Fan Spacing and Seating Bowl Design Needed a Refresh Before COVID-19 Forced the Issue

Fact: COVID-19 is forcing the sports industry to rethink stadium design, from seating capacity and flow of fan traffic to the number of (now unsafe?) touch points required for the full experience at a live event.

And while it remains unclear how long the pandemic will affect attendance at live sporting events, what is clear is that there will never be a better time for a full seating-bowl reimagination. The evidence — empty stadiums — has been right in front of us for some time, long before any of us heard of COVID-19.

With rare exceptions, attendance for stadium sports has been in decline for years, in some cases precipitously. Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NCAA football, Major League Soccer, all drawing fewer fans consistently, year over year. Even the NFL, long seen as bulletproof to half-empty stadiums, is experiencing just that more than ever. It’s little secret why.

The first generation of children raised with the internet are now young adults, alumni, fans with discretionary income. Turns out they are not as enamored by the live sports experience as their parents once were. There’s simply too much else for them to do.

They game, they engage with social media, they flock to music festivals, and they have smart phones and TVs that provide limitless opportunities to watch movies or binge a new TV series.

They are not as interested in being crowded in a tightly packed stadium with limited or no connectivity, nowhere to put their phones, food or beer, and nowhere to congregate and socialize with their friends. Why suffer through that when you can effortlessly catch the score via a tweet or watch the game from four angles on a 60-inch flatscreen?

This is not breaking news, and this downward trend is unlikely to suddenly reverse itself.

Some folks in sports will bury their heads in the sand and still argue that an ebb and flow in attendance figures is normal from market to market, that the on-field product is the main driver of fan attendance at the ballpark.

And while I’d certainly agree that winning does drive attendance spikes, there’s another solution to ensure stadiums and ballparks are more full on a Wednesday night or for an early-season, non-conference matchup: Dramatically reduce the capacity of a venue by giving fans more space and more choice in their seating.

Since the introduction of suites in the Astrodome in the 1960s, the seating bowl has been largely been broken up into one of two experiences. Narrow rows of seats in which fans eat on their laps, kick over their beer, and are forced to awkwardly shuffle past (and touch!) one another to get to and from their seat. And the aforementioned suites, which often incubate fans from the energy of a game and distract them from the live action.

This model needs a full reimagination.

To be fair, architects and stadium operators are taking a number of steps to address the “evolving fan.” The top trends to stem the flow of fans staying home? Improve the Wi-Fi, bigger and sharper video boards, improved food choices, convert some cheap seats to standing-room-only, add liquor and craft beer sales and a mix of restaurants and bars. All great ideas, but none come cheap or effect the experience on the necessary scale.

Stadium attendance remains sparse and the atmosphere most nights lacks energy. Now what?

It’s time to move fan spacing and seating bowl configuration to the front of the line in driving decisions about stadium capacity and design. When I used to go to games before the pandemic, I continually marveled at how little space I was afforded. An 18-inch seat with little to no legroom in the middle of a long row of seats? No, thank you, I’ll stay home. And I know I’m not alone in that thought process.

Give fans more room in the form of wider, more comfortable seats and deeper treads and give them more options of seating to choose from. Give them side tables, drink rails, give them loge boxes … in other words, give them comfort at the game, and then let the action on the field take care of the rest. The feeling of being in a full stadium of rabid fans is irreplaceable, but that electric environment is unfortunately now the exception, not the norm.

Since we started 4Topps Premium Seating in 2011, I have had conversations with hundreds of venue operators around the country, around the world, and my takeaway is this: While most recognize that big changes are necessary, few of them are willing to move as aggressively as they could be to dissect and rebuild their approach to selling seats to games.

The evidence has been there for years. It’s time to rethink the seating bowl, give it the proper capacity and breadth of spacious offerings. Not only will fan-friendly stadiums draw more people to games, but teams will increase their revenue streams from concessions and merchandise with more butts in the seats.

While it’s unfortunate it took a global pandemic for fan spacing to garner headlines, better late than never. Sardine-can seating is a problem that has been lying just beneath the surface for some time. Give fans more space, more comfort and more choice and they will come. There has been no better time for the change.

Deron Nardo is principal and president of 4Topps Premium Seating.