Summer nights are always well spent under the glow of stadium lights. I feel lucky to have a baseball team, literally in the backyard of my attended, and now esteemed, university to cheer on during the summer. The Orem Owlz are a staple in this Utah Valley community.
I’m sure that many of us share fond memories of the hot dogs, homeruns, and hoots from time spent in the Brent Brown Ballpark. As for those of us that truly love baseball and the nights on the field, I think I can easily say that the cancellation of the Owlz game during the UVUphoria celebration due to the really cool (cough) concert’s lengthy stage set-up time was a farce.
I’m sure the inconvenience has been felt not only by enthusiastic fans, such as myself, but by event coordinators, Owlz affiliates and the community alike. That the cancellation of the game is more than just a rescheduling event to these groups is something that deserves reflection.
Players come to the Owlz to prepare them to play for the Anaheim Angels. Once the fat is trimmed and they are in prime playing condition, they are off to play Angels ball. That being said, the glamour of the Major League is not there to draw in a packed game every night the Owlz play. An estimated 2,000 people attend the games on a regular game night, with Sunday games being lucky to scrape in 200 fans.
UVUphoria was going to expose this team to more fans and respectfully, more money. To pack the ballpark would have been an enormously positive thing for the Owlz. But the game, as you may well know, has been rescheduled to play (now as a double-header) on Sunday. Since the trend shows a severely low turn-out to games on Sundays in Utah County, the Owlz have offered to exchange the tickets for the cancelled game to any other during their season. Which, on the Owlz’ part, is quite accommodating to something that seriously wrecked their chance at making big bucks with concessions sales and the fame of being an integral part of the big events happening on June 30.
Fans are feeling the grit of the cancellation because the main reason for getting tickets to this specific match was to be a part of the game that ushered in the school’s official status change. If fans do exchange tickets for a later, different date, they will still miss that experience which was sought in the first place.
But no ticket exchange at all is what I fear the worst. The Owlz need the fans and the community support and hopefully, they still earn it. It’s sad to see that the much-needed publicity of one of our community allies is now put on hold for the honky-tonk of highly paid superstars.
