Cubs home level playing ground for disabled

Article posted by Coliseum, November 20^th, 2024

Image: Wrigley Field, redlegsfan21, CC BY-SA 2.0

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced a settlement and proposed consent decree with the Major League Baseball (MLB) team Chicago Cubs to resolve alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at their home ground – the Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, US.

‘justice.gov’ quoted Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division as stating, “The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that the sports venues like the Wrigley Field be accessible to people with disabilities. The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have full and equal access to public accommodations, including our ballparks.”

Washington, D.C. (US)-based the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a Federal Executive Department of the United States Government tasked with the enforcement of Federal law and administration of justice in the United States.

The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago (US). The Cubs compete in the Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League Central Division. The club plays its home games at the Wrigley Field which is located on Chicago’s North Side.

The 41,649-capacity Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois (US). It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, one of the City’s two MLB franchises.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

Maintained Morris Pasqual, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, “As a result of this settlement, the baseball fans with physical disabilities will have vastly improved options at the Wrigley Field – on par with those available to all the other patrons. The Chicago Cubs are to be commended for working collaboratively with our office to find solutions demonstrating their commitment to providing accessibility for people with disabilities.”

‘justice.gov’ further stated that the department filed a lawsuit in 2022 against the Cubs alleging that the organization’s renovation and reconstruction of the Wrigley Field – a multiyear undertaking known as ‘the 1060 Project’ – discriminated against the individuals with disabilities. The lawsuit alleged, among other things, that the Cubs failed to provide wheelchair users with adequate sightlines as compared to the standing patrons and failed to incorporate wheelchair seating into the premium clubs and group seating areas.

Under the settlement, the Cubs will make numerous remediations to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities, including by removing noncompliant wheelchair spaces and companion seats and replacing them with wheelchair spaces that have significantly improved views of the field and fully compliant sightlines. The remediations will take place in every area of the stadium, including incorporating wheelchair spaces and companion seats into the premium club areas at the front of the grandstand that will, for the first time, provide some front-row access for fans in wheelchairs.

The Cubs have also agreed to modify protruding objects along the circulation paths within the Wrigley Field and ensure that certain parking and shuttle services outside the stadium are compliant. All the Cubs employees and contractors whose job responsibilities involve contact with the patrons with disabilities will receive training on the settlement before each of the next three baseball seasons.

The settlement and proposed consent decree have been submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for final approval. Over the next several years, the Cubs will submit to the United States written reports detailing their compliance with certain obligations in the consent decree. The United States may review compliance with the consent decree, including by inspecting the Wrigley Field, at any time during the next three years.

The Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham J. Souza and Patrick W. Johnson for the Northern District of Illinois handled the case.

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