Frustrated about concert/event seating (non WDW)

[mrsksomeday]

Hi, I'm Tracy, my significant other Bill has Cerebral Palsy and is in a motorized wheelchair. I am sure there are many of you that have issues with accessible seating at concert/event venues. I am just mad today .

Bill loves to go to concerts etc. He surprised me a couple of years ago with tickets to a Rascal Flatts concert at St. Louis, MO. We got there, were taking to the accessible seats and everything was fine while the opening act was on, every one was sitting. Then Rascal Flatts came out everyone stood up and he could see nothing. I complained to an usher and the proceeded to walk us in circles on various levels and we missed most of the concert. This was when we were newly dating, I wasn't as vocal as I am about being an advocate for him like I am now.

I didn't want to go back to Scottrade Center again, Bill talked me into going to a WWE Supershow (I know , but he knows it is a show and not real). We got floor seating, the view was great, no one in front of him so he saw the show not butt views .

I called Scottrade Center to buy tickets to anothe WWE show in Feb. 2009, they were having a presale today. I was informed that there was NO wheelchair seating on the floor anymore? They said that a "new person" was in charge of the seating and that he hadn't allotted any seats on the floor. On the floor the fans will stand up when the wrestlers come in, but always sit while the match is going on, in the upper areas no one sits. I was transferred to him and he said there were not accessible seats on the floor, I said they are folding chairs, can't you just take a chair away and have him sit there? Then he said there weren't any floor seats available for the presale, that the promoters of WWE decided where the accessible seats were, I know this is bull. I said I could go on ticketmaster and buy floor seats and they would have to accomodate us, but I didn't because it says on ticketmaster that Scottrade wants accessible seating to be handled directly by them.

I emailed Scottrade and got a reply, I am copying and pasting part of it:

"The event level for this event does not have any ADA seating allotted.
We must provide the proper sightlines in order to assign ADA seating.
We must go by ADA code when positioning ADA seating."

Event level is floor level. I understand ADA rules and I also understand we have been on the floor at the same event before. (I still have the tickets there is a "W" for wheelchair seating) I asked what about the venue had changed since the last event? I could understand it if we had never been on the "event level" but how could the take the accessible seating away. I am waiting for another email.

I know it might be silly to some people for me to be arguing about seating at WWE event, but if it was only that I might drop it. I have become more and more vocal about Bill not having fair and equal access to things. I am sick of it. I told the man at Scotttrade that I was alternating between shaking my head and being livid.

I just got another email from him stating:

"As far as floor seating goes and ADA access:
ADA seating must provide proper sight lines for guests who are in wheelchairs.
The floor does not provide these ADA code sight lines. Therefore we are not allowed to sell these seats as ADA seating
You have tickets from a previous WWE event that were on the floor. It sounds like our staff assisted you. That is wonderful that they were able to accommodate your needs. I know they try hard to satisfy our guests.
The seating I listed in my previous email is the available ADA seating we have for this event. I hope you still decide to come to the event.


I had already told him we wouldn't be going if we weren't on the floor. They sold us floor seats as ADA seating before, I don't understand how all of the sudden they aren't?

Sorry for rambling, I just had to vent somewhere and I thought people here would understand.

 

[Disneylvr]

Sounds like you need to get the St. Louis news channel consumer advocates involved! I would be happy to research that for you if you don't get the St. Louis stations in your area.

It isn't at all "silly" that you are upset about a WWE event. It is an event that Bill enjoys and he deserves to have a floor seat like anybody else. Period.

 

[SueM in MN]

Sounds like you need to get the St. Louis news channel consumer advocates involved! I would be happy to research that for you if you don't get the St. Louis stations in your area.

It isn't at all "silly" that you are upset about a WWE event. It is an event that Bill enjoys and he deserves to have a floor seat like anybody else. Period.

That is ridiculous to say "We don't provide the proper sightlines, so therefore we won't provide any wheelchair seating," but that might be the truth for seating on the floor.

This is a link to the PDF file of the guidelines related to stadiums. It is possible that they can't provide floor seating for people with disabilities since the ADA guidelines say that they need to anticipate situations where other spectators may be standing, obscuring the view of someone who is unable to stand. There is a diagram on the PDF file that shows that. It is possible that they have no seating where no one would be in front of you who might stand.
If they can't assure that you won't be seeing butts, it's not fair to sell seating on the floor. People buying it would assume they are able to see and that may not be the case.

You would think that they could figure out some way to provide correct sightlines on the floor if they really wanted to, though.

I don't know if you found this number on the Scottrade website, but if you didn't, it's worth a try:
Scottrade Center Accessibility Hotline at 314-622-5420.

Wikipedia says it opened in 1994, so it opened well after the ADA was in effect.