As most of the readers know I am a sports fan. That’s not exactly true. I am a HUGE sports fan. That feels better and is probably more appropriate. I have literally gone to hundreds and probably thousands of events and have the ticket stubs to prove it. Something recently happened that I wanted to share.
I was at the recent NBA game between the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. The game was played in Dallas and was the featured game between two of the top teams in the western conference. At halftime I was walking around the arena for a while. I returned to our company seats which are five rows off the court. As the third quarter started, I began hearing this loud voice a few rows behind me yelling, screaming and rooting for the Phoenix Suns. This fan had a beer in his left hand and his girlfriend on his right and was wearing a Suns shirt showing off his muscles. As the game went on this guy kept yelling at fans and some people started to yell back while others couldn’t be bothered. Lots of people were yelling at this guy to sit down. I didn’t notice but apparently he was standing the entire game and was taunting the Mavericks fans. A number of ushers came over to this fan (at least twice) and politely asked him to relax a little bit and sit down. His quick response was "I PAID $600 FOR THESE SEATS AND I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT". First of all let me clarify he must have purchased them through a scalper because the seats aren’t close to that price. As the game continued I saw two older ladies seated behind him calmly ask him to sit down so they could enjoy the game. What followed was additional yelling, swearing and lots of other meaningless dialogue from this fan.
I turned to one of the guys I was with and said this is going to turn ugly and he has no shot of leaving here before a fight starts or he will get tossed out of the arena. We now have about seven minutes to go in the game and his girlfriend is trying to calm him down when all of a sudden I see an usher call for assistance. I lean over and say here we go. Two gentlemen wearing nice suits arrive on the scene and basically say, "Sir please come with me." He quickly waves them off and says "These are my seats and I can do whatever I want and did nothing wrong". They get out the walkie talkies and lo and behold, three police officers arrive on the scene to help. Frankly they didn’t help – they needed to call in three more. The six officers proceeded to handcuff this fan and drag him up the stairs as he was swearing, kicking and yelling.
Let me say that I love the American Airline Center (AAC) and really enjoy the creativity of the marketing team from the funny videos, drum line and of course the Mav Maniacs (which are heavy set gentlemen–all who have big bellies–dancing around) Mark Cuban and his team do a great job with this. This situation never should have escalated and should have been dealt with forty-five minutes earlier. Mark, your ushers and security staff missed on this one. There were ladies and elderly people around this fan — all season tickets holders. Your season tickets holders and the security staff waited way too long.
I know that they make announcements prior to games that say you can’t throw things or go on the field/court. But what else aren’t you allowed to do?
- What are the rights of this unruly fan?
- What are the rights of the fans around him?
- Has this happened to you?
I really look forward to hearing your comments and will be asking my friends AL and KT to respond since they work for sports teams.
Bob Graham says:
The Phoenix Suns fan was definitely out of line and I agree that the AA Arena staff could have acted more quickly.
For me it’s a matter of civility. I think if you war the opposing teams colors at a stadium, you should expect to get razzed (unless you’re going to Kaufman Stadium in KC where everybody is rooting for the other team). If I wear my Red Sox colors and don’t get razzed, I feel disappointed (maybe that’s just me) and I tend to give as good as I get. I love it when there is some good natured smack going back and forth between fans. The key word here is “good natured”; there has to be some wit about it (”Hey, you suck!” is neither witty nor creative. On the other hand an entire stadium of fans chanting “Yankees Suck!” is glorious!) . At the end of the day, fans are there to enjoy the game and their teams and should respect each other for that. Shake hands at the end of the game and wish them well (except for the Yankees–just kidding…). Someone posted a great video on YouTube of a Red Sox fan who wore his Red Sox colors into the bleachers at Yankee Stadium and was subject to every epithet in the book. I can’t provide a link because of the language.
I’ve been in situations where it turned ugly and that’s no fun. At a TCU Basketball game with the DFW UMASS Club, one of the spectators assaulted one of group. We complained to arena management and the FW police, but for some reason they wouldn’t eject him (I think he was a big shot donor). It left a bad taste in our mouths and we never went back.
Sometimes, though, the back and forth between arena management can be bizarre. Consider this exchange between a parent of a member of the UMASS Football team and the Stadium manager at the Football field at Southern Illinois University:
“Sir, you can’t ring that cowbell.”
“Why not? You’ve got a whole band. They got more instruments than a cowbell”
“It’s an NCAA rule. No artificial noisemakers”
“It’s a regulation cowbell. I know, I’m a band director.”
“If you continue to ring it, I’ll have to eject you.
“You’ll hear from my lawyer…”
(BTW, the SIU fans in general were great to the UMASS fans. There was alot of good natured ribbing going on, and we really felt like guests in their stadium.)
ps. All right, who else is in the office today (Friday, December 28)?
Nancy Hayslett says:
Merrill, as you may know I am an avid NASCAR fan. I have had season tickets at Phoenix International race track since Nascar made the decision to include our track for the fall race and just two years ago added a spring race under the lights. The seats around mine have been owned by the same groups since day one. We, for the most part, are partial to our own drivers, evidence of that fact when you see the different shirts, socks, hats and for some of the group, unmentionable wear. Thank goodness, most of us only talk about those items rather than reveal them.
On with the story: Two years ago one couple could not attend due to a health issue, so he gave all of us the option of buying his tickets (yes, we do have e-mail addresses) and since no one needed extra tickets at the
last minute. he asked if we would be okay if he put them on EBAY. No one
objected so he sold the tickets to two young men who had never attended a live race and decided it was a great time to party. Unfortunately, their party began long before the start of the race. They began with tipping the vendor with $100 bills to keep him at their disposal. During the race they decided to share their wealth by buying and throwing the beer cans over the crowd that of course kept cheering them on. Now I am a Nascar fan and when it became obvious that the safety of the true fans was in jeopardy and the reason we were there was not to be intimidated, someone, who will not be named, called a security guard to take over the situation and allow us to enjoy the race. It took six security guards to remove these individuals after missing a good portion of the race due to the disturbance.
After reporting this issue to PIR and to the officials at NASCAR, 12 season ticket holders had their season tickets renewed for 2007 at no cost.
The individuals involved are banned for life at the track. The owner of the seats has been warned, so he has apologized to all of the group and to PIR and NASCAR.
My point is this: when you pay good money,($100 per seat) to enjoy a
sporting event you do not need to tolerate this type of behaviour.
Why was this behaviour you mentioned allowed to continue?
Merrill Dubrow says:
Nancy,
Thanks for your response. Your NASCAR experience doesn’t sound like fun at all. I am glad the track kicked the fan out and gave you something in return.
To answer your question – I am not really sure. With all the video cameras in the arenas it would be easy for someone at the American Airlines Center to review what happened. My gut is the ushers and security just had a bad day. He was obnoxious for a very long time and took away from a great game. He had to know he was going to get tossed and obviously didn’t care.
Happy holidays.
Merrill
Adam Lorber says:
Good post and good questions …Well …I run a minor league baseball team and oversee the stadium as well…we have a couple of issues each season and at our level – when there are only 5,000 fans – it is quite easy. I believe that fans have the right to cheer for any team they wish as long there is no profanity, unruly behavior or they do not impede the enjoyment of the game of others around them ….I usually have the ability to move fans and do ….any profanity – 1 warning and then they are out ….Last season, a group of young kids (7-8 years old) ran out onto the field from our picnic area – egged on by their parents …even though they were part of a 200+ person group, they got tossed with their parents – Safety always comes first ….we also have to be really careful with our liquor license and do not tolerate over consumption – really never an issue though. The good thing about my ballpark, it that I handle every problem – I am visible on the concourse – the ushers get me and I take the heat – not them …..I have to get back to work but will be happy to answer any and all questions …….
Merrill Dubrow says:
Adam,
I appreciate your comments. Lots of profanity gets them tossed – thats what i thought but the ushers at AAC let the fan swear at them which i was surprised. I wasn’t sure if the standing up part alone can get someone tossed or is it more of a courtesy thing which it sounds like.
Kind of shocked that parents urged their kids to run on the field.
Thanks again for your comments.
GO RIVER SHARKS!
Merrill