PITTSBURGH — Friday marks the Home Opener for the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, but fans are looking ahead to the entire season with many great events and promotions to look forward to.
When it comes to ballpark food, PNC Park’s team of chefs have created brand new menu items that are quite an upgrade from peanuts and Cracker Jacks.
Fans can now buy a Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich, loaded pulled pork pierogis, fried pickle curds, a new “river” dog, and an all-star burger. Home opener attendees could even take advantage of a fried fish sandwich — a one-day-only special for Good Friday.
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“We have a great culinary team, Chef Gabor and Chef Mark, who put in a lot of time this off-season,” said Brian Hediger, Aramark general manager. “The Pirates put significant investment in the building, purchasing new equipment and renovating some concession stands for us that really allowed us to elevate everyone’s ballpark favorites.”
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As for other new features, the new scoreboard is twice the size of the previous one, and state-of-the-art security technology allows for quicker fan entrance.
Once inside, fans can take advantage of this season’s promotional events — including Kids Days and several bobblehead nights.
“Baseball and bobbleheads go hand and hand. I’m really excited about all of those. There’s one for O’Neil Cruz, there’s one for David Bednar, we’ve got a Ke’Bryan Hayes one,” said Stephen Perkins, executive VP of marketing and fan engagement for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Free Shirt Fridays include Hawaiian shirt night and throwbacks to the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Perkins said it’s a way to bring back old Pirates logos and reintroduce them to fans, with a sense of nostalgia.
“That’s one of the wonderful things about this brand and this franchise is just the legacy of the Pirates, and as a marketer, we have one of the coolest logos in sports, and that logo has evolved over time,” Perkins said.
Visit the Pittsburgh Pirates website for a full calendar of promotional events.
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