Fenway needs a real upper deck

[Cubs1945]

I went to Fenway last year. Wow what a place. The seats are tight. Could you put an upper deck on Fenway and reduce the Grandstand seats? I say shutdown Landsdowe forever. You could have a Fenway with 6,000 bleacher seats, 9,000 upper deck seats and reduce the Grandstand by 4,000 seats. Those seats are made for infants.

[TinoM24]

i dont think the 100 year old structure could support much more than what they have now, but I could be wrong. Wouldnt it just be easier to replace the grandstand seats with new ones?

[fitch94]

All of the Grandstand seats will be redone over the next couple of years. As someone has already posted, Fenway has an attendance cap of 40,000 so they will not be adding a huge upper deck to the place. My guess is they will gut parts of the Grandstand over the next few years. They are going to continue to make improvements to the Park up until the 100 anniversary of Fenway in 2012.

As far as the upper deck, they have redone the Pavilion seats which might be the best seats in baseball. Anything more and we need to change the name to Fenway Stadium and that will not fly in Boston.

[HollandsComet]

If memory serves, the reason they've never tried to construct a full upper deck at Fenway is because the marshy ground below the park (aka, The Fens) would not support the additional weight.

[stlfan]

I heard that it was designed to eventually have an upper deck added and that the support structure could handle the weight. I say keep it the way it is. If you add a full blown upper deck it would feel and look less like Fenway Park.

[Williamsburg2599]

They've already spent millions of dollars cramming every seat possible into the upper deck, I highly doubt they'll just rip it down anytime soon.

[Sean O]

If they do any major reconstruction, they should add extra seats to the bleachers. Having sat in the upper bleachers for Futures at Fenway, those are some of the worst seats in all of baseball.

Tear out everything from the current end of the Pavilion (aka the original 1912 end of the grandstand), or at least to Pesky's Pole, and reprofile. Continue the pavilion down to the corner and rebuild the RF roof deck, but rotate everything from sections 1-10 more towards the plate. It means taming the incredibly deep RF a bit, but Ortiz and Lars would certainly appreciate it.

This results in thousands of better seats deep in the RF corner, in areas that are pretty much unwatchable. You gain several thousand seats to offset those lost with larger grandstand seats, and the bleachers finally have acceptable sightlines/locations.

The bleachers and RF corner are easily the worst part about Fenway, including the poles. And instead of permanently shutting Landsdowne, Van Ness should be closed as well. As it is, except for a few difficult to access driveways, Van Ness is shut to car traffic. Then just open up the walls down the RF line and the bottleneck behind section 12-18 disappears.

[fitch94]

If they do any major reconstruction, they should add extra seats to the bleachers. Having sat in the upper bleachers for Futures at Fenway, those are some of the worst seats in all of baseball.

Tear out everything from the current end of the Pavilion (aka the original 1912 end of the grandstand), or at least to Pesky's Pole, and reprofile. Continue the pavilion down to the corner and rebuild the RF roof deck, but rotate everything from sections 1-10 more towards the plate. It means taming the incredibly deep RF a bit, but Ortiz and Lars would certainly appreciate it.

This results in thousands of better seats deep in the RF corner, in areas that are pretty much unwatchable. You gain several thousand seats to offset those lost with larger grandstand seats, and the bleachers finally have acceptable sightlines/locations.

The bleachers and RF corner are easily the worst part about Fenway, including the poles. And instead of permanently shutting Landsdowne, Van Ness should be closed as well. As it is, except for a few difficult to access driveways, Van Ness is shut to car traffic. Then just open up the walls down the RF line and the bottleneck behind section 12-18 disappears.

This sounds like a plan that could work... However I dont think they are going to do anything with the Bleacher seats any time soon since they just installed new seats and did masonary work out there.

The current Pavilion seats (Fenway's upper deck) are great seats. Every seat in red is great, but the sections 1-10 Grandstand seats have to go. My understanding is they are.

[Sean O]

This sounds like a plan that could work... However I dont think they are going to do anything with the Bleacher seats any time soon since they just installed new seats and did masonary work out there.

The current Pavilion seats (Fenway's upper deck) are great seats. Every seat in red is great, but the sections 1-10 Grandstand seats have to go. My understanding is they are.

That is an awesome pic.

The seats down the RF line aren't really the problem, it's all about the angle. Even if they are individually angled more towards the plate, nothing is going to help those section 5 seats. If you walk through there, by the fourth inning half of the section is empty every night. This is why SRO (where I stand) is always completely packed to the gills, since you have all SRO and most of sections 5 and 6 standing as well.

We need to draw a line from Pesky's pole at least to the RF-most bullpen, so you gain at least 30 more degrees towards the plate. Unfortunately the RF line will go from 380 at the deepest in RF to about 340'-350', but that's still deeper than most any other MLB park that close to the line.

I figure the bleacher seats currently installed could be re-used, though it is difficult that they worked on the concrete to that extent. Then, I guess an alternate solution is to keep the bleacher sections closest to GS1, lop off the seats that extend farther back than the grandstand, and add a pavilion-like upper deck that connects to the Monster. Then just find a better way to profile the CF bleacher seats.

If nothing else, Sections 3-10 need serious help. Section 1 is one of my favorites in all of baseball, but everything else around there is a travesty.

Edit:
Or, if you want to really be sneaky, relocate the bullpens in a double-decked area in dead-center, then create a partially transparent wall for the batter's eye. This will let you replace those seats that are only used for night games with seats in the old bullpen area.

[TJH1923]

Is it all possible that once they get past the 100th Anniversary of Fenway Park in 2012 that there will be a push for a new ballpark?

[Sean O]

Is it all possible that once they get past the 100th Anniversary of Fenway Park in 2012 that there will be a push for a new ballpark?

Depends on how well they fix the problems in the current one. The argument about seat availability and cost is a total red herring, since a new park would be in even higher demand (initially) and cost even more than it does now. So, while it would be nice in a way to get back to buying tickets less than 6 months in advance (if you're lucky enough to get in at all), it won't happen while we're still successful.

That means we're left with Fenway's problems vs. rewards. The Pavilion is essentially a new ballpark, so we know what having new, wider concourses can look like. Food options are plentiful, and while parking sucks, there are different options for getting there. The main issues are the ones mentioned so far in this thread: the bleachers are the farthest away of any seats in the majors except the Rockpile, the RF seats are atrocious, and the physical grandstand seats are too small and narrow.

Rebuild the RF line and double deck the bleachers/RF roof deck. Replace the grandstand seats with new plastic ones ala the bleachers, and you're still hovering around 39.5k. Even if you don't want to go completely revolutionary by changing the bleachers, the RF needs to be completely reprofiled if Fenway is to last another 50 years. But with Sections 1-10 being useful at last, the fenway-specific complaints will disappear.

[fitch94]

I believe that after 2012 the idea of new ball park will be tossed around again. I will tell you that Boston, obviously, does not move too quickly on building stadiums.


I say around 2020 is the earliest you see a new stadium (and I agree with most people......leave the Green Monster with Fenway and do not try to toss it into a new Park).

[MontanaJim74]

If they do any major reconstruction, they should add extra seats to the bleachers. Having sat in the upper bleachers for Futures at Fenway, those are some of the worst seats in all of baseball.

Tear out everything from the current end of the Pavilion (aka the original 1912 end of the grandstand), or at least to Pesky's Pole, and reprofile. Continue the pavilion down to the corner and rebuild the RF roof deck, but rotate everything from sections 1-10 more towards the plate. It means taming the incredibly deep RF a bit, but Ortiz and Lars would certainly appreciate it.

This results in thousands of better seats deep in the RF corner, in areas that are pretty much unwatchable. You gain several thousand seats to offset those lost with larger grandstand seats, and the bleachers finally have acceptable sightlines/locations.

The bleachers and RF corner are easily the worst part about Fenway, including the poles. And instead of permanently shutting Landsdowne, Van Ness should be closed as well. As it is, except for a few difficult to access driveways, Van Ness is shut to car traffic. Then just open up the walls down the RF line and the bottleneck behind section 12-18 disappears.

I have to disagree about the bleachers. I sat in the bleachers for two games at Fenway a month ago and had a great view. No obstructions like many of the grandstands seats have. And the price is way cheaper.

[placount]

I have to disagree about the bleachers. I sat in the bleachers for two games at Fenway a month ago and had a great view. No obstructions like many of the grandstands seats have. And the price is way cheaper.

I think sean is talking about certain sections. I'm quite certain that there are good seats in those bleachers, but there are also sections where the game is unwatchable. I think that everyone here can agree that that should be fixed.

[wvkeeper]

They should put in Terracing like you see in Germany. I know the Taylor Report (following the Hillsborough Disaster) may make it difficult but I think they would work if policed properly.

[J.R.]

Leave the UD alone. Work on the RF corner.

[efin98]

I think sean is talking about certain sections. I'm quite certain that there are good seats in those bleachers, but there are also sections where the game is unwatchable. I think that everyone here can agree that that should be fixed.

In the bleachers? It's not too bad for 90% of them even at the cheapest seats farthest away from the action...about the only seats where you might have a point about are those upper bleacher seats under the scoreboard, those are far away but also angled and the view partly obstructed and it's freaking cold in the early/late parts of the season...

[Power Wally]

How wide are the average seats there? What is the pitch?