I won't argue against ticket revenue as one reason but the Red Sox are not stupid so why a Friday night in June?
Attendance by day of the week last year:
Monday 36,760
Tuesday 35,971
Wednesday 35,784
Thursday 36,597
Friday 36,760
Saturday 37,316
Sunday 36,526 (day games probably drop this down since sec. 34/35 are blocked)
Last year's attendance by month:
April 34,549
May 35,400
June 36,927
July 37,229
August 37,525
Sept 37,687
Pedro, Rice and Boggs were on a Tuesday, Tuesday, and Thursday respectively. If it was truly an attendance grab first and foremost why not a Tuesday or Wednesday in April or May when there's no other promotion already scheduled (get a Dave Dombrowski bobblehead!) to give you the most potential upside? I get that maybe you've got to work around Ortiz' schedule a bit but I'm sure they could have found a workable date that maximizes the ticket sales.