Fenway Park Will No Longer Accept Cash Starting Friday for 2022 Season

The Boston Red Sox take the field at Fenway Park for the first home game of the season on Friday, bringing life to the streets under the Citgo sign with familiar sights, sounds and smells. However, patrons attending the game will notice several changes inside the park.

“Cash is King” seems to be a phrase of the past as Fenway goes fully cashless for the 2022 season.

Fenway Park Going Cashless

“For convenience and to improve the speed of service, concession stands throughout the ballpark will only accept credit cards or touchless payment with smartphones,” said the MLB press release.

The vocal hawkers will now have cashless point-of-sale devices instead of a pocket full of bills. There will even be Cash-2-Card exchange kiosks for fans to load cash onto a debit card for use in the park, as well as any businesses that accept Mastercard.

Is It Really That Convenient?

I argue that this doesn’t make the service speedy at all, but rather encourages more headaches, like technological issues that could arise.

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One of my favorite parts of a ball game is watching a hawker sell a Fenway Frank to a person in the middle of a row. It becomes a team effort as people in the row pass down the hot dog, then they pass down the money.

Granted, I understand this system may not be the most sanitary option, but I grew up in Rhode Island, where it’s common to watch the guy behind the counter at Olneyville NY System stack the hot wieners up his arm while he dresses them with the works.

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t see a need for technological advances at a baseball park, especially the oldest baseball park in the league.

Other Improvements Making Their Debut at Fenway for 2022 Season

However, I can get on board with some of the other upgrades that fans will see on Friday.

New menu items, such as Sal’s Pizza and Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls, will be available.

The newly constructed, 8,800-square-foot, open-air concourse called “The Truly Terrace” will debut in the back of bleachers sections 39, 41, 42 and 43.

The 521 Overlook will also make its debut, a 7,600-square-foot event space located directly above the Truly Terrace, and there will be a new video board directly above the 521 Overlook, standing about 62 feet wide and 16 feet tall, to offer a bigger display than before.

If you are lucky enough to enjoy opening day at Fenway Park on Friday as the Sox host the Minnesota Twins, wear your red and blue and leave the cash at home.