This might be an interesting way to add some "cheap seats".

Scott van Voorhis, HERALD - Sox eye plan to add cheap bleachers


Red Sox executives are exploring yet another seating addition to antique Fenway Park - hundreds of lower-cost seats atop the adjacent Laundry Building behind the bleachers.

...

But the proposed Laundry Building seating section, which may act as an expansion of the bleachers, might feature perches in the $20 to $30 range, said Sam Kennedy, a top Sox sales executive.

When I went Wrigley I absolutely loved the seats on top of the bleachers. I did not sit in those seats but I loved the look. The buildings were just across the street from the park and they actually looked like they would probably have a pretty good view. Ballparkrooftops.com

The laundry building is how far away from home plate? I don't think that is a good location for this. That seems really far and I can't imagine that being a good view. Then again the Sox have done so well with the additions that they have made that maybe they would make it work somehow. Now only if they could get some of those seats in right field grandstand to face home plate instead of the monster then I think things will be ok.

If they charge $30 for those tickets, people are going to get punched in the face. The seats at wrigley are cool because they're usually like really, really far away luxury boxes, with all-you-can-eat bbq and beer. Knowing the sox, they'd tack on some mandatory $25 food charge (a la the RF roof seats), and charge you ballpark prices for food.

Count me out on this one. Build some normal seats that the average person can afford.

I agree. The laundry building, IIRC, is pretty far from home plate. Not sure how much you're going to be able to see out there. The description that is provided here (granted it is pretty limited) just doesn't seem worth it.

regardless of price, they will undoubtedly be sold out every night. every penny counts when it comes to generating revenue to sign/re-sign talent.

Before they added the Monster seats, I would have thought - if anything - that you could do something like this with the parking garage on Lansdowne.

If the buildings on Yawkey Way were taller, I could see something like "High Rise Luxury Boxes" working, especially now that they block off part of the street during games.

This, I'm not so sure about, though. The roof bleachers at Wrigley are not all that far out of range (if at all) from where the cheap seats might be in a larger ballpark. If I'm thinking of the right building (which I may not), these laundry building seats wouldn't meet that requirement, would they?

If you're stretching Fenway that far, you might as well just buy Jillian's and make it the equivalent of the Fidelity Club or whatever it's called in Foxboro. (Only, without the awesome view from the 50 yard line)

Yeah, I'm more just hoping this report is wrong -- i don't understand how the new, further away seats are slated to cost more money than seats at th eback of the bleachers.

MP

'...perches in the $20 to $30 range....."we have a responsibility to keep Fenway affordable,'' Kennedy said.'

If I'm paying $25 to sit accross the street from Fenway during a game it's going to be from the vantage point of the Cask with $25 worth of booze on my tab.

Next they're going to replace with Green Wall with clear plexiglass & charge admission to Lansdown street.....of course then Manny wouldn't have any privacy during his mid-inning bathroom breaks but I digress.

I'm not keen on this idea but regardless of how I feel, as someone else already mentioned, I'm certain the seating area would sell out, if for the novelty of it if nothing else.

I'm not totally against this idea, but i hope it doesn't happen. Part of Wrigley's charm along with the ivy is the rooftop boxes and i dont want to go and copy something from another ballclub. Fenway has enough charm and charactor already. How would you guys feel if a team constructed a ballpark with a 37 foot wall in left. It just doesn't seem right to me.

Rooftop seats behind the bleachers? I don't know. The top row of the bleachers looks really far away but it's really not a bad seat. If they were to put seats even further back, that might be pushing it. At least at Wrigley, the rooftop seats are mostly along the lines (if I recall correctly), and not so far from home plate.

The tickets will definitely sell if the price is right, but I don't know if I'd want to sit that far away.

Sure.
And they can also get about 50 blimps to hang over the field,
with 50 fans in each blimp at $200 a pop.

I don't know why they don't just double tier the bleachers.
Lots of wasted space out there.

YES!!!! I've been saying that for yrs! My 10th man tickets has me in sect. 1 out in rt. field so I'm utilizing the new stairwell that they installed back there when they built the Rf rooftop Bud seats. Anyway, if you're ever out there by the stairwell look over to the area behind the bleachers. There's a large amount of room back there that they seemingly (I'm not an engineer) could use to either extend the bleachers up & further back or as support for a 2nd bleacher section to hang over the existing bleachers.

Now, how this would change the wind's flow through Fenway Park is another story......Wake may not much apperciate it.

This was in today's Herald:

Scott van Voorhis - Fenway facelift to hit $100M


The Boston Red Sox are on course to pump nearly $100 million into new seats, concessions and concourses at Fenway Park as the team's owners dramatically upgrade the antique ballpark.

The land Fenway is built on can not support a significant amount of weight on top of what is there right now, so that would be very difficult to do.

This has been discussed before.

I'm assuming the seats that they will build out there will be in one of two configurations: either build inclined seats on top of the building so viewing will not be an issue, or make it more like the picnic area they have at Camden Yards where it is a little more open (justifying the more expensive price).

Ive been thinking the same exact thing. Why not just add a whole nother tier to the bleachers out there, theres plenty of room to put supports and stuff up to hold another tier and the views wouldnt be that bad. Im suprised the Red Sox havent looked into this.

As for the roof top bleacher Idea, I dont like it cause like you all have said the view most likely wouldnt be the greatest considering how far away it is.

off topic - I wanna hear more about the renovations they are making for next year, besides the EMC club.

That's what I was thinking as well. I remember reading about this or hearing it somewhere too. Do you have a link for it or anything like that? I've been digging around and have been unable to come up with anything.

I don't have a specific link, but it is discussed in the thread that Timlin linked to.

The laundry building IIRC is actually connected to the park just behind the CF bleachers. See the pic below.



Yes, it would definitely be a long way from home, but if it is more open it could provide a decent sightline.

That's REALLY far away. You'd have to bring a TV to the game. The thing with the Wrigley bleachers is that they're a lot smaller than Fenway's, so the view there is probably similar to the view from the back end of the Fenway bleachers.

good picture timlin.....its definately connected...I sat in the last row of the bleachers there before, and its far far away.....I don't know how it would be even further back, but it might be cool.

They can do it, but they'll have to support the new structure on its own foundation. That's not a big deal, but it does increase cost. The current park is supported on about 400 wood piles driven between 60-100 feet into the Boston Blue Clay. This foundation will not support an upper deck.

Anni

Thanks Anni! I knew there was something like that that had to be factored in when considering a second tier to the bleachers.

I don't think the view would be that bad. Like I said when I posted earlier, the view is a lot better from the top of the bleachers than one would think, and putting 4-8 rows (can't imagine it being more than that) behind the bleaches wouldn't be a huge stretch. Sure, it IS far, but don't forget, Fenway is a small park. The view from the upper deck at the big park/stadiums is probably a lot worse than that.

I think the biggest problem with this rooftop idea is that players disappear behind the walls already when you sit in certain parts of the park and they'd disappear even quicker for these rooftop folk. If you're going to charge absurd prices for these seats, they better come with a better view or a lap dance from Kelly Barons.

Is there anyway they could tear down the roofboxes they have now in the park and replace them with a steep level of seating that would match the top of the 406 club in height? They could add a good number of seats if they did this and extended it the whole length of the roof down the first and third base lines.

These seats seem too far set back, Wrigley's are much closer. I'd be in favor of removing the jumbotron in the outfield and throwing some money in to double decking that area of the park, yes with the foundation it would take some work and money but they could add so many seats with a balcony in CF-RF.

I believe there are already approved plans to rework the roof areas to add more seats, and obviously to redo the .406 club into two outdoor levels.

Where would they put the screen?

Haven't figured that out yet... that's why I'm not in charge of the renovation project.

I'm guessing that with a price tag of $100 million, it will be more than 4-8 rows. I wonder if they'll erect any suites in that section.

I'm not sure, but I think that $100 million is the total to date (RF roof, Monster seats, etc), not just this one project.

There's a good chance modern construction techniques can solve the
foundation problem--if it exists.
Obviously, the major place where they can add seats is over the bleachers.
They haven't said anything about feasibility.