Block seating for teams in division stands?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

The rules for "At the Event" clearly state that saving seats is not allowed.

The teams in Archimedes (and I suspect Newton as well) that watched the opening ceremonies found that most of the prime viewing locations in the stands by those fields were occupied by "squatters" reserving blocks of seats for their teams. Some words were exchanged about the "no saving seats rule", but ultimately these folks stayed put and were able to capture seats for the rest of their team's fans.

Something like this happened to me at PNW regional. I sat in some empty seats with some of our students and someone told us that we were sitting in a section "reserved" for XYZ team. My suggestion to them was that they should find seats somewhere else, since these were now occupied. It seemed to work out OK. Being an old, grumpy adult probably helped, too.

[EricH]

Maybe the section(s) closest to the field should be reserved for team scouts. Anywhere else is fair game for anyone. If a seat is saved for an individual, fine. If a block of seats is reserved, anything reserving it is piled onto a seat with a note about the rule. Either that or repeal the rule. I suspect that moving it into the GAME rule section or a section other than "At The Competition" might help too as few read the latter section.

[Kel D]

When 433 went to get seats for the closing ceremonies, there was this huge gap in the stands so we went to sit there and we were told that the seats were saved for a team. And there were maybe 2 or 3 people sitting there saving 20 some seats. I can see maybe having majority of the team there saving a few seats for those back in the pits getting things together or the competition team, but having only a few people blocking off a lot of seats I think isn't right to teams who get all their students together and then go find seats as a team. I realize that being a small team that is easier to do than for much larger teams. However, I don't think there is anything that FIRST can do, or really is responsible to do about it, I think it is just up to everyone to decide when they are being rude to other teams. Just my observations.

[JDizzle]

I like the idea of setting up a reserved area close to the field just for team scouts. My team had to sit a little further back than we would have liked and it would have been easier on our scouts to have had a better view. Anyway, teams dont have to be in the front row to cheer.