ST. PETERSBURG – A new collectible T-shirt series on Fridays and the return of the Rays Summer Concert Series highlight the Rays 2010 promotion schedule.
The schedule includes 42 dates focused primarily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday games at Tropicana Field.
At Friday games, themed this season as Friday Fests, the first 10,000 fans will receive a collectible T-shirt presented by the St. Petersburg Times. Friday Fests will also include postgame fireworks, drink and food specials, special prize giveaways, postgame parties and much more.
“Friday Fest will kick off the weekend with the same excitement and added value as our Saturday and Sunday games, which have been our best-attended dates,” said Rays President Matt Silverman. “We’ll continue to energize Saturdays with our greatest concert series to date, and Sundays will remain oriented toward families with more affordable pricing options and creative giveaway items for kids.”
Rays Saturday Nights, presented by Bright House Sports Network, will once again feature the Summer Concert Series presented by Hess Express with 10 exciting postgame concerts.
The concert lineup will be released later this month. Since the concert series debuted in 2008, the Rays have gone 16-2 and averaged more than 30,000 fans on those dates.
All 13 Sunday games will feature giveaways for the first 10,000 kids 14 and younger including a bobblehead series of Evan Longoria, David Price, Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza.
The Sunday giveaway schedule for kids also includes:
• April 25 vs. Blue Jays: Zorilla Gorilla Webkinz, a collectible stuffed animal bearing Rays Manager Joe Maddon’s nickname for Ben Zobrist, courtesy of Sun Sports.
• May 2 vs. Royals: Flying Carl Crawford action figure equipped with a parachute, courtesy of RE/MAX.
• May 30 vs. White Sox: Carlos Peña action figure toothbrush holder, the first produced by a major league team, courtesy of Chevrolet.
• Aug. 1 vs. Yankees: Growth chart featuring the tallest Ray, 6-foot, 9-inch Jeff Niemann, courtesy of Grow Financial.
The season-opening series with the Baltimore Orioles includes two popular giveaways. On Wednesday, April 7 the first 10,000 fans will receive a pair of Joe Maddon glasses, a promotion the Rays first introduced in 2006, Maddon’s first season as manager. The glasses are courtesy of Match Up Promotions.
On Thursday, April 8, the first 10,000 fans will receive a Rays Super Cowbell, an oversized version of the Rays signature noisemaker equipped with a special hand grip, courtesy of Chick-fil-A.
Rays season tickets and group tickets are currently on sale. Single-game tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, Feb. 26 exclusively through rays baseball.com and through all other outlets, including the Gate 1 Tropicana Field Box Office on Saturday, Feb. 27.
For more information, contact the Rays at 888-FAN-RAYS or visit raysbaseball.com.
Thomas Gemkow is the editor-in-chief of TampaBayRaysFan.com. Founded in January of 2009, TampaBayRaysFan.com is a compilation of all the best of the Rays, from across the web. The website can be followed on Twitter
