Play ball! Delta Dental strikes naming-rights deal for home of the Portland Sea Dogs

Night game hosted by the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field in Portland.

Photo / Jim Neuger The home of the Portland Sea Dogs has been renamed Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field. Shown here is the venue formerly known as Hadlock Field during a night game on July 30 between the Sea Dogs and the Erie (Pa.) SeaWolves.

Photo / Jim Neuger Hadlock Field will soon have a new sign that reads, "Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field." This was the scene outside the front gate on Sept. 12, 2021, before that season's last home game.

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By Renee Cordes

Starting next spring, the Portland Sea Dogs will no longer play professional baseball at Hadlock Field, but at a hometown stadium renamed as Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field.

The new identity of the 7,368-seat ballpark, at 271 Park Ave. in Portland, was unveiled in an event behind home plate Thursday afternoon.

Some people there remarked how the mild, sunny weather would have been perfect for a ballgame — had the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox made this year’s playoffs.

Financial terms of the naming-rights agreement with Northeast Delta Dental, a dental insurance company, were not disclosed. The deal covers the next 10 years with the possibility for renewal, and comes amid renovations at the stadium that are expected to be complete by next spring.

Geoff Iacuessa, president and general manager of the Sea Dogs, told Mainebiz that the team had “actively-passively” been looking for a naming-rights sponsor and started talking to Delta Dental this spring.

“We wanted to make sure we found somebody that shared our commitment to the community — it wasn’t just going to be anybody and anything, so somebody that bought into what Minor League Baseball is about," he said.

"It’s important what happens here at the ballpark, but it’s equally and almost more important what happens out in the community.”

Community commitment

Under the arrangement, Delta Dental will donate 20 general admission tickets for each of the Sea Dogs’ 69 regular season home games to a local nonprofit or youth organization. The contribution is part of the Building Communities program.

Delta Dental will also continue its “Brush and Floss Challenge” with the Sea Dogs, which rewards kids with a complimentary Sea Dogs ticket for properly taking care of their teeth.

“We wanted to make a 10-year investment to help grow with the Sea Dogs, but also make a commitment to the community for a decade, and to really start getting more people to go to the dentist,” said Tom Raffio, president and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental.

Photo / Renee Cordes

Slugger the Sea Dogs mascot and Tom Raffio, president and CEO of Northeast Delta Dental.

For Delta Dental Northeast, part of a nationwide network of nonprofit providers serving Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, the agreement comes more than a dozen years after it signed on as the naming sponsor of Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, N.H. — home of the Fisher Cats, who play in the same division as the Sea Dogs.

“Statistically, based on our experience in New Hampshire, we know that many people that go to the baseball games don’t necessarily have dental coverage through their employer, so this is going to give us an oral health message,” Raffio said. “And then subscribers’ kids will earn tickets to the game — it allows us to get the message out. Secondarily, it helps the parents, too.

“We have all of that 10-year-history in Manchester, N.H, so we know it works,” he added. “It was a natural when we were approached with the naming opportunity.”

Betting on a long-term relationship with the Sea Dogs, he said that “after the first five [years], we’ll probably renew it for another 10. We’re here for the long haul.”

On a personal note, Raffio confessed to being a lifelong Red Sox fan, like his late father who "hung on" until after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.

Image / Courtesy of Portland Sea Dogs

The new logo, designed by Ted Seavey of Seaboard Studios in Saco.

The new name will be featured on the facade of the building and prominently displayed in the park. The name will also be featured in marketing and promotional materials.

A new logo featuring the Delta Dental name and a green and white lighthouse has been created by former Sea Dogs employee Ted Seavey, founder and CEO of Seaboard Studios in Saco. The lighthouse pays homage to the small-scale lighthouse that pops up in the outfield after every Sea Dogs home run and win.

Paying homage to original namesake

For the Sea Dogs, it was important to continue to pay homage to the stadium's original namesake, the late Edson Hadlock Jr., a longtime Portland High School baseball coach and physics teacher.

Asked when the new name will appear on the stadium facade, a spokesman for the team said that was yet to be determined and that signage is still in the design phase.

“I love the logo,” Iacuessa told Mainebiz on the field Thursday, noting the lighthouse. “That was really important to both us and to Delta Dental to capture something that was so iconic Maine.”

As for merchandise with the new logo, he said, “There could be. There’s none right now, but we might see something this off-season.”

The Portland Sea Dogs, founded by the Burke family in 1994, were acquired by Diamond Baseball Holdings in 2022.