Twins unveil updated technology ahead of 2023 season
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Just two days before the start of the new season, the Minnesota Twins are showing off the technology updates fans will notice this season at Target Field.
The biggest update, literally, is the team’s new scoreboard. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS got a peek at the construction of the new main scoreboard back in January.
As part of a $29.5 million project, the team replaced the main video board above the left-center field seats with a board that’s 57 feet tall and 178 feet wide, making it the sixth-largest video board in the entire league and 76% bigger than the video board that had been in place since the stadium opened.
The club also replaced the other video boards, making them larger and adding new LED displays that total more than 13.1 million LEDs, the team says. The $29.5 million project also covered the replacement of all previous video board control room equipment ahead of last season.
The Twins say the scoreboard project was the most expansion renovation of Target Field since it opened in 2010.
This picture from inside Target Field on March 28, 2023, shows the new, larger main video board and the updated Minnie & Paul sign. (Credit: Connor Cunningham/Minnesota Twins)
Additionally, the club updated the “Minnie & Paul” celebration sign above the centerfield seats and added a revolving, illuminated baseball medallion atop “Twins Tower” in the right field corner.
While Target Field already had the Minnie & Paul sign, the update gives them mechanical arms that will allow them to actually shake hands instead of having a shifting light display.
The baseball medallion is a geodesic sphere that rotates around an internal “TC” logo. The sphere measures 12 feet in diameter and the TC is 9 feet tall.
Finally, the Twins partnered with Evolv Technology to serve as the club’s official fan screening technology for this season, making Target Field the first professional sports venue in the state to feature Evolv’s express screening.
According to the Twins, the technology will be implemented at each entrance of Target Field, allowing fans to enter without always having to stop and open bags or wait to be individually checked.
The club says Evolv uses powerful sensor technology with artificial intelligence for more accurate threat detection while allowing fans to more easily flow into the ballpark.
Minnesota officially starts the new season Thursday in Kansas City before playing at Target Field for the first time this year on April 6.