Seth Vigdor
A big topic of discussion during the winter meetings for Major League Baseball has been about adding protective netting to stadiums across the league for safety reasons. The Phillies already had planned to add netting to Citizens Bank Park. They were just waiting for MLB before doing so.
MLB has now come forward and recommended that the Phillies proceed with their original plans to do so. It’s just a recommendation, it’s not mandatory. However, the move makes total sense to help protect fans from potentially very dangerous situations.
Phillies to extend protective netting at CBP next season. https://t.co/h4AHLljlvF pic.twitter.com/sRwzN2S16x
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) December 9, 2015
In regards to the netting expansion at Citizens Bank Park, the #Phillies figure it should only affect about 400-500 seats
— Stephen Gross (@Stephen_Gross23) December 10, 2015
Here’s from the Phillies press release:
The Phillies announced today, in response to new protective netting recommendations from Major League Baseball, that they plan to expand the area covered by their netting at Citizens Bank Park to conform to the MLB recommendations. Phillies Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Michael R. Stiles said: “We intend to comply with Major League Baseball’s new recommendations. We anticipate that such compliance will require us to expand our protective netting behind home plate about 10 feet in width on both sides, reaching to the near side of each dugout. We also plan to replace all of our existing netting with newer material which is as strong, but thinner and more easily viewed through. We understand that our fans differ in their opinions about sitting behind protective netting and we will do our best to accommodate those different preferences. We will take the opportunity in the upcoming season to remind all of our fans about the importance of being alert to the possibility of balls and bats entering the stands throughout the ballpark. We also anticipate that a similar modest expansion of protective netting will be installed at Bright House Field, our spring training ballpark in Clearwater, Fla., to conform to the MLB recommendations.”
Safety first everyone! I’m glad to see MLB using common sense here.
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