Colorado baseball team cancels event sponsored by pro-life groups hours before first pitch
By Cassy Fiano-Chesser
A family night sponsored by two Colorado pro-life organizations for a minor league baseball team was canceled just hours before the game was scheduled to start, and after the organizations had already spent thousands of dollars and expended extra time increasing ticket sales for the event.
The Rocky Mountain Vibes plays in the Pioneer League, which is an MLB Partner League. Save the Storks and Pikes Peak Citizens for Life sponsored a family night at UC Health Park, helping to sell over 3,000 tickets for the game.
According to Diane Ferraro, CEO of Save the Storks, the Vibes reached out to them regarding sponsorship. “So they were very aware of what we do and what we stand for,” she said in an interview with Live Action News. “Normally they’ll have 1,000 people at one of their games, and because we had been helping to promote it, they had over 3,000 tickets sold.”
Yet Ferraro said she was informed that team owners had been receiving calls from people who said they were canceling their season tickets over the pro-life sponsorships, though Ferraro believes there may be other reasons for the event’s cancellation. “We are a very pro-life area in Colorado Springs. Focus on the Family is here, Compassion International is here, there are five military bases here… Colorado Springs is very conservative, though the state is blue,” she said. “UC Health owns the stadium and we’ve heard they were a big part of the decision.”
Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Matt Hammitt and his son, Bowen, who recently sang the National Anthem at a Detroit Tigers game, were also scheduled to sing at the event. Their invitations to perform were rescinded as well. Save the Storks’ Community Relations Manger, Luke Vercollone, had been scheduled to throw out the first pitch.
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