Hello friends, Red Sox fans and fellow Fenway Park visitors.
- Before we get into the guide let me first explain who we are and what gives us the credibility to write this guide. Our company, Admit One Ticket Agency aka AdmitOneBoston or RedSoxTix.com has been in the ticket business for over 13 years. We have also been operating our Ebay Store RedSoxTix* Ebay Store since 2002 and have had over 6000+ Positive transactions. We are the largest Red Sox Ticket seller on ebay and have been since we established our store. A large majority of our sales our outside of Massachusetts so you can imagine we bring thousands and thousands of fans from all around the world into Fenway Park.
- The reason I am writing this guide is that not a day goes by without us receiving an email from a customer asking us one of the following questions.
- Which seats in Fenway Park are Obstructed
- Which seats are the best to take the kids
- How old must a child be to require a ticket for admission
- What are NON-ALCOHOL seats and where are they located
- What are WalkWay Advisory seats and how do they effect your view
- How do you obtain Green Monster and Budweiser Roof Table Seats
- Are your tickets FAKE?
- What is the New Coca Cola Section
- How many seats are there in a row in all the sections
- AND THE MOST POPULAR QUESTION OF THEM ALL............. I am taking my family to Fenway Park for the 1st time where do YOU suggest we sit?
Also Please visit our website at www.AdmitOneBoston.com for all your ticket needs in Boston or Nationwide.
Well fellow Red Sox Fans, I have decided to finally write a guide that would answer ALL those questions and more.1. YES there are Obstructed View Seats in Fenway Park, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE THEM!!!!!!!!! I realize that when you are searching through all these ebay auctions or other broker sites you may see an auction like this " 2 Red Sox vs Yankees Tickets Saturday 7/26 Fenway Park " Then the description will probably read something like this
I am selling 2 AMAZING seats BEHIND HOME PLATE in the 2nd row , 2 seats together Grandstand ___ row 2, these are the MOST AMAZING seats in the house and they are selling on STUB HUB for $500 per ticket but I am starting the bidding at only $75 PER TICKET , Yes just $75 per ticket for the most amazing view in Fenway Park ( Please note these sellers may sometimes use a picture like this
but the REAL Picture they should be using would be more like
Then the seller would say something like " Please Note, these tickets are listed as OV ( sometimes they are nice enough to actually write out OV which means OBSTRUCTED VIEW ) Then they will say " I have sat in these seats a million times and you can see the field just fine, Obstructed just means you can not see _______ 3rd base ________ or 2nd Base ______ or 1st Base and So on. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE Obstructed View Seats EVER!!!!!! As you can see by the 2nd picture you WILL BE DIRECTLY Behind the Pole!!!!! You will not see ANY PART of the game and HERE IS WHY!
The Boston Red Sox ONLY Stamp a ticket OBSTRUCTED VIEW when you are missing 2 OR MORE Parts of the Field. That means if you are missing the Pitcher AND 2nd Base, or the Batter AND 1st Base those seats are considered Obstructed View. I 100% Guarantee you that you will not be able to enjoy the game when you miss 50-75% of it.
Now as far as where the Obstructed View Seats actually are. 99% of Obstructed View Seats are in the GRANDSTAND sections. As you can see by the picture above, the Pole in the Grandstands holds up the Roof over your head, and in order for the Red Sox to actually stamp the ticket Obstructed View you really have to be directly behind the pole, and yes I have been to Fenway Many times THERE REALLY ARE SEATS DIRECTLY BEHIND THE POLE! So out of the 300-400 tickets for every game that are actually Obstructed View most of those seats are simply behind the poles in every Grandstand Section. The other 1% of seats that are Obstructed are scattered through out the field, in the Bleachers if you are Obstructed you can simply have a fence or door in front of you if are in the lower rows. In the Pavilion and Roof Box areas above, a few seats would have a camera man in front of you so that would be Obstructed. There are also 10-20 seats in the Right Field Box area that are directly behind the Foul Pole that are considered OV but those are very rare to find on ebay as 10 seats out of 37,000 total tickets is like a needle in a haystack.
In case you are wondering, our agency NEVER sells Obstructed View Marked seats , I wish everyone followed that principal but as you have probably already seen on ebay, there are honest sellers and then well..... everyone else.
As a side note to Question 1, and this is important, The Boston Red Sox Do NOT consider a seat that misses 1 part of the game to be considered OV. Let me explain, if you are sitting in a Grandstand seat over 1st base or 3rd Base and there is a pole blocking the runway like so
Since you are still seeing most of the game the Red Sox consider that a FULL VIEW seat. Please keep that in mind when you are purchasing a HIGH ROW in the Grandstand Section. The poles usually start around row 3-5 and are a HUGE Factor in the Following Grandstand Sections. Grandstand 11 , 12 , 26, 27 ( 27 is the WORST Grandstand Section ) 28-29 is 50/50 some seats are great and some will make you miss a little part of the action. Also keep in mind ALL GRANDSTAND Seats ABOVE row 8 will make you miss ALL Fly Balls since there is a Roof over your head. If you ever have a question about a seat you purchased feel free to visit our ebay store and then send us a comment or question.
2. Which seats are the Best to take the kids? This question obviously depends on how old the kids are.
Kids ages 2-5 anything in the Shade, such as all those Grandstand seats I talked about in the previous question are Great. With Fenway you either get a 20% chance of rain and since the Grandstands are covered your kids won't complain or you get a 50% chance of HOT blazzzzzing sun and if you put a young child in a box seat with the Sun on them they won't last 3 innings.
Kids ages 6-12 I find the best seats to be in the Right Field Box area sections 86 & 87. The major reason for this is that pitchers Bull-Pen is right next to these sections so not only can the kids try to get an autograph from all the players if you get there 45 minutes early but in between every inning one of the players will come out and play catch with the outfielder. This gives young kids a great feel for being at the game and most kids that age can not focus for 9 straight innings they will simply get bored. The Right Field Box seats have a face value of $50 ( for the 08 season, probably going up for 09) and sell on ebay anywhere between $50-$125 average price. Here is the view from those sections
thats the view from Box 86 and Box 87 as you can see there are MANY kids in the section in the picture. Our Agency carries a large amount of Box 86 seats but you usually have to purchase them 4-5 months in advance of the game to be able to get the very low rows. You can visit OUR EBAY STORE and then save it to your Favorites. Even though the baseball season starts in April, we start selling tickets THANKSGIVING week in November. So YES you really do have to plan in advance if you want the best experience in Fenway Park.Kids ages 13-Adults. At this point you are taking them to Fenway to actually enjoy the game, they probably want to see Big PAPI hit a HR. They want to see Dustin Pedroia single, steal and then fly home to win the game and you want to be able to enjoy all this without spending $1000. Well TOUGH!, no im just kidding if you plan IN ADVANCE you can enjoy a great family experience for around $400-$500 for 4 people. Some suggestions would be seats in the Right Field Box 94-95 area which are past 1st base but still before the foul pole so you have a pretty good view WITHOUT having a pole in your face
also Grandstand 16,17 24 and 25 offer a very nice view also in that $100-$125 per ticket price range. Here is what your view looks like from all those Grandstand sections I mentioned 
. Do not worry about the pole since you have a straight on view of the field the poles will be to your right and left.3. How old must a child be to require a ticket for admission ? The Boston Red Sox require all children ages 2 and UP to have a ticket for admission. Do not ask me if they will card your 3 year old, if you want to try sneaking them in thats totally up to you, I have not heard one way or another on that but their rule is EVERYONE 2 ages and UP must have a ticket.
4.What are NON-ALCOHOL seats and where are they located?
Non Alcohol seats are in the Left Field Grandstand Sections 32 and 33. NO Alcohol means that you can NOT bring the drinks back to your seat, you can still go get a beer and drink it, you just can not bring it back to your seats. The great thing about these seats is that the face value is only $30 so if you can handle not drinking at the game they offer a great value and a very nice view as you are right next to the famous Green Monster.
5. What are WalkWay Advisory seats and how do they effect your view ?
A Walk Way Advisory is stamped on the ticket when the ticket is within the first 3 rows of the Walk Way. ALL Loge Box Seats ( In the Red Above on the Map ) that are rows AA-CC are stamped Walk Way Advisory. What this simply means is that during the game and in between innings people will be walking in front of you. The down side is that this does get a little annoying through out the game, the upside is that ALL these WalkWay tickets put you 13-15 rows from the field with the most AMAZING view of the game like so
. So if you can handle a few people walking back and forth you will get an amazing view usually for about 20% cheaper then the seats in the same sections rows DD-PP which are slightly higher.6. How do you obtain Green Monster and Budweiser Roof Table Seats?
The Fabled and most popular seat in Fenway Park and as of 2008 was voted the MOST POPULAR seat in baseball by the New York Times, To sit on the Green Monster is a dream shared by every fan visiting Fenway Park. However this seat is not only expensive with a face value of $160 + per seat but is almost impossible to get by a fan. The Red Sox hold an annual lottery in March where you can log on to the Red Sox main website and simply enter a drawing for free. If your name gets selected, you will have a right to purchase 2 Green Monster Seats for Face Value ( based on availability ). This is also true for the Budweisier Roof Table, however the table has a face value of $500 which includes 4 tickets and $100 in Free Food & Drinks.
Another way to purchase Green Monster seats is directly from the Red Sox via their Charity auctions. The auctions run throughout the year and you can simply log on to their website and enter your bid.
The last way is through Ebay and Stub Hub. Since we are a seller on Ebay I would love to sit here and tell you that you should buy from us but unfortunately we DO NOT sell Green Monster seats EVER. The reason for this is because the Boston Red Sox DO NOT allow resale of these seats. Yes they are always in Ebay and Stub Hub but if the Red Sox find out the original owner of these seats is re selling them they will void the bar code and the tickets will be no good. I am not trying to scare anyone out of purchasing these seats online as 99% of the time you will be fine, I am just stating the facts and our companies policy.
7. Are your tickets FAKE?
Years ago when all Red Sox tickets were Hard Season ticket format and Hard Box Office Print Outs I used to get insulted when people asked us this. Now in the age of the E-Ticket I not only understand, but I worry for all you fans buying tickets on Ebay and Stub Hub. It is my honest opinion that it is 99.9% impossible to fake a Season or Box Office Ticket. It takes too long, its to expensive and the only people who really ever do this ( and even this is VERY RARE ) would be professional scalpers and to be honest with you in the 10 years I have been in the business I have never heard of this on the Boston Streets. Almost ALL fake tickets come via the E-Ticket format. For those of you not familiar with this format, when you purchase tickets from the Boston Red Sox online, you can either have the Hard Box Office tickets mailed to your home, or you can have an E-Ticket emailed to you same day of purchase. You then open your email and print out the ticket. The problem as you can guess is that nothing stops a person from printing this ticket twice, three times or one hundred times. Now obviously when you buy a ticket on ebay if you pay with your credit card through paypal you are covered but in many instances people pay through their bank account and once 60-90 days pass you are stuck and can not get your money back. What's worse is imagine flying from Seattle to Boston to go to a Sox Yankees game with your family, you spent $2000 on tickets and $3000 on hotel and Air Fare just to enjoy the game, then you get to the gate and the ticket won't scan. " We are sorry, this ticket is not valid" says the attendant, this is EVERY Ebay Buyers WORSE Nightmare!
Well there is an easy way to fix this, simply look for auctions that have the following slogans
- This is not an E-Ticket
- These tickets are Hard Physical Tickets
- These are Season Tickets
- These are NOT print @ Home Type Tickets.
- These are Hard Stock Tickets
8.What is the New Coca Cola Section?
This question just recently started coming up so I thought I would include it. The Coca Cola sections are called Left Field Pavilion Reserved Sections 16 and 18. They are 2 new sections in Left Field that got added to the Pavilion Box Area ( the old infield Roof Box for those familiar with Old Fenway ) . These seats have a face value of $75 which is $15 cheaper then the Pavilion Box and offer a very similar view, you can find tons of them on Ebay through out the year and this is what approximately your view looks like from the Pavilion Area
. In most ball parks it would simply be the upper deck but Fenway is such a small park the pavilion area seats are actually my favorite seats.9.How many seats are there in a row in all the sections?
Most people ask this to figure out where the aisle seats are on the other side, we all know seats 1,2 are aisle but where does the other side end. Well unfortunately every section is different so I can just give you a general idea. Bleacher sections run from 16-40 seats in a row. Grandstand and Right Field Box Sections run 8-26 seats in a row. Loge Box seats usually will have 10-26 and so would Pavilion Box Seats. The only True Fact is that ALL Field Box seats only have 4-6 seats per row. and most Field Box Seats between 1st base and 3rd base only have 4 seats per row. This is important in case you are trying to bring a large family and put them close together on the field, it is almost impossible to do in Fenway Park.
10. THE FINAL AND THE MOST POPULAR QUESTION OF THEM ALL............. I am taking my family to Fenway Park for the 1st time where do YOU suggest we sit?
Well I could probably write another full review on just this question alone. We get asked this EVERY single day not just by our Ebay customers but customers that come into our office in Weymouth. Everyone thinks we know the secret of Fenway Park. Like there is a magic section that is really cheap, has a great view and is very close to the field. Unfortunately folks to be honest with you, Fenway Park is not a great park to watch a game. Its an experience to be there with 39,000 people standing up and screaming in a loud roar when Alex Cora hits a bunt, or when Mike Timlin throws a 1st pitch strike. Fenway Park is and always will be an experience. It will not matter how much money the organization puts into New Luxury seats, or better restaurants, the fact is out of 39,000 seats, only about 10,000 offer you a decent view of the game. and 8,000 of those seats are face value priced around $90-$100 per ticket. Thats the truth, if you want a great experience AND want to watch and enjoy the game , you have to be willing to spend. My suggestion to EVERY SINGLE person who goes to Fenway Park is Purchase the Lower Bleacher Seats in Center Field. They have a face value of $26 ( in 08 probably going up in 09 ) and sell on ebay for between $30-$99 per game ( not counting Yankees and Opening Day). Here is the View from the Center Field Bleachers.
It may look far but you can see fly balls, you will not be behind a pole, and you will not spend $1000 to take your 2 young boys and your wife/husband to 1 night @ Fenway Park. The Bleacher seats used to be scary full of college kids getting drunk and fighting. That was before the prices soared, now a days as you can see in the picture, 50% of the fans in the bleachers are Fathers and Sons, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, Grandfathers and Grandmothers, and just regular fans trying to enjoy an affordable day @ The Old Ball Park.
