Background
In May, Fenway Park was in the news after Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones was taunted with racial slurs and had a bag of peanuts thrown at him by Boston Red Sox fans. The incident prompted the MLB organization to say in a statement to ESPN’s Scott Lauber that it would be discussing the implementation of new, league-wide rules and consequences pertaining to fan conduct that would go in effect starting in 2018.
Though baseball stadiums nationwide have their own local rules for how fans should behave, the MLB has remained as the only one of the Big Four professional sports leagues (the other three being the NHL, NFL, and NBA) without its own set of universal, league-mandated policies for fan conduct.
Details on what these new rules actually are have yet to be released. ESPN initially believed the new rules would be discussed with more substantiality at the quarterly MLB owners’ meeting in November. No additional news has come out since that article was published in mid-August, though MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated the league will survey all 30 teams about their current rules to ensure that any new rules are consistent with existing policies.
Since the rules have not been released, this post will examine existing rules in the MLB and other professional sports leagues to explore what the new rules might look like.
Existing Rules and Penalties
Given the racial nature of the incident at Fenway Park, it is likely the MLB will include a rule explicitly prohibiting this kind of offensive speech, much like the other pro leagues do in their own rules. The NHL, for example, includes in its Code of Conduct that fans “shall refrain from using abusive language or obscene gestures.” The NFL has a similar rule with almost the exact same verbiage, prohibiting “foul or abusive language or obscene gestures.” The NBA has such a rule as well, aiming to create an atmosphere “free from disruptive behavior, including foul or abusive language or obscene gestures.”
Individual stadiums in the MLB have similar prohibitions on language. Though Fenway Park already had a rule requiring fans to “[r]efrain from offensive language and hate speech” and “[b]e respectful of others,” the rules were updated after the Jones’ incident to include “hate speech” specifically.
At Coors Field here in Denver, the House Rules state that the stadium’s staff will “proactively intervene to ensure…Guests will enjoy the baseball experience free from foul or abusive language or obscene gestures.” Yankee Stadium’s Guest Code of Conduct is slightly more thorough, notably prohibiting “inconsiderate, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate behavior toward Team Members and/or other Guests” and “using foul/abusive language and/or making obscene gestures.”
Outside of speech, the other Big Four leagues’ and the MLB stadiums’ rules all have provisions prohibiting fans from throwing things onto the rink, court, or field, or otherwise disrupting the game being played. Most, if not all, fan Codes of Conduct also require the appropriate consumption of alcohol, correct use of designated smoking areas, and prohibitions against violent fan behavior like fighting.
Penalties for violating any of these rules vary slightly from stadium to stadium, but most say the team will, at the very least, eject the disruptive fan from the ballpark. Some parks also explicitly reserve the right to issue a lifetime ban from the stadium depending on how egregious the rule violation is. The day after the incident with Adam Jones, a different fan was caught using racial slurs to refer to the Kenyan woman performing the national anthem. He was promptly removed from the stadium and given one of these lifetime bans.
What the new rules could be
Based on what’s already out there, it is highly likely the MLB’s universal fan code of conduct will include items regulating the behaviors mentioned above. Again, since most stadiums already regulate fan conduct on their own, the MLB’s rules will likely be a measure of standardization more than anything else, setting a floor for fan conduct that individual stadiums can choose to build upon or leave as is. This should also help ensure consistency among ballparks; acceptable behavior in one is likely to be acceptable behavior in another, and the subsequent penalties for any violations ought to be same as well.
Here’s what some of these rules could look like.
Major League Baseball is committed to maintaining a family- and diversity-friendly environment in all 30 of its ballparks. To meet this goal, the following rules will be strictly enforced:
- Behavior that is unruly, dangerous, or illegal, including fighting and other behavior detrimental to the experience of other guests, is prohibited.
- Guests who consume alcohol must do so in a way that is responsible. Fans who are intoxicated or display signs of alcohol impairment will be handled promptly and safely.
- Foul, vulgar, or abusive language, including hate speech and any other language meant to harass players or other guests, is prohibited. Obscene gestures and clothing with obscene or vulgar messages or signs is not allowed.
- Throwing any objects or food onto the playing field or at any player, or otherwise disrupting the game being played on the field is prohibited.
- Guests will sit only the seats purchased and displayed on their ticket.
- Guests will comply with requests from stadium personnel regarding stadium operations or emergencies.
Violating any of these rules may result in removal from the stadium with no ticket refund. Individual stadiums may impose higher penalties, including temporary or lifetime bans.
Conclusion
In the days since ESPN first reported on these proposed new rules, the comments section below the article has filled with irate fans complaining about First Amendment violations and “chilling effects.” Some are worried the new rules will pave the way for an eventual ban on booing and Bronx cheers, while others wonder how the MLB is going to enforce the rules at all. Obviously, there is no First Amendment violation; unlike the government, the MLB and its ballparks are private entities not beholden to the requirements of the First Amendment (absent a threat or coercion from the government), and are thus well within their rights to prohibit fans’ speech or conduct. As far as chilling effects goes, I suppose the worry there is primarily about taking away one of the most important parts of all professional sports: the fans’ contribution to the home-field advantage.
Regardless, the fan experience at MLB games is unlikely to be different in the wake of any new rules. First, high-profile incidents like the one at Fenway Park in May are few and far between, and when something does happen, the individual ball clubs’ rules have thus far been sufficient to handle them appropriately, and many arenas have a “Fan SOS” system that allows anonymous reporting of unruly fans via text message. Second, if the existing penalties (usually a temporary or permanent ban and the possibility of legal action) are not enough to deter obnoxious attendees, additional restrictions probably won’t either. And finally, the NHL, NFL, and NBA all have existing rules, and booing and cheering are alive and well in those arenas and stadiums.
Until the MLB officially releases the new rules, we cannot know for sure what they’ll contain or how they’ll actually affect the experience of going to a baseball game. But it’s a pretty good bet that the new Code will simply be an MLB-certified collection of rules and penalties that are largely already in effect, albeit under each individual clubs’ purview.
Andrew Janson, Staff Editor
Image: Fan Brawl, Mets at Phillies, 9/15/07. Flickr user David Owen, Creative Commons.
SOURCES
Des Bieler, Red Sox Permanently Ban Fan Who Allegedly Used a Racial Slur at Fenway Park, The Wash. Post (May 4, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/05/04/red-sox-permanently-ban-fan-who-allegedly-used-racial-slur-at-fenway-park/?utm_term=.811d507aebc9.
Whitney McIntosh, Major League Baseball is Implementing a League-Wide Fan Conduct Code Next Season, SB Nation (Aug. 22, 2017), https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/8/22/16187056/mlb-league-wide-fan-conduct-code-2018-season-adam-jones-fenway.
Scott Lauber, MLB to Implement Code of Conduct for Fans at Ballparks in 2018, ESPN (Aug. 23, 2017), http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20419845/mlb-implement-code-conduct-fans-ballparks-2018.
Bob Nightengale, Orioles’ Adam Jones Berated by Racist Taunts at Fenway Park, USA TODAY (May 1, 2017), https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/05/01/orioles-adam-jones-berated-racist-taunts-fenway-park-peanuts/101187172/.
NFL Teams Implement Fan Code of Conduct, NFL (Aug. 5, 2008), http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d809c28f9/article/nfl-teams-implement-fan-code-of-conduct.
NHL Fan Code of Conduct, NHL (last visited Dec. 10, 2017), http://stars.nhl.com/v2/ext/pdf/NHL%20Fan%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20new.pdf.
NBA Fan Code of Conduct, NBA (Oct. 20, 2015), http://www.nba.com/news/nba-fan-code-of-conduct/.
The Fenway Park Code of Conduct, MLB (last visited Dec. 19, 2017), http://mlb.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=code.
Coors Field A to Z Guide – H, MLB (last visited Dec. 19, 2017), http://mlb.mlb.com/col/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=guide#H.
Yankee Stadium Guest Code of Conduct, MLB (last visited Dec. 19, 2017), http://mlb.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=conduct.
duselj.wordpress.com 