PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) - The home opener for the Portland Sea Dogs is just around the corner, and fans heading to Hadlock Field this season will be noticing one major change.
The Sea Dogs have added protective netting around the length of the entire field, extending up and down the left and right field lines, to protect fans from line drive foul balls. The team emailed season ticket holders over the winter to let them know about the change. For the most part, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
Some fans were concerned the netting would interfere with their sight lines, but Sea Dogs vice-president and general manager Geoff Iacuessa says safety has to come first.
"We just wanted to make sure we're providing the most enjoyable experience for the fans...thought this was the way to go," said Iacuessa. "We worked a lot through the off-season trying to plan it...wanted to make sure we put up as few posts as possible up. so we wouldn't obstruct the view of the fans and we were able to pull that off."
The field itself is in good shape and ready for opening day which is Friday, April 13th. Usually opening day tickets are hard to come by. That may be especially true this year. That's because former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow will be playing for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, against the Sea Dogs. Tebow's football career is over but he's now trying to reinvent himself as a baseball player.
