Conway wrote:
> Have to agree with Garry here ... Sacramento was not that bad ... There
were
> probably more people in the stands begging people to sit than "police"
doing
> so .. And the reason for that was becasue of site lines in the stands ...
> Everyone wanted to see the action ... And the way the site lines were it
was
> difficult in various parts of the stadium when people stood up to see ..
The
> guards did do a very good job of keeping areas fairly empty when the track
> was empty so that the fans could see the other things going on in the
> stadium ... So I think Sacto has gotten a bad rap for trying to "take the
> fun" out of the meet ..
I agree - sacto was not that bad. But it was one of the few USATF meets
that has been a sellout, and that's why the conflict between the stand-up
people and the sitters was more obvious.
Again, the solution is having areas where standing is allowed (provided you
do actually have a seat). That's not to say standing is "required" in those
sections, but people are allowed to stand up from their seats whenever and
for as long as they like. I can't imagine that there will be any fire code
or safety violation problem as someone suggested - otherwise hundreds of
college basketball arenas would be in real trouble. At many of these
places, the fans are literally standing for every game the entire season in
a much more cramped and harder to exit arena than Sac State.
I wonder what it would take to make it happen? USATF getting involved? The
local media picking up on it?
- Ed Parrot