DETROIT – Even though the Detroit Tigers’ home opener is still eight days away, Wednesday was a chance to get a preview of everything Tigers fans will be getting in on during the 2026 season.
“We’ve spent a lot of time this offseason asking fans what they want,” Ryan Gustafson, President and CEO of Ilitch Sports and Entertainment, said during the “What’s New” event at Comerica Park on Wednesday (March 25) morning.
“We’re going to see new premium seating areas, which is something that we heard a lot about with our press club and our Motor City Club,” Gustafson said. “We’ve expanded our promotions calendar, including two concerts that we just announced today with Nelly and Flo Rida, and then continuing the evolution of our food offerings is something that people talked about a lot today.”
The team rolled out their announcement of where fans can watch their games on their new Detroit Sports Net Cable channels on Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the Tigers open the season in San Diego against the Padres.
“We really appreciate the fans’ patience; I know this hasn’t been easy,” Gustafson said. “This is very much in line with, like, how this normally works in the industry. These agreements usually go down to the last couple of days, and this isn’t something that we’re surprised by.”
There will also be plenty of new food options, including Detroit favorites like Slow’s BBQ, Taqueria El Rey, and the Fairway Packing Company.
The Tigers also fully rolled out their updated uniforms, which place greater emphasis on orange and feature a modified logo that shows a Tiger for the first time in more than a decade.
“We love our Tiger,” Elandra McConney, the head of retail for the Tigers, said. “We’re loud and proud about it.”
She says the return of the Tiger to the logo and merchandise is part of the team’s effort to reach a new generation of fans who have gotten into the team after back-to-back trips to the postseason, as well as during the team’s 125th Anniversary season.
“We have a lot, a lot of fans from older generations that just know and love the Tigers,” McConney said. “We’re happy to see that orange come back.”
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