Fighting, profanity and intoxication. These are among the no-no’s included on a Southern California Fan Code of Conduct introduced today by officials from large sporting-event venues throughout the region in an effort to foster a safe atmosphere at stadiums, arenas and horse tracks.
The Code of Conduct was crafted by a Los Angeles Sports Council task force that included representatives from venues that can hold 10,000 people or more, including Dodger Stadium, Staples Center, Santa Anita Racetrack and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“More than 20 million spectators buy tickets to area sporting events each year, and it is important that they continue to feel safe when they attend these events,” Sports Council Chairman Scott London said.
“This is an initiative to get the message out to people that certain behavior is prohibited regardless of which local venue you go to.”
Sports Council officials noted that most venues already have fan codes of conduct in place, but council President David Simon said the code announced today was intended to be a “streamlined, fan-friendly version whose rules will apply to all professional and collegiate sporting events at our larger venues.”
“Breaking any of these common-sense rules may subject violators to ejection or arrest,” he said.
Safety at Southland sports venues became a pressing topic in March 2011,when San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten into a coma in a Dodger Stadium parking lot. Two men are awaiting trial in the attack.
In June 2011, the Sports Council convened a Fan Behavior Summit attended by nearly 100 executives from sports venues, universities and law enforcement agencies. One of the results of the summit was the suggestion that a universal code of conduct by developed applicable to all sporting venues, according to the council.
Individual venues will be responsible for disseminating the code to its fans, but the Sports Council plans to produce a video with local celebrities to spread the word.
