Stadium Seating and the Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance

December 27, 2019 Richard Acree

With all these football games going on this time of year you may find yourself enjoying the game from one of those stadium seats. So is your stadium seating ADA compliant? There is a lot to it. The following rules apply to stadium seating for ADA compliance with the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards).

In stadiums, arenas, and grandstands, wheelchair spaces and companion seats should be dispersed to all levels that include seating served by an accessible route.
Assembly areas that are required to horizontally disperse wheelchair spaces and companion seats by section 221.2.3.1 of the 2010 Standards (p. 79) and have seating encircling, in whole or in part, a field of play or performance area shall disperse wheelchair spaces and companion seats around that field of play or performance area
Wheelchair spaces and companion seats should not be located on (or obstructed by) temporary platforms or other movable structures, except that when an entire seating section is placed on temporary platforms or other movable structures in an area where fixed seating is not provided, in order to increase seating for an event, wheelchair spaces and companion seats may be placed in that section. When wheelchair spaces and companion seats are not required to accommodate persons eligible for those spaces and seats, individual, removable seats may be placed in those spaces and seats.
Wheelchair seating spaces must be included in luxury suites, calculated suite by suite.
Wheel chair spaces must comply with Section 802 of the 2010 Standards.