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Orem Owlz move two games to Ogden after LoveLoud Festival caused damage to field

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Imagine Dragons perform at the LoveLoud Festival at Brent Brown Ballpark at UVU campus, Saturday, August 26, 2017.

The Orem Owlz will move two of the team’s final seven regular season home games to Ogden after a music festival damaged the Brent Brown Ballpark field. 

Wednesday and Thursday night’s games will be played at the Ogden Raptors’ Lindquist Field after equipment and the crowd at the LoveLoud Festival damaged the field on Aug. 26. 

Owlz general manager Rick Berry said the team’s groundskeepers and outside groups, including workers from the Salt Lake Bees’ grounds crew, will lay down new sod, patch holes and fix ruts from forklifts brought in for the concert and damage from the large crowd. 

“The first and foremost is the player safety,” Owlz general manager Rick Berry said. ”We just want to make sure the field is ready to play when we do play.” 

Both games will start at 6:30 p.m. in Ogden and admission will be free with festival style seating. Tickets purchased for the Orem home games will be honored at a future 2017 Owlz game. 

“Fortunately for us, we were playing Ogden already,” Berry said. ”So it didn‘t make it as big of a move as it could have been if we were playing one of the other teams.” 

The LoveLoud Festival featured bands including Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees as a means to spark dialogue about and benefit LGBTQ organizations. 

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Imagine Dragons perform at the LoveLoud Festival at Brent Brown Ballpark at UVU campus, Saturday, August 26, 2017.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Imagine Dragons perform at the LoveLoud Festival at Brent Brown Ballpark at UVU campus, Saturday, August 26, 2017.

Berry said some of the damage was ”to be expected,” but was ”a little bit more than what we anticipated.” He added that he supported the theme of the concert. 

“The concert was the right thing to do at the right time,” he said. ”That was the only date that they could squeeze it in, so it is what it is.” 

The Owlz will lose two games of revenue to Ogden, but the defending 2016 Pioneer League Champions have already secured home field playoff advantage as the season winds down. 

“It really doesn‘t affect us as far as the playoff chase,” Berry said. ”So that’s the good part.”