Opening Day at Fenway: What the Red Sox Taught Me About Building for a Team
Boston Red Sox | Fenway Park | David Frangioni
By David Frangioni
I grew up in Boston. In 2002, the Red Sox had new owners, a new season weeks away and a plan to bring Fenway Park’s premium spaces into a new era. I got the call.
There are projects, and there are projects that mean something. Fenway Park was both for me. A team I grew up with, a ballpark I knew from the stands, and a new ownership group, led by John Henry, that wanted the technology in its most important rooms to say that a new chapter had started.
The sale had only closed in early March. Opening day was April 1. That was the schedule.
The Job
My company at the time, Audio One, delivered high-definition video and audio for the 600 Club behind home plate, including the Fenmore Room, and for the owners’ luxury boxes and office. Ten Runco HD plasma screens, broadcast picture fed directly from the NESN center inside the park, satellite HD signals brought down from the light towers, and Genelec sound in the suites. Systems Contractor News covered the project in its June 2002 issue.
We worked literally non-stop and finished the week before opening day.
You feel like you’re part of something larger. It wasn’t just another gig.
David Frangioni, Systems Contractor News, 2002
What I Learned Building for a Team
A team’s calendar is not negotiable
In music, a release date can move. In sports, the first pitch does not. That changes everything about how you plan. You work backward from the day the rooms must be perfect, and every decision is made with that day in mind. I bring that same discipline to every team studio I build today.
The building has a history, and so does the brand
Fenway is not a blank box. The new owners wanted the technology to look modern and still feel like Fenway, so the screens were framed in polished wood that matched the club’s mahogany finish. Teams building studios now face the same question. The room should look like the franchise, not like a rented stage.
Build for what comes next
We knew the new owners would keep changing the park, so we mounted speakers where they could move rather than building them into walls that might come down. A team studio should be planned the same way: infrastructure for the full vision, built in phases.
It is about the people in the room
Owners, guests, partners and fans in a premium space are there for the game and the experience. The technology has to disappear. That is still the standard I hold myself to, whether the room is a suite, a control room or a mix stage.
More Than Just Another Season
At the end of that project I told the magazine, “This was more than just another job for me. Now, I hope it’s more than just another season for the Sox.” Two years later, the Red Sox won the World Series.
Today, teams are building their own production companies and the studios to run them. The scale is bigger and the content runs all year, but the job is the one I learned at Fenway: understand the team, respect the venue, own the deadline and deliver rooms that work on day one.
The Frangioni Media case study has the full details of what was delivered at Fenway Park. My Team Studio Series explains how I build for teams now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has David Frangioni worked with a professional sports team?
Yes. In 2002, David Frangioni led HD video and audio work for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, in the 600 Club, the Fenmore Room and the owners’ luxury boxes and office, through his company at the time, Audio One. The Red Sox thanked Audio One on the Fenway Park scoreboard.
What does David Frangioni build for teams today?
Through Frangioni Media, David designs and builds production companies, production facilities, studios and premium spaces for professional sports teams and athletes worldwide, as one accountable lead.
From Fenway to your facility
One call starts the build.
Studios, production facilities and premium spaces for teams and athletes, worldwide.
David