What do you call a few barstools in Fenway?

As a member of Red Sox Nation, the team's official fan club, Dreama Briley helped pioneer a new game-day experience. Just over a week ago, after paying $557, she and a friend were among the first to view a Fenway Park game from the Nation's Nest, a new section near the Green Monster.

''It's just a space under the Bank of America scoreboard in left center field," said Red Sox chief operating officer Mike Dee. ''We've put some bar stools out there. There's room for about 10" people.

Briley, 43, acknowledged that some might regard what she paid for two tickets as ''extravagant," but the West Hartford, Conn., resident decided to go for it.

''I thought, 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' " she said.

For the season's final home games, the Red Sox website is auctioning Nation's Nest tickets. Only the 45,000 folks who paid $9.95 to become members of the Red Sox Nation are eligible to bid.

Though some other teams auction tickets, this is a Red Sox first, said Dee, adding there are no plans to set aside existing seats in the future for auction.

According to the Red Sox Nation website, many Nation's Nest bids ranged from $700 to nearly $1,000.

''That, frankly, shocked us," Dee said.

With the Sox in a pennant race and tickets scarce for the Major Leagues' smallest ballpark, high prices seemed less surprising to Bob Bowman, chief executive of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which is often referred to as MLB.com.

''In April, I'm not sure you'd see this kind of activity," he said.

Money generated by Red Sox Nation, including auction proceeds, is shared by the Red Sox and MLB.com, which is owned by the 30 Major League teams and which operates team websites.

Winning bidders receive two tickets, two T-shirts, two Green Monster batting practice passes, and one parking pass. Winners also get a VIP tour, Dee said.

Summing up her Nest experience, Briley said, ''They treated us like kings and queens."

Many consumers enjoy special access to concerts and sporting events and gladly pay for it, said Larry Moulter, the former head of the FleetCenter and chief executive of Vert, a digital-display technology company.

''People want exclusivity, privilege, and access," he said.

''Fenway has limited capacity," added Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economics professor who studies sports and who, in an e-mail, described the Nest promotion as ''ingenious." The Red Sox, he said, ''need to identify all the revenue sources they can."

With Boston's World Series victory last year, the team moved to offer more special experiences for euphoric fans, particularly through Red Sox Nation.

Among other rewards, dues-paying members get first crack at tickets for special events and access to MLB.com's Gameday Audio, which lets fans listen to radio broadcasts of games on personal computers.

According to Dr. Charles Steinberg, the team's executive vice president of public affairs, Nation membership is ideal for fans living far from Boston who want to stay ''emotionally connected" to the team.

Dee envisions offering more Nation experiences next year, including tickets to road games featuring extras such as lunch with Sox announcer Jerry Remy.

As for her otherwise ''awesome" Nation's Nest experience, Briley had one quibble: The Red Sox lost the game.

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.