BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — On Thursday, Fenway Park will welcome back Red Sox fans for the first time since the pandemic began. The ballpark will be operating at 12% capacity for the Sox's home opener against the Baltimore Orioles and for the foreseeable future.
Fans who attend games at Fenway will need to comply with the team's COVID-19 guidelines. Concessions will be available, but fans will need to eat them in their ticketed seats, and will need to wear a mask any time they are not eating or drinking.
All other seats in the ballpark — besides those with fans in them — will be zip-tied shut.
2,000 signs have been put up to guide fans around the park and help maintain social distancing. Peter Nesbit, the Red Sox Senior VP of Baseball Operations, said the team "...Can't wait. It's been a long time coming, there's a lot of us that have never had a game without fans in the ballpark, so last summer was really tough," he said.
Anyone attending a game at Fenway in person will need to confirm that they don't have any symptoms of COVID-19 on the day of the game.
There will be Plexiglas at the concession stands and touch-free payment systems, and a crew of designated staffers will patrol the ballpark during games, reminding fans to wear their masks and social distance.
WBZ's Matt Shearer (@MattWBZ) has more:
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(Photo: Matt Shearer/WBZ NewsRadio)