A 'Cosmic' Fourth of July Weekend ahead in Buffalo

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - An event of "Cosmic" proportions is coming to Buffalo this Fourth of July Weekend.

Cosmic Baseball is making a stop on their "Cosmic Takeover Tour" to Sahlen Field this Friday and Saturday night for an Independence holiday event that has never been seen before in Buffalo.

"This is going to be a very unique and special event here," said Brad Bisbing, assistant general manager of the Buffalo Bisons.

Having been featured on "The Today Show", ABC News, Sports Illustrated, MLB Network and more, Cosmic Baseball provides an electrifying, glow-in-the-dark twist to the game for fans of all ages. Fans will watch the Chili Peppers and Glow Mojis take the field this weekend for games under black lights with neon uniforms, UV-reactive baseballs, and fireworks at the end of each game.

"The games each night will start at 8 o'clock. They'll play a little bit of regular baseball with some of their fun and unique rules, such as they go the opposite way around the bases, or there's an inning where there's no foul lines and any ball - wherever it is - is in play, and you have to help the fielders. But what's really cool about Cosmic Baseball is they take a short intermission, entertain on the field while all the players change into reflective uniforms, and then they come back out, they shut off all the lights at the ballpark and use black lights and reflective equipment," said Bisbing in an interview with WBEN. "The fans will all have the ability to purchase neon reflective glow sticks, hats and jerseys, and they play baseball in the complete dark with the black lights. It's a super cool experience. Can't wait to see it for the first time here in Buffalo."

This isn't the first time the Bisons have hosted an event such as this at Sahlen Field. Two years ago, the organization welcomed the Savannah Bananas to Buffalo as they provided their own fun, unique and entertaining twist to the game of baseball. Bisbing says Cosmic Baseball provides a very similar aspect that the Bananas do with their entertainment factor.

"They are going to do a plaza party as well, starting at 5 o'clock out in front of the ballpark. Lots of live music, entertainment, circus acts, things like that. They'll close Swan Street down on that side of the ballpark, so there's that plaza party as well," he explained. "They'll open the gates at 6:30 p.m. for fans to come in. And they have all the skits, they have the seventh-inning rave as well - not the seventh-inning stretch - because, of course, they have lasers and smoke and fluorescent dust and everything. They have their own brand of entertainment, but it is not just a baseball game. It is a full on entertainment experience that starts right from when the plaza party begins at 5 p.m. to the fireworks after the game."

With the Bisons out of town for Fourth of July Weekend and the team unable to host its annual Independence Eve Celebration with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bisbing says it was imperative to find something unique and exciting for families and residents to enjoy this holiday weekend.

"Cosmic would have been great to have at any point over the course of the summer here at the ballpark, but the fact we were able to secure them for our July 3 and 4, the one year that we don't have games on that day," Bisbing said. "We are guaranteed to have games on July 3 and 4 next year already, because of this schedule anomaly. So for this one year, we needed to find something that could somehow fill the shoes of that great tradition, and I'll tell you everything that the Cosmic Team has planned - they've been grinding at the ballpark since Monday to get the ballpark all lit up how they want - it's going to be an insanely special event, and just excited to have it as a part of this weekend here at the ballpark."

While the team has been hosting fun baseball-related events like Cosmic Baseball and the Savannah Bananas, Bisbing is hopeful to bring more events to Sahlen Field and take advantage of such a resource in the heart of Downtown Buffalo.

"We're lucky enough that the schedule that we have, we get to have 75 nights and days of fun Bisons baseball. But we also want to obviously find other things that can do, whether it'd be the Chicken Wing Festival, which [came] back last year and is a part of our August schedule. We just had the great Taste the Country concert with WYRK. Adding Cosmic Baseball and acts like this whenever we can, and the field can can take it and is available, we want to be able to share this great facility with the Western New York community," Bisbing said.

While tickets are sold out for Friday night's festivities, there's still a chance to catch all the Cosmic Baseball fun on Saturday night.

"Most of the tickets have been sold, and there's no guarantees, but you can still go to Bisons.com/Cosmic and sign up for their ticket lottery if any tickets get released over the next 48 hours. There's a chance fans will get that message from that lottery. We would highly encourage anybody that has heard about what's going to happen here at the ballpark and gets a little bit excited about, what I just said is going to be, an awesome event," Bisbing said.