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Why doesn't baseball segregate fans?

DrungoHazewood

By DrungoHazewood
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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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No, no, no, not that way!

I mean by which team they're rooting for? When I go to a Virginia Tech football game the 95% of the opposing fans are in their own block. They buy tickets alloted to their school, and Tech puts them all in the same section, or sometimes a couple of their own sections.

I'd never dream of going to a WVU game as a visiting fan without the protection of the block of visiting fans I always sit with. Same thing in Miami.

When I went to that Fukuoka Hawks game in Japan all of the Seibu Lions fans were in a big block in the left field stands. They cheered and chanted and waived their own banners, seemingly happy to be in their own part of the park, unmolested by Hawks supporters (and vice versa).

I follow a little lower-conference soccer team from East London called Dagenham and Redbridge. They have a 3000 seat stadium. Basically they're a low-A team in soccer. They have this warning up on their site today:

Mansfield Town FC have been issued their full allocation of tickets and away supporters MUST purchase their ticket via their club. Any that have bought tickets for the home areas may be ejected from the ground or refused entry at the turnstiles without refund.

If you're wearing visiting colors and root for the other team, and you sit in the home stands you're going to get kicked out. This is a team that's fighting to stay out of the relegation zone, in 22nd place in the standings.

Wouldn't the OPACY experience when the Yanks or Sox or Phillies come to town be so much more enjoyable if the visiting fans mainly bought tickets from a block allocated to their team, and they mostly stayed in their part of the park?

I'd love to see the O's designate a part of the park the visitors stands, ask people who they'd be rooting for when they buy tickets, and send all the MFY fans and pink-hatted Red Sox bandwagoners out there. Sure, some would sneak in the home stands anyway, but then you could have the ushers send them to their section if they got rowdy.

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Mad Mark Hangout Veteran Council

Mad Mark

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No, no, no, not that way!

I mean by which team they're rooting for? When I go to a Virginia Tech football game the 95% of the opposing fans are in their own block. They buy tickets alloted to their school, and Tech puts them all in the same section, or sometimes a couple of their own sections.

I'd never dream of going to a WVU game as a visiting fan without the protection of the block of visiting fans I always sit with. Same thing in Miami.

When I went to that Fukuoka Hawks game in Japan all of the Seibu Lions fans were in a big block in the left field stands. They cheered and chanted and waived their own banners, seemingly happy to be in their own part of the park, unmolested by Hawks supporters (and vice versa).

I follow a little lower-conference soccer team from East London called Dagenham and Redbridge. They have a 3000 seat stadium. Basically they're a low-A team in soccer. They have this warning up on their site today:

If you're wearing visiting colors and root for the other team, and you sit in the home stands you're going to get kicked out. This is a team that's fighting to stay out of the relegation zone, in 22nd place in the standings.

Wouldn't the OPACY experience when the Yanks or Sox or Phillies come to town be so much more enjoyable if the visiting fans mainly bought tickets from a block allocated to their team, and they mostly stayed in their part of the park?

I'd love to see the O's designate a part of the park the visitors stands, ask people who they'd be rooting for when they buy tickets, and send all the MFY fans and pink-hatted Red Sox bandwagoners out there. Sure, some would sneak in the home stands anyway, but then you could have the ushers send them to their section if they got rowdy.

"You have given too much reputation in the last 24 hours. Try again later."

Damn, Drungo, you've come up with some wonderful stuff lately.

Wonderful, and completely impractical. As long as season tickets are sold in every section of the stadium, and as long as season ticket holders don't use all of their seats themselves, I can't see your idea working.

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GeorgiaBird Perennial All-Star

GeorgiaBird

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Drungo you are fond of saying "it is about revenue" when talking about ticket prices and the like. I think you know the answer is the same here.

Fortunately, despite constant one-off stories of fights in the stands, MLB has never had the violence problem that English football experienced in recent decades. So there is not the need for segregation as a safety procaution. And unlike Virginia Tech football, where they can count on Va Tech fans to buy up the other 90% or whatever of the stadium, MLB does not have constant sellouts. (I have been to many a Tulane football game at a mostly-empty Super dome where fans of the two sides mix. Segregation is not universal in college football and is not a policy. It is the result of strong season ticket sales in some places.)

Simply put if MLB did this they would cost themselves revenue by limiting the ability of Sox fans or Yankee fans to buy seats at Camden Yard, for absolutely no public safety reason. So why should they?

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square634 Hangout Veteran Council

square634

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I think I mentioned something similar in a thread a while back after I also went to a Japanese baseball game. I think I was talking about general admission as opposed to segregation, but it would accomplish the same thing. It seems like a great idea, but unfortunately others came up with the good point that season ticket sales would prevent you from doing this very well.

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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Drungo you are fond of saying "it is about revenue" when talking about ticket prices and the like. I think you know the answer is the same here.

Fortunately, despite constant one-off stories of fights in the stands, MLB has never had the violence problem that English football experienced in recent decades. So there is not the need for segregation as a safety procaution. And unlike Virginia Tech football, where they can count on Va Tech fans to buy up the other 90% or whatever of the stadium, MLB does not have constant sellouts. (I have been to many a Tulane football game at a mostly-empty Super dome where fans of the two sides mix. Segregation is not universal in college football and is not a policy. It is the result of strong season ticket sales in some places.)

Simply put if MLB did this they would cost themselves revenue by limiting the ability of Sox fans or Yankee fans to buy seats at Camden Yard, for absolutely no public safety reason. So why should they?

Because I hate Yankee fans, and I hate Red Sox fans, and I don't want to sit next to them! Shouldn't that be enough? :)

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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Simply put if MLB did this they would cost themselves revenue by limiting the ability of Sox fans or Yankee fans to buy seats at Camden Yard, for absolutely no public safety reason. So why should they?

I see no reason that the outfield upper deck couldn't be the away stands. How many season ticket holders are out there, anyway? When OPACY is under 50% capacity there would be no limiting visiting fans from buying tickets. You'd just have the ticket office put them in their section, and fill in counter-clockwise as necessary.

And if there's no public safety reason, sounds to me like we need to start more fights!

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DrLev Perennial All-Star

DrLev

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And if there's no public safety reason, sounds to me like we need to start more fights!

How 'bout a big ol' steel cage on the Flag Court? Or maybe something more Thunderdome? (Oh, Dr. Lev. Can't we get...beyond Thunderdome?) Two fans enter. One fan leaves!

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Migrant Redbird Hangout Veteran Council

Migrant Redbird

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This is absolutely correct. I have had it with the "best behaved fans in baseball" horsehockey.

And I get upset with St. Louis fans ("the best in the universe") who behave rudely towards visitors? Clearly, you're not my kind of fan! :)

But the real answer is that this would never work. I live in Pennsylvania, but I'm a Cardinals fan. How are box office fans in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Washington going to identify me as a Cardinals fan if I don't confess it to them?

Are you going to place a notice on tickets specifying what kind of clothes the bearer is allowed to wear to the game? Will you enforce it as fans enter the stadium via segregated (and separated) gates?

Are you going to prohibit tickets being resold on eBay and Stubhub? Heck, they can't even stop scalpers in most locations. (Silly waste of police resources when they try.)

Segregation is essential in soccer games (not just in England), and it's probably a good idea to keep college students for the competing teams away from each other, given how college boys are always trying to out-stupid each other. I, for one, am glad that we don't have this problem (much) in baseball, a more genteel sport.

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