Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Will Chiefs fans stand for this?

As if to prove this is a really, really slow news time in the world of football, Yahoo is trumpeting on its main page today that the Kansas City Chiefs have banned standing up during games.

Well, maybe not so much. Looking at Arrowhead's stadium policies, I don't see a list of rules that would seem to be that much different than any other stadium's, though maybe Arrowhead's could use a re-wording. Their policy is to discourage fans from "standing and/or obstructing the view of other fans". The Edward Jones Dome's policy is worded, "Excessive standing that obstructs the view of others seated in the area." EJD's policy, as worded, does a better job of finding a happy middle ground than Arrowhead's does, not that I suspect Arrowhead's policy has ever actually been enforced, since they always seem to have 70,000+ fans standing all game. I don't see Chiefs fans getting kicked out of games for standing this season or in the future.

The new part is that an aggrieved fan can send a text message to one of Arrowhead's "Fans First Booths" to register a complaint. (Ah, technology!) This is being widely scorned by "real" fans, and I agree to some degree. Fans ought to be able to resolve problems amongst themselves. If I were causing a problem, I'd want a chance to correct a reasonable complaint myself without getting the stadium ushers into it. But I think texting can be a good backup option to have for particularly obnoxious offenses or offenders. It's just not the first option I would try.

The first option I would try is to politely ask you to sit down. Because I'm sitting down. I paid for a SEAT. I don't want to stand up for three hours to be able to see a football game I paid $75 to get into. You didn't buy a beer not to drink it. You didn't buy nachos not to eat them. You didn't gas up your car not to drive it. So use your seat. Stand up and cheer big plays, stand up and celebrate plays, but other than that, RamView doesn't need to see your backside when I'm trying to see the game.

Having said all that, I have to add that I have encountered almost no problem with other fans my whole life as a sports fan attending live events. Being a sit-downer supposedly makes me an awful fan, and this appears to be a huge difference between KC, where they stand all game, and STL, where we sit all game, and we can because the ushers enforced the limited-standing rule from the very beginning.

I think sitting down = bad fan is horsecrap. I make plenty of noise for my team, and yes, I'm on my feet for big plays. I just don't see the need to be on my feet the whole game. I'm watching the game, I'm not playing it.

What should I get for my $75? A terrific view from my near-midfield seat when everybody's sitting down, or an obstructed view all day from that same seat, which I don't even get to use?

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