Cincinnati Bengals allow re-entry of smokers into stadium on proof of ID – NFL News
The Cincinnati Bengals, who struggled to attract fans up to full seating capacity at the Paul Brown Stadium into later part of the 2011 National Football League (NFL) regular season, have come up with a change in their fan policy to facilitate
re-entry of smokers into the stadium.
In order to avoid security issues and inconvenience or delays to fans, the management is trying to implement some identification methods i.e. stamps etc the fans can show to security officials on their re-entry into the ground.
Bengals are expected to erect fenced places outside four gates of the stadium as exclusive smoking zones. The decision is likely to pay the team off.
Under the local state laws, a smoker having a f*g in his seat faces immediate ejection from the stadium. The smoking is banned at public and closed places since 2007, and Bengals have been facing difficulties to handle the situation effectively.
At the moment, there is no proper arrangement for smokers at the stadium and some people sneak to toilets but become prone to get stern warnings.
The change in the policy is going to be a win-win situation for both sides, as while fans can smoke during intervals or otherwise, the team will benefit in terms of attracting more and more spectators.
At the end it should serve the cause of Bengals as the team had some serious difficulties to attract people to the ground during their home games last season.
A number of games went with fans appearance far below than the seating facility at the stadium and it prompted the managers to take a number of drastic measures to check the trend.
One of them was to offer free refreshments and other incentives to season ticket holders as motivation for them to show up at the ground.
Even though the team has not officially backed the change in smoking policy as a step to increase turnout of spectators, some commentators believe it could be a part of the scheme to check the declining trend of the fans.
They, however, emphasised that the move does not reflect on the official endorsement of smoking by the team.
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