Accessibility loses out with playoff demand
Wheelchair-bound season-ticket holder almost shut out of Astros’ playoff games
Gerald Sanchez and his father, Sam, are true Houston sports fans. Not even a stroke that confined Sam to a wheelchair six years ago could sideline their attendance at Astros, Rockets and Texans games.
Sam’s wheelchair, however, did keep them out of Minute Maid Park for the past two playoff series, a casualty of the team’s popularity and high ticket demand.
“It’s just a shame,” Gerald Sanchez, 41, said, noting the importance he and his father place on their time supporting Houston teams.
Astros officials said they work to accommodate every request from fans but cannot guarantee wheelchair-accessible seating in lieu of conventional tickets if others have bought the seats.
Typically, Gerald swaps his tickets for wheelchair-accessible seating when he takes his father. With the Astros, that has been a hassle-
free process. Until it wasn’t when the Boston Red Sox came to town for the American League Divisional Series.
“I played my hunch and didn’t take my dad to the games,” Sanchez said, saying ticket officials told him swaps from Section 323 to Section 322 where accessible seats are located would not be allowed. Sanchez said he was told every seat in Minute Maid, including folding chairs set up in the area reserved for those in wheelchairs, was spoken for.
“He didn’t go to any of the series or the Yankees games,” Gerald said of Sam.
Gerald was able to keep his seats, but they were inaccessible to Sam because of the stairs.
As an alternative, Sanchez said he was told he and his father would be welcome to watch the game from the club level, where the Astros typically sell standing-room-only space.
“He’s in a wheelchair,” Sanchez said. “He couldn’t see anything.”
‘An issue of supply’
The difficulty arises when Astros tickets are so in demand that every seat is sold, explained Marcel Braithwaite, the team’s senior vice president for business operations.
“It really is an issue of supply,” Braithwaite said.
Astros officials are happy to swap tickets for season-ticket holders when they need them, he said, but cannot stop anyone from buying tickets for the wheelchair-accessible seats. Those spots are available for season tickets, he added.
Giles Kibbe, the Astros counsel, said the team cannot ask anyone to prove a disability in order to buy a wheelchair-accessible seat.
“I wish we could do something about it, but it is a complex situation,” Kibbe said. “We do our best to make sure our fans are accommodated.”
By working early with ticket concierge officials, Sanchez said, he was able to switch seats for Games 3 and 5 of the World Series, meaning Sam will attend two of the games — for a $51 transfer fee charge.
“It is an added complication for something that just seems like they should be able to do,” he said.
Sanchez’s experience is more common than some may expect, said Toby Cole, a Houston lawyer and a member of the city’s commission on disabilities. Cole, who uses a wheelchair, said that when it comes to preserving spots for the disabled at major events, the law falls into “kind of a gray area.”
“Once you sell a certain amount, or number of the seating, whatever percentage that is, then you can open up (wheelchair accessible) spots to anybody,” Cole said. “Legally, they can do that. But it is bad form and not good for the community.”
Cole noted his own attempts Saturday night to find World Series tickets were useless, as all the accessible seats were gone .
“I got on five minutes after the game and they were all sold out,” he said, adding that he also was told by ticket officials that no swaps were allowed during the postseason.
Rodeo, Rockets praised
Often, the issue can be resolved with a simple discussion. Cole said he was irritated when he noticed wheelchair-accessible tickets to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo concerts would be gobbled up by the broader market.
He said that when he brought the issue to rodeo officials — who also oversee the charitable wing of the event — they went out of their way to correct the problem.
“I met with the top executives and they said ‘How do we change this?,’” Cole said. “What they do is hold accessible seats back.”
Sanchez also said if there is a positive piece to this, it is how rarely he encounters difficulty bringing Sam to most sports, including the Astros regular season games.
“The Rockets are perfect,” he said. “Any time I tell them my dad is coming, they take care of it, no problem whatsoever.”
Despite the troubles, he’ll still root, root, root for the home team.
“I am just appreciative I can take my dad to the World Series and share that experience together,” Sanchez said. “But it is a lot of hoops to jump through.”