Rays Pride Night
MLBBy Andrew Coppens on

The Tampa Bay Rays were about to celebrate Pride Night — a night dedicated to the LGBT community — this Friday. But, given the events of this past weekend in Orlando, the Rays have announced plans to dedicate the night to the victims of the mass-shooting at the Pulse night club.

According to the release, tickets for the game against the San Francisco Giants will be discounted to $5 for any open seat and 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit the Pulse Victims Fund.

There is more to the night than just donating the proceeds to help those who were killed or wounded in the attack too. ‘We Are Orlando’ shirts will be given to all in attendance, and blood drives will be held before the games on both Friday and Saturday.

Here are the full details of the planned Pride Night at Tropicana Field, via the Rays.

  • Proceeds from the team’s daily 50/50 raffle will also benefit the Pulse Victims Fund and additional donation centers will be located at the ballpark.
  • OneBlood will hold blood drives at Tropicana Field starting at 4 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. for Saturday’s 4:10 game. Donors will receive a OneBlood T-shirt and a pair of tickets to a future Rays game.
  • The National Anthem and God Bless America will performed by Una Voce, the Florida Men’s Chorale.
  • There will be a video pre-recorded by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.
  •  Major League Baseball’s Vice President of Social Responsibility and Inclusion Billy Bean will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and Senior Vice President, Diversity and Strategic Alliances Wendy Lewis will also be in attendance.
  • The Rays and Giants will also observe a moment of silence while the names of the Orlando shooting victims will be scrolled on the video board.
  • Parking will be $5 in Rays controlled parking lots.

The Rays aren’t the only team dedicating their Pride Night to the Orlando victims – the Oakland Athletics, who have long supported LGBT rights, are doing the same for Tuesday’s Pride Night at O.co Coliseum.

[Tampa Bay Rays]

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!

View all posts by Andrew Coppens