Mike Bako argues that sports teams should pay $50,000 into a safety fund for ballparks and arenas. With seats costing over $1,000, he says the fee aligns with teams' interest in protecting fans and selling premium experiences.
Questions this video answers
Mike Bako, director of sports and vice president at Media Training Worldwide.
$50,000 (described as a mandatory payment into the system).
Seats "going in excess of $1,000" for some baseball and football games.
Chapters
I'm Mike Bako, director of sports and vice president of media Training Worldwide. How much is loyalty worth in sports, and how much is safety worth in sports? With seats going in excess of $1,000 for some baseball and football games, you want to provide a safe environment for people that are paying money for those seats and most importantly, for families coming to the game. What would be worse than having a young, impressionable child going to his first baseball game and seeing a fight break out? That's not going to be good for business. What this law boils down to is that it's good business to provide money and an incentive to make the ballparks and arenas safer. It's not just for the arena security. To keep things safe, people need to police other people if they're going to make a safe environment for fans to go to games. Fans need to be involved. Security people can't be everywhere. And with this incentive, fans will not only be keeping an eye on the game, but also on what's going on around them. There's nothing wrong with teams paying for this information. New York City has a great saying in their subway system. If you see something, say something. This should apply to all arenas, all ballparks, all stadiums. Fans need to get more involved if they want to police the action around them. It'll make for a better and safer environment. And again, teams have an incentive here. If their seats, which are, quite frankly expensive, go unsold because a fan, a father, a mother, doesn't want to take their child to the game, it's in their best interest to pay this fee, to pay this mandatory $50,000 into this system. So I think 100% I'm for this, and I think it'll lead to safer ballparks and a better fan experience overall. Again, Mike Baco, director of sports and vice president at Media Training Worldwide.