Date of Publication

Spring 2012

Document Type

Undergraduate Project

Professor's Name

Emily Dane-Staples

Abstract

Accidents involving fans occur at sports facilities around the globe. The purpose of this research was to discover the reactions of local facility managers and their customers to fan accidents at sports venues, recommendations to address safety concerns at their sports facilities, opinions of customers expressed to their facility managers regarding possible installation of additional safety measures as related to the fan experience at sports events, and opinions of facility managers to the possible elimination of the assumption of risk or “baseball” rule. Baseball is the sport with the most reported fan accidents at their stadiums but other sports have fan accidents and deaths as well. The results revealed the opinions of the facility managers. Several responded that when they hear about fan accidents their first thought is about preventing them at their facilities. Others felt fans should be more aware of their surroundings and the possible dangers related to the sport/event being played at the facility. Most facility managers are in favor of raising railing heights but are not in favor of installing netting throughout the facilities. Most also felt the assumption of risk rule would not be eliminated. Based on the results, facility managers are concerned about the safety of their customers but feel their customers/fans must also accept responsibility for their own safety.

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