Posts Tagged ‘sports cup holder’

Stadium seating – designed for your comfort?

Friday, December 18th, 2009

When you visit a stadium, one of the first things that you notice is the kind of seating that is present in the baseball, football or basketball stadiums that you are standing in. Stadiums are meant to provide comfortable as well as unblocked views of the game in progress. The seats may be in the form of bleachers, individual or row seating based on the kind of construction and the layout of the stadium. Seating options are customized for the occasion and the kind of sport being played, in addition to the budget in consideration. Attendees can also look out for luxury venues that one can use the elevator to reach and get the kind of facilities and treatment that one expects from five star comforts.

Bleachers are generally exposed and not upholstered, which means that these are limited in comfort and luxury. Most stadiums however, have auxiliary upholstering to add to the un-uphostered structural parts and in some cases the chairs may be permanent too. Nowadays, the trend is to ensure that the outdoor parks as well as stadiums have ergonomic designs where the configuration of the seats keeps the users’ best comfort in mind.

In movie theaters, the trend has shifted in favor of seats that are similar to those found in the stadiums and not merely the ones which had the slightly inclined designs that were just mildly comfortable. In stadiums, the entrance is at the rear, with a ramp placed in the wall, where there are stairs on either side that lead up to the seats. It is sad but true that when it comes to people in wheelchairs, they are generally forced to take up position in the front rows, which are least preferred by other users. This is because that this position they have to strain and stretch their necks. With change in the air, some mobility sensitive theaters are adding in elevators specially for wheelchairs to help patrons reach the top rows.

Stadiums have seating based on the kind of sport being played on the ground. For one, football stadiums generally have bleacher, simple seats while baseball stadiums have seats in tiers with back and arms too. The seating in football stadiums, which is prevalent in some colleges to, is called stepped seating where it is possible to step over the seats and across the aisles too.

Having backrests to the seats increases the comfort level of sports spectators with some of the possible options being quite inexpensive too. These backrests can sometimes be used along with older bleachers and nowadays there are special seating arrangements for people with disabilities too.

Popularity of stadium seating

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Stadium seating provides a comfortable way for spectators to watch their favorite football, basketball and baseball teams, in addition to other popular sports and outdoor events. This type of seating comes in many types, including bleachers, row seating and individual seating with backrests. Stadium seating provides comfortable chairs and an unobtrusive view. Stadium seating at some fields let you experience every pulsating moment whether it’s a concert or sporting event, there are seating options for every budget and location preference. Some venues even include suites which are perfectly accessible by elevator and provide access to virtually every amenity imaginable to enjoy during the event.

Stadium seating has commonly used and employed exposed un-upholstered structural members, auxiliary upholstering accessory members, and permanent chair-like seating. Exposed un-upholstered structural members, commonly called bleachers, obviously are limited in terms of spectator comfort. Newer stadiums are configuring their seats with the patrons’ comfort in mind. Even in outdoor parks, the plastic or metal fold down seats will be ergonomically designed.

Movie theaters have also adopted the idea of catering to customer comfort (including movie theater cup holders). Instead of the old design of slightly inclined seating, these same theaters are taking a page out of the stadiums’ book. Stadium seating generally involves a rear-entrance theater with a ramp behind a wall on each side coming down to the front, then stairs up the side to get to your seat. (Speaking of movie theaters here is some good information on a movie trivia quiz.) In this configuration, wheelchair users are often “allocated” seats in one of the front rows and are forced to look up at the screen from the seats that are generally chosen last by most movie patrons (although this too is also changing, as newer theaters are incorporating elevators to their primary screens for wheelchair accessibility to the top few rows).

Modern baseball stadiums tend to be constructed with tiered seating that includes chairs with backs and arms, while many football stadiums make use of simple tiered bleacher style seats that are marked out on the tier itself. This form of stadium seating is sometimes referred to as stepped seating, as it is possible to step up and down on the seats, as well as in the aisles. Some college stadiums till incorporate this style, with the numbers of the seat labeled on the bleachers.

Stadium seating with a backrest can turn a venue from a tolerable place for spectators, into a comfortable one. There are some inexpensive backrest stadium accessories options, including seating you can use with preexisting bleachers or other seating structures. Stadium seating for persons with disabilities has also been expanded.

Stadiums – Taking the good with the bad.

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

However there are certain positives that come along with stadium construction. Building from the ground up gives new parks environmental opportunities that existing parks don’t have. Both Nationals Park and Citi Field have energy-efficient field lighting and waterless and low-flow plumbing fixtures, for example, and both designs incorporate green (vegetative) roofs and white (reflective) roofs to battle the heat-island effect.

Second, newer stadiums’ water supply systems use rainwater off the roof, and the stadiums use drainage of nearby factories. Therefore, the stadiums always have enough water. Another advantage is the newer security systems. There are zoned alarms to pinpoint where a problem has occurred. Older systems just have one general alarm, leaving security personnel to direct officials to the exact point of the emergency.

With the “green” initiatives come a few problems. Baseball stadiums that converted to football stadiums have more of an obtuse angle between the stands. This makes the football viewing farther away, and in some cases partially obscured like in Candlestick Park.

Baseball stadiums represent the place where it all comes together–the intersection of hard work and entertainment, enjoyment and exertion, exhilaration and defeat. Someone always leaves a winner and someone always leaves a loser, but the stadium never leaves. Baseball data on free agency and arbitration reveal that both systems of salary determination are similarly structured, meaning that players can use either one of the methods and obtain similar gains in salaries. The higher salaries on average for free agents reflect their years of experience, rather than a better process of salary determination.

Football is typically played in a stadium while basketball and hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of the larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. And there are exceptions. Football, basketball and hockey teams regularly extort city and state politicians for taxpayer subsidies. During the twentieth century, more than $20 billion (measured in 1997 dollars) has been spent on major league stadiums and arenas, including a minimum of $14.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies.