Falling bobblehead sparks bill requiring upper deck nets at Minnesota stadiums

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A man injured by a falling bobblehead at Target Field has prompted Minnesota lawmakers to consider forcing teams to install more protective netting in their stadiums.

"It felt like a chunk of the ceiling cement had fallen," Doug Johnson told the Senate Labor committee during a Wednesday morning hearing. "I played a little bit of professional hockey and I’ve been hit many times in the head. I don’t know if I’ve been hit as hard as this hit me in the head."

The legislation authored by state Sen. Steve Cwodzinski, DFL-Eden Prairie, would affect any team that has more than one seating tier. The Senate committee approved an amendment that would require the protective nets to extend at least one foot from the edge of the upper deck, but the panel did not vote on the bill itself.

The Minnesota Twins oppose the requirement, which a team executive told senators would be the first of its kind in the country. Representatives for Minnesota's other professional sports teams did not testify.

A man injured by a falling bobblehead at Target Field has prompted Minnesota lawmakers to consider forcing teams to install more protective netting in stadiums.

Johnson said he had just settled into his seat for the Twins' Sept. 25 game when a bobblehead tumbled from a suite above him and hit him in the head, leaving Johnson bloodied. At the game, the Twins had given away 10,000 bobbleheads of former first baseman Justin Morneau as the team inducted Morneau into its Hall of Fame.

Dave Horsman, the Twins' vice president of ballpark operations, said similar incidents had only happened a handful of times over his 27 years with the team.

"It's really very rare," Horsman told the committee as he spoke against the bill. "In my view, this represents a logistically difficult and cost prohibitive reaction to what really is an isolated incident." 
Installing nets around the upper deck at Target Field would be expensive, time consuming, and would block video boards, closed captioning boards, and advertisements, he said.

Doug Johnson testified before the Senate Labor committee during a Wednesday morning hearing about the necessity for more netting in stadiums. 

All 30 Major League Baseball teams have extended protective nets down the foul lines in recent years after high-profile incidents of fans getting hit by batted balls. But no teams have installed upper decks nets, Horsman said.

Cwodzinski said he had a meeting with some teams this week to gather feedback and planned to keep the conversation going.

"One of the stakeholders yesterday said well, what about the Orpheum (Theatre)? What about the State Theatre? What about the Ordway (Center for the Performing Arts?" Cwodzinski said. "These are all things... that we’re working through. We just want people to be safe."