Couple balks at buying seat for baby at NHL game

WINNIPEG • A Manitoba couple is in a fight with the National Hockey League over their breastfeeding baby.

Clifford Anderson and Shalyn Meady have spent $800 on two seats for this year’s Heritage Classic. But the NHL has said if they want to bring their sixmonth-old son, William, to the outdoor hockey game this October, they’ll have to pony up an extra $400 for a third seat, Anderson said.

Anderson and Meady don’t believe they should have to buy another ticket for a baby who can’t sit on his own yet. They say they are being put in the position of either coughing up the extra cash or not going at all.

NHL officials did not respond to a request for a comment.

“‘Everyone needs a ticket, everyone needs a seat,’ is what they said,” Anderson said. “Including babies.”

“Even for moms who formula feed, they should be able to hang out with their baby and go to a family event like this if it’s their choice,” Meady said. “There’s a lot of people who don’t want to bring their babies, and that’s fine, too, but this is something we want to do as a family. I think there should be an option.”

At Winnipeg Jets games, children under two get in for free, while children under three don’t need tickets at Winnipeg Blue Bombers games.

Jets officials say the Heritage Classic is run by the NHL, so the league sets the rules.

“We’re good parents,” Anderson said. “We know there’s going to be loud noise, so we bring headphones for him. We know it’s going to be cold, so he wears a jacket.”

Meady said she wants young families to get the option to be active parents.

“I think it’s time for that stigma to end, that moms should stay home.”