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What to expect at the Twins Home Opener and the 2021 season

Fans will see a lot of changes at the ballpark this year, including new food and drink options, zip tied seats, and other safety improvements.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins home opener is just two days away.

Ten thousand lucky fans will get to see the game in person this year, but it won’t be business as usual at the ballpark.

The play on the field will be the same, but fans will notice a lot of changes at Target Field this season.

Team officials have partnered with 3M to set up signs and stickers throughout the stadium to warn fans about various safety measures.

“There are stickers on the ground here to remind fans to stay at least six feet apart when they line up at the gate,” Twins spokesman Matt Hodson says.

Fans will also be asked a few health screening questions when they enter through the gate.

“They’ll ask three questions, like ‘are you experiencing any symptoms?’ ‘Have you been exposed?”’ Hodson says.

Fans will then be asked to walk through a metal detector, but Hodson says fans won’t have to empty out their pockets this season.

“This is to reduce unnecessary contact,” Hodson says.

The bag policy is also changing this season.

Fans will not be allowed to bring in bags, unless they meet a few criteria.

"Diaper bags, medically necessary items, or a purse nine inches by five inches will be allowed,” Hodson says.

The team is also moving to digital tickets this season.

Every fan who walks through the gate will have to download the MLB Ballpark App so they can download a digital ticket to the game.

Fans will have to pull up this digital ticket on their phones so a scanner can verify their ticket.

The team also made a lot of changes to its food and drink offerings this season.

Fans can still order their food and drinks the old-fashioned way by walking up to the vendor and placing an order.

They can also use the MLB Ballpark App to order and pay for their food.

The app will notify fans when their order is ready to be picked up.

Hodson says this system was created to minimize social contact and to keep fans and workers safe.

Team officials say they are also adding several new menu options this season to give fans more variety to choose from.

However, due to safety concerns, the team has also decided to eliminate a few food and drink options that pose a health risk.

"You're not going to see a lot of draft beer options. We'll do a lot of packaged beer, a lot of packaged soda,” food and beverage manager Peter Spike says.

“You’re not going to see a lot of large helmet nachos and things like that that could be exposed to the air.”

And when you go to find your seat, you'll probably notice the zip ties.

Nearly three-quarters of the seats at Target Field will be zip tied to prevent fans from using them.

Team officials say they’re spacing out fans into pods of two or four people.

These safety procedures and the capacity limit of 10,000 fans will be in place for the first 17 home games of the season.

Team officials say they’re hoping to increase capacity later this season.


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