Yankees to unveil new scoreboard and video boards at Yankee Stadium at Friday's home opener

When fans walk into Yankee Stadium on Friday for the home opener, they will see something new.

Not on the field, as the Yankees will have pretty much the same players as when they ended the 2025 season.

Instead, fans will be greeted by a new, state-of-the-art, 5,900-square foot centerfield scoreboard. The Yankees replaced the one that had been there since the stadium opened in 2009 (also the last time the Yankees won the World Series).

The Yankees also have upgraded the two smaller boards that flank the main scoreboard and the ribbon displays mounted on the 200 and 300 seating levels.

Why now? Well, it was time.

“Over time, obviously, as technology advances, it became increasingly more difficult to find replacement parts and things along those lines,” Doug Behar, the team’s senior vice president of stadium operations, told Newsday in a recent telephone interview. “The technology improved dramatically and we felt it was definitely the right time.”

Unlike the Mets — who tripled the size of their centerfield scoreboard when they unveiled a 17,400-square foot behemoth at Citi Field in 2023 — the Yankees decided to keep the same footprint.

Oscar Fernandez, the Mets’ senior vice president of technology solutions, told Newsday in 2023: “Bigger was better.”

The Yankees say they went with better but decided against bigger.

“There were some quick discussions about [changing the size],” Behar said. “But candidly — and I'll use your home as a reference — if you have your big-screen TV over your fireplace, and it's the right size and the right experience, bigger always isn't always better. We felt like the resolution was going to really enhance the fan experience.”

Tech aficionados will be happy to learn the main scoreboard will remain 59 feet high by 100 feet wide, “but will now feature 8-millimeter pixel spacing to deliver higher resolution imagery with wider angle visibility,” according to a statement the team provided to Newsday. “The display is capable of variable content zoning, allowing multiple active windows — with items such as live video, replays, graphics, animation, statistics and sponsorship messaging — to run simultaneously.”

The two smaller boards, which are 24 feet high by 59 feet wide, will also feature 8-millimeter pixel spacing to match the main board. The ribbon boards will have 10-millimeter pixel spacing, and additional paneling has been added to the 200 level to create more of a surround feel in the ballpark.

“Certainly, the resolution is going to be off the charts,” Behar said. “You've seen from your own household as we went from standard def to high def to 4K, those changes are dramatic and it changes the experience completely.”

Putting in new scoreboards is no easy feat because for a baseball stadium it has to be done during the winter. As you may be aware, the New York area had a brutal, snow-filled winter.

But the work had to be done. So it was.

“It was considerably challenging,” Behar said. “We thought we were going to have to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day. We had a very short schedule. While we still worked seven days a week, we kept it to 12- to 16-hour days.

“It wasn't just the snowfall that we had. I'm sure you remember how cold it was during that stretch of about three weeks where we were below freezing every day, and with the wind we were in the negative temperatures. The men and women on this project were out there in the cold hanging panels and connecting and doing all the things that they needed to do.”

How much did it cost? The Yankees, like the Mets in 2023, declined to say.

“It’s a fair question,” Behar said. “These projects obviously aren’t cheap. It was a project that everyone here thought was well worth the effort.”

Was it? You can be the judge starting on Friday.

Just look up.