How much time do you spend in stadium seating? Do you have a reserved seat season ticket to the local college team, as well as your favorite spot on the bleachers where your son plays baseball and a spot at the end of the bench during your daughter’s hockey games? If so, you understand the importance of providing enough seating for players and coaches as well as fans and audience members.
In the United States, sports are widely recognized as a tool of child development and health promotion. In fact, 75% of parents of children in middle school or high school say they encourage participation. While the children are participating, the parents are often sitting in some kind of stadium seating. Professional football teams, colleges, high schools, and even middle schools have bleacher systems set up to accommodate their fans. They vary in size from 10 feet wide that only seat 25, all the way to full stadiums that seat thousands and wrap around the entire field.
Bleachers and other other types of stadium seating can be built in, permanent or movable. Movable bleachers come in varying lengths with anywhere between two and five risers. Prices on these movable, or portable, bleachers can run from a few hundred dollars up to a couple of thousand dollars, so there are pricing and sizing options to fit almost any budget.
While most people think of athletics when they think of stadium seating, this type of seating can also be used for churches and other venues that need to provide varying amount of spectator space. An outdoor amphitheater may have build in cement bleachers and still bring in extra movable seating for larger events.
The term “bleachers” can be traced back to at least 1889 and the size and kind of seating varies. For example, the average baseball stadium holds 47,000 people, while the average football stadium holds 70,000 people. Seating for professional athletes in professional venues though only makes up a small portion of the bleacher seating in America. This space efficient option is used in schools, theaters and churches as well. Some bleacher type seating is also attached to picnic tables in parks throughout the country.
How about it? Do you remember exactly where you were sitting when you saw your favorite quarterback throw the Super Bowl winning pass in the last second of the game? That’s right, you weren’t sitting at that point. You were standing on the bleachers so that you wouldn’t miss a second of that unforgettable play!
