Red Sox, Aramark freeze concession prices for 2009, offer half-price food in April for 1 hour after gates open

The Red Sox recently announced that they have reached an agreement with Aramark, the concessionaire for Fenway Park, to keep the price of food sold inside the park at the same levels as 2008. This is a nice gesture and a nod to the economic recession. It follows the announcement in December that the Red Sox would not raise ticket prices for this year. In truth, the Red Sox have only raised ticket prices slightly for most of the seats in the ballpark in the past several years anyway. Infield Grandstand, Outfield Grandstand, Bleacher and Right Field Box tickets are at most $5 more than they were 5 years ago. This should make Red Sox fans very happy that they are not Yankee or Met fans, given the astronomical price of tickets for their new stadiums.

In addition to keeping food prices inside the park the same as last year, the Red Sox announced that some items will be half-price for the first hour after the gates open during April. These items include Fenway Franks, pretzels, popcorn, and pizza slices. This is another very nice gesture that will save fans some money, and it would be even better if the team kept the policy for the entire year.

Click here for the full press release.

Fenway guide author on the radio Saturday, March 28th

Tim Shea, author of Fenway!: The Ultimate Fan's Guide, 2009 Edition, is scheduled to appear on two Connecticut sports talk radio programs this Saturday, March 28th.

WELI 960 – Hamden, Ct
7:10 a.m. – to be interviewed by “The Coach” George DeMaio on his Saturday morning sports show. Interview will be streamed live on weli.com.

WXLM 104.7 – New London, CT
11:46 a.m. – to be interviewed on the Sports Talk with Bill and Mike show. Interview will be streamed live on wxlm.fm.

Save $5 on the 2010 Fenway Fan Guide

Buy directly from the publisher at createspace.com. Use the discount code CZNTPNHG to save $5 off each book and drop the price to $7.95. Don't be alarmed by the estimated shipping date of 4 weeks hence for economy shipping. In reality, they ship the book in a couple of days and you should have it within a week.

Get tickets for college Baseball Beanpot at Fenway April 13

Once again Fenway Park is hosting the college Baseball Beanpot this April. If you love Fenway Park this is a great opportunity to see a doubleheader of quality college baseball for $5 or less. Tickets can be purchased at redsox.com/beanpot. To take advantage of the half-price offer for members of Red Sox Nation and get your tickets for just $2.50 each (plus a $1 per ticket service charge), use the special code RSNBB when buying your tickets through the Red Sox Web site.

In the past few years there have only been about 1,000 fans at the tournament, so you can usually sit in the front row, if you wish. All tickets are general admission. The Red Sox are doing a lot more promotion for the event this year, so attendance is likely to be higher.

The four teams that will be participating are Harvard, Boston College, Northeastern, and UMass. The consolation game will be at 2 p.m. and the championship game at 5 p.m. Your ticket is good for both games.