Foul Ball Safety Now Releases Latest Assessment of Heightened Risk of Foul Ball Injuries Throughout Professional Baseball
Industry: Sports
Baseball fans face dangerous conditions in professional ballparks with no netting past the ends of the dugouts.
Brooklyn, NY (PRUnderground) January 27th, 2025
A new research assessment labeled Exhibit A-1 by Foul Ball Safety Now shows approximately 70 MLB-affiliated professional league ballparks in North America lacked extended netting beyond the ends of the dugouts, as recently as the conclusion of the 2024 season. This has put the lives of fans of all ages at risk unnecessarily when solutions are readily available to safeguard them.
The situation is of heightened concern in the professional minor leagues, where there are at least five times as many games played — roughly 14,000 professional minor league baseball games played annually in the Professional Development League (PDL), and MLB-affiliated Partner Leagues and Rookie League.
“The installation of extended netting takes only a matter of days, not years. There is no excuse for further delay. MLB must be compelled — whether by legislation, regulation, litigation or all three — to immediately safeguard fans from high-speed foul balls throughout all of its affiliated leagues,” said Jordan Skopp, founder of Foul Ball Safety Now.
Based on data compiled from reputable sources, Foul Ball Safety Now conservatively calculates that 350,000 foul balls are struck each year in the minor leagues. According to research conducted by FiveThirtyEight, 49.9% of foul balls land in areas past the dugouts where many ballparks lack netting. Foul Ball Safety Now calculates from that report that 174,650 of the 350,000 foul balls may have landed in those unprotected zones annually in minor league ballparks.
“Many minor league ballparks offer free admission to young children, and provide kids’ playgrounds, picnic areas, food courts, and outfield lawns to attract families. Far from being a family-friendly environment, many of these areas are not protected by netting, leaving fans exposed to the risk of serious injury. There are also areas outside the facilities such as sidewalks and parking lots that are reachable by foul balls,” Skopp said.
While MLB announced upgraded netting requirements for its Professional Development League (PDL) that are supposed to take effect by opening day 2025, the status of netting remains to be verified. Approximately 40 teams in the PDL did not have extended netting beyond the dugouts as recently as the 2024 season.
The situation remains incredibly dangerous for fans at the lower professional league levels, with no improvements or enforcement of fan safety standards in sight.
About Foul Ball Safety Now
Foul Ball Safety Now! is a campaign started by Jordan Skopp, a Brooklyn realtor, lifelong baseball fan, and author of a forthcoming book about the wildly overlooked scandal in the professional baseball industry – the all-too-frequent incidence of fans being maimed by dangerous foul balls due to the lack of extended protective netting, and related failures to educate fans about their assumed risk at the ballgame. For more information, visit Foul Ball Safety Now https://www.foulballsafetynow.com/
