St. Paul Saints celebrate 'Nopening Day' with curbside t-shirt giveaway, virtual on-field entertainment

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - With their season postponed due to the global pandemic, the St. Paul Saints are turning what was supposed to be their opening day into a different kind of celebration, which they have dubbed “Nopening Day.”

The idea for Nopening Day came up almost a joke right before Minnesota’s stay-at-home order was announced. Then, when it became a reality that there would be no opening day on May 19, they ran with it.

St. Paul Saints opening day turns into Nopening Day

The St. Paul Saints are turning what was supposed to be their opening day Tuesday into a different kind of celebration they are calling "Nopening Day."

The fun starts at 5:30 p.m. with a Nopening Day curbside t-shirt giveaway to the first 500 in front of CHS Field. Fans can pull their car up to Broadway Street between 5th and 6th streets. The team will hand out two shirts per car.

At 6 p.m., fans can watch a replay of the first game at CHS Field—Opening Day 2015—on the Saint’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The team will incorporate live on-field events, but they will happen at the homes of the “ushertainers” and front office staff. They will also honor frontline workers throughout the broadcast.

“We wanted to give a sense of what it’s like being at the ballpark even though we can’t,” said Sean Aronson, Saints vice president and director of media relations and broadcasting, told FOX 9. “We want to bring entertainment into the homes of people who were looking forward to going to the game or even if they didn’t have tickets and are just looking for something different for a night and we’re trying to give them that.”

The American Association of Independent Baseball was able to push back the start of the season to July, so the Saints are still preparing for a season and hopeful it will happen, especially since they are the defending champions.