Fenway Park, 2002: Premium Spaces for the Boston Red Sox
Case Study | Boston Red Sox | Frangioni Media
By David Frangioni | Frangioni Media
In the spring of 2002, a new ownership group took over the Boston Red Sox and wanted Fenway Park’s premium spaces to signal a new era. David Frangioni led the work, and the Red Sox thanked his team on the Fenway scoreboard.
The Short Answer
Before opening day of the 2002 season, David Frangioni and his company at the time, Audio One, designed and delivered high-definition video and audio for the premium spaces at Fenway Park: the 600 Club behind home plate, including its Fenmore Room, and the owners’ luxury boxes and office. The project was covered in Systems Contractor News in June 2002.
The work happened on a team’s schedule, in one of the most historic venues in sports, for an owner who wanted new technology that still honored the ballpark. That combination of deadline, broadcast signal and heritage is exactly what teams face today when they build production companies and studios.
10
Runco 50 and 61 inch HD plasma screens across the premium spaces
1 feed
SDI broadcast signal from the NESN center inside the park
Weeks
From the ownership change in March to opening day
Day one
Ready the week before opening day, April 1, 2002
The Brief
John Henry’s group had only finalized the purchase of the Red Sox in early March 2002. The new owners wanted the premium spaces to reflect a new beginning for the franchise, and they wanted it done before the first pitch of the season.
He wanted new technology to represent a new beginning, but also wanted it to reflect the park’s and the team’s heritage.
David Frangioni, Systems Contractor News, 2002
What Was Delivered
- Ten HD plasma screens in key areas of the 600 Club, including the Fenmore Room, and in the owners’ luxury boxes and office.
- Broadcast picture straight from the source. An SDI feed came directly from the New England Sports Network broadcast center inside the park, carried on fiber through the building.
- Every broadcast. NESN carried about half the games and Fox the rest, and both feeds reached the club. High-definition signals arrived by satellite dishes mounted on the park’s 200-foot light towers and were routed to the suites.
- HD stereo sound on five of the screens, with Genelec speakers and subwoofers and Lexicon and Arcam processing, with the subwoofers hidden out of sight.
- Design that respects the room. Polished wood trim matched the mahogany finish of the club, so the technology looked like it belonged at Fenway.
What It Teaches Teams Building Studios Now
The Season Sets the Schedule
Teams do not move opening day. At Fenway, the work went from contract to finished in weeks because one team led planning, signal, design and delivery together. A team production facility needs the same discipline: a plan that starts from the date it must be producing, not the date construction begins.
Heritage Is Part of the Spec
A franchise’s history is its most valuable content and its identity. The technology in a team studio should look and feel like the club, not like a rental stage. At Fenway, the finish of the room mattered as much as the picture on the screen.
Plan for the Next Owner’s Idea
Because more changes were expected at Fenway, speakers were mounted so they could move later instead of being built into the walls. Team studios should be designed the same way: infrastructure for the full vision, built in phases, easy to change as the slate grows.
Broadcast Signal Is the Backbone
Fenway’s premium spaces depended on clean broadcast feeds moving through a century-old building. Today’s team studios depend on the same thing at a much larger scale: cameras, control rooms, edit, storage and archive all sharing one signal and media plan.
From Fenway to the Team Studio
Two decades later, the scale is larger and the content is year-round, but the job is the same: one accountable lead who understands the team, the venue, the broadcast signal and the audience. That is what Frangioni Media delivers in the Team Studio program, from building the production company to a turnkey facility.
David tells the story in his own words, including what opening day at Fenway felt like, in Opening Day at Fenway: what the Red Sox taught me about building for a team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Frangioni Media work at Fenway Park?
Yes. In 2002, David Frangioni led the HD video and audio work in Fenway Park’s 600 Club, Fenmore Room and the owners’ luxury boxes and office for the Boston Red Sox, through his company at the time, Audio One. The project was covered by Systems Contractor News in June 2002.
What was delivered at Fenway Park?
Ten Runco HD plasma screens, HD stereo audio with Genelec speakers on five of them, and broadcast feeds from the NESN center inside the park and by satellite, finished the week before opening day 2002.
Does Frangioni Media work with other sports teams?
Frangioni Media designs and builds production companies, production facilities and studios for professional sports teams and athletes worldwide. Contact Frangioni Media to discuss a project.
Proven with the Boston Red Sox
Built for a team, on a team’s schedule.
Frangioni Media designs and builds team studios, production facilities and premium spaces worldwide.
David Frangioni