LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The organ played as fans filed into Louisville Slugger Field on July 8, but the scoreboard announced a deliberate change: Nothing Night. The Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A affiliate advertised a game with only traditional ballpark sounds — an organ, the public-address announcer, players, fans, the crack of the bat and the pop of the mitt — and no stadium DJ, walk-up songs, between-pitch sound effects, in-game ads or light shows. Bats director of marketing Vincent Zielen called the experiment “Savannah Bananas on steroids.”
The shift toward an arena-like presentation is evident beyond novelty nights. Teams across Major League Baseball, with the encouragement of some players, have increased music, lighting and sound effects throughout games in recent years, aiming to keep fans engaged and focus attention once inside the ballpark.
Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who experienced Nothing Night while on a rehab assignment with the Omaha Storm Chasers, said the louder environment “feels bigger” and can amplify moments late in games. “When it’s louder, it definitely locks you in a little bit,” Pasquantino said, though he added he was left unimpressed by the experiment.
The New York Yankees have been among the most visible examples of the trend. The organ remains, but recorded music now plays before pregame batting practice and continues through most of the game, accompanied by lighting and sound effects that pause only for pitches. Yankees spokesperson Jason Zillo said the club added speakers near the dugouts in 2022 and behind home plate in 2023 and adjusted speaker angles, and then in 2024 introduced an in-house DJ at every game. Zillo said those changes followed visits to other stadiums and player input from Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge; Judge told the New York Daily News he has requested a more booming atmosphere since arriving in the Bronx.
Zillo described a reimagining of in-game programming “to create an atmosphere with more tempo and pace,” including chant prompts, sound effects, deejays and music drops to fill idle time. He said the Yankees calculated that 17.2% of pitches last season resulted in a ball in play, down from 19.7% in 2009, and that the team is combating fans’ cellphones for attention on nearly 83% of pitches, comparing phones’ attention-smothering quality to the One Ring in “The Lord of the Rings.”
