How the Fenway Park Grounds Crew Makes Large-Scale Events Possible

A helicopter landing on the Fenway Park outfield. A bare-knuckle fighting ring covering home plate. The annual swap from a baseball field to a football gridiron.

Meet the Fenway Park Grounds Crew, the team that handles all of the above for Evergreen’s events, all while ensuring the Boston Red Sox never notice a thing.

Behind the Scenes of Fenway Park’s Large-Scale Events

Meet the Team

Derek Gauger, a lifetime Boston Red Sox fan from Maine, has led the department since the fall of 2024, but already had over a decade of experience at the ballpark before that promotion. The Michigan State University graduate with a turfgrass management degree secured an internship in 2012 while still in school, turned that into a full-time job in 2014, and hasn’t looked back since then. His whole life, he viewed Fenway as “the pinnacle,” and now he’s in charge of a Grounds Crew whose work means America’s Most Beloved Ballpark can host just about anything.

“We have a huge department to do shifts,” Gauger says. “It’s a grind. A lot of people think it’s all Red Sox. If anything, it’s busier when the team’s gone.”

“No Standard Day”

As Gauger puts it, “There is no standard day” for the Grounds Crew. One day, his team is ensuring a tip-top field for a triple-header – a Boston-based company’s batting practice in the morning, a kids clinic afterward, and an evening Red Sox game. The next, they may be working on Northeastern University’s graduation (“a mini-concert setup”), Spartan Race (which has run so long at Fenway that “it’s plug and play”), or a corporate event with field access for guests (“time management is the key”).

From “Hard Pass” to Possible

One-offs come around, too, such as the time he got approached with the idea of landing a helicopter in the outfield for the Secretaries’ Cup. Every new event starts with meetings, formal and informal, about what will and won’t work. Some rules never bend. For example, a forklift can never get on the grass. But while a “no” from Gauger is often an initial response to something brand new, he and his team usually find a way to accommodate some version of a grandiose idea.

In this case? The helicopter sat in the outfield as United States Merchant Marine Academy and United States Coast Guard Academy faced off on the gridiron. It took multiple site visits and endless conversation, but they got the unprecedented task done without any issues or damage to the playing surface.

Football Season at Fenway

Eventually, what Gauger terms the “big one” arrives. That is, of course, football season at Fenway Park, something that has become customary each year, with multiple games throughout November and December. Last year, that meant college football – including the Secretaries’ Cup and Holy Cross’ decades-in-the-making return to the ballpark – along with two high school football double-headers, flag football games, and finally the Fenway Bowl just after Christmas.

“We flip everything upside down and become a football grounds crew,” he says.

To Gauger, transitioning the baseball field into a football field is the “easy part.” Once that’s complete, the Grounds Crew has to maintain an unheated football field featuring a permanent shade line throughout the remainder of the calendar year. Yes, that’s as difficult as it sounds. Good thing, then, that we can rely on Gauger and the Grounds Crew.

What This Means For Your Event

When you’re watching football in the fall and winter, catching a replay of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s Massachusetts debut atop home plate, or checking out photos and videos of chips into the holes laid across the outfield as part of Upper Deck Golf’s run at Fenway Park, keep the Fenway Park Grounds Crew and their relentless and detailed work in mind.

If you want to plan an event of any kind on the field at Fenway Park, the Grounds Crew will do whatever it can to make it happen. For event planners, the team’s approach means that far more than baseball is possible on the historic field. Whether planning a sporting event, festival, concert, commencement, corporate takeover or something new, the Evergreen team can work with you to find a version of your vision that works.

Host Your Own Event at Fenway Park

From the planning stages to execution, Evergreen and the Fenway Park Grounds Crew work together to make events unforgettable on one of the most famous fields in sports. Reach out to speak with our team at Evergreen to learn more about the large-scale event possibilities at Fenway Park.