, vegan offering created by James Beard Award-Winner Chef Ming Tsai.
First-Time On-Field Signage
For the first time in its history, the Red Sox have affixed a sponsor name on the grass at Fenway Park. Through a partnership with Aspiration, their name will now be featured near the fungo circles on the grass between the warning track and the infield.
As part of the partnership, and consistent with the club’s ongoing commitment to sustainability initiatives, the Red Sox will invest a portion of each ticket purchased by fans to the Aspiration Planet Protection Fund to help offset the carbon footprint of fans attending games.
