# If you are asked to leave a sporting event... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296 "2008-02-26T22:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/1 "2008-02-26T22:10:12Z")
what should you do if you haven’t done anything wrong? I was at a high school basketball game last week and I sat a couple of rows behind the opposing team’s coach. At one point, the gentleman in front of me yelled “Don’t be such a crybaby coach.” The coach turned around and pointed at me and told a school official, “He’s the one, right there.” I didn’t say anything and I didn’t point out the actual culprit since he is a distant acquaintance of mine. The school official sat down near us and waited for something else to be said. It never was. If the school official had asked me to leave, what should I have done? (Besides rat out the other fan) There is no way that the coach actually saw what happened because he fingered the wrong guy. There were plenty of police present and I think I would have told the school official to get one of them. I assume that they could try to get me for trespassing but that seems like a stretch. I’m sure that other people in the section would have said that I didn’t actually do anything but would that matter if the school official didn’t want me to be there? Mods: I didn’t know if this belonged in GQ, IMHO or GD. Please feel free to move as you see fit. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/2 "2008-02-26T22:14:46Z")
[QUOTE=KRM] I assume that they could try to get me for trespassing but that seems like a stretch. [/QUOTE] I can’t really answer for the rest of it, but here’s the thing about trespassing. If someone comes into my store, all I have to do is ask them to leave, if they refuse, they are tresspassing. I’ve had plenty of people removed from my store with out the police actually witnessing what they did to make me ask them to leave. So, it’s not really a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/3 "2008-02-26T22:17:28Z")
First of all, nothing happen, so get over it. Two, yes they can have you removed from school property for just about any reason they see fit as long as they don’t violate your civil rights. I suppose they could even send you to the principles office if you were a student of that particular school. Or they could summon the police and have you removed or arrested if you weren’t. There are a lot of hypothetical things that didn’t happen, so its hard to say what might have been. Would you have assalted a school official for wrongly accusing you of being a distrubance? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/4 "2008-02-26T22:30:28Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] I can’t really answer for the rest of it, but here’s the thing about trespassing. If someone comes into my store, all I have to do is ask them to leave, if they refuse, they are tresspassing. I’ve had plenty of people removed from my store with out the police actually witnessing what they did to make me ask them to leave. So, it’s not really a stretch. [/QUOTE] Do you require patrons to purchase tickets in order to come inside? If you are selling tickets to an event, doesn’t that take trespassing off the table, absent some other forbidden offense? Can it really be true that I could spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket to a sporting event and be shown the door for _no reason at all_? Simply because the owner asked me to leave? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/5 "2008-02-26T22:37:17Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] First of all, nothing happen, so get over it. [/quote] I know nothing happened, I was there. I have nothing to “get over”. As you pointed out, this is hypothetical, I assume that questions of this type are still allowed. > [@](#): > > There are a lot of hypothetical things that didn’t happen, so its hard to say what might have been. Would you have assalted a school official for wrongly accusing you of being a distrubance? No. **Contrapuntal’s** point is what I was getting at. Could the home team say to the visitors, “Thanks for your money now we’d like all of you to leave”? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/6 "2008-02-26T22:38:56Z")
I don’t know about a high school event, but at higher levels your ticket is a contract that requires you to behave. While an event is going on, the officials on the field or court have discretion to have any or all spectators removed if s/he feels they are being disruptive. I would assume that a high school event, there are rules that apply to that particular school district and the league that the event is played in. They are far more likely to be stricter than a pro or college event. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/7 "2008-02-26T22:41:36Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Can it really be true that I could spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket to a sporting event and be shown the door for _no reason at all_? Simply because the owner asked me to leave? [/QUOTE] I’m not sure. For a pro sports game, it might say on the back of the ticket what you can be kicked out for, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the reasons given was overly vague and/or unprovable so that the event managers have that option. BUT this wasn’t a pro sports game with admission in the hundreds of dollars, this was a high school game with admission (I’m guessing) under $15 or even free and where the policies aren’t spelled out on the ticket. The problem here is that no matter how much back and forth there is on the dope and no matter how many legal things we discuss, what it really would have came down to is wheather or not the school official and cop chose to took action. If they wanted you out of the building, you would have been out. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/8 "2008-02-26T22:48:14Z")
Calling the coach a crybaby is a potential cause for ejection from a high school game? Really? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/9 "2008-02-26T23:00:25Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Do you require patrons to purchase tickets in order to come inside? If you are selling tickets to an event, doesn’t that take trespassing off the table, absent some other forbidden offense? Can it really be true that I could spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket to a sporting event and be shown the door for _no reason at all_? Simply because the owner asked me to leave? [/QUOTE] Your remedy would be an action for breach of contract. Other than that, what “right” do you think you possess to be on someone else’s property? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/10 "2008-02-26T23:31:24Z")
Most scholastic sports events have a code of conduct which is read before the game starts, stating that spectators can be kicked out for unsportsmanlike conduct. As a sportswriter, I’ve been to thousands of high school games, and that’s universal, at least in this part of the country. In New York, state law covers behavior on school grounds. At a professional sporting event, there’s a contract established with the purchase of a ticket. Typically, they reserve the right to eject you and refund your money. Whether the conduct described by the OP warrants ejection or not is subjective, of course, but I think most people would say it wasn’t. Sounds like the coach was having a bad night, and the security folks reacted appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/11 "2008-02-26T23:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Your remedy would be an action for breach of contract. Other than that, what “right” do you think you possess to be on someone else’s property? :dubious: [/QUOTE] I really have no idea. You’re the lawyer, you tell me. Is there absolutely no difference between advertising access to one’s property and offering said access for sale, only to call the police and have them removed for no stated reason whatsoever, and kicking off random trespassers? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/12 "2008-02-27T00:03:36Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Calling the coach a crybaby is a potential cause for ejection from a high school game? Really? [/QUOTE] Yeah, this was starting even back when I was still in High School twelve years ago. Anyone making negative comments was thrown out. I’m surprised that they even keep score in the games anymore. Get your basketball off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/13 "2008-02-27T00:10:56Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] BUT this wasn’t a pro sports game with admission in the hundreds of dollars, this was a high school game with admission (I’m guessing) under $15 or even free and where the policies aren’t spelled out on the ticket. [/QUOTE] The OP asked about “sporting events.” I was responding to that. > [@](#): > > The problem here is that no matter how much back and forth there is on the dope and no matter how many legal things we discuss, what it really would have came down to is wheather or not the school official and cop chose to took action. If they wanted you out of the building, you would have been out. Sure I would. But my question is whether such action would hold up in court. I’m a big guy. For most folks, if I want them down on the pavement, they go down. Doesn’t make it right. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/14 "2008-02-27T00:15:53Z")
Random Google search quotes from high school code of conduct links: > [@](#): > > Remember that a ticket to a school athletic event is a privilege to observe the contest. Source: [http://static.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/gems/athletics/AthleticsCodeofConductComegn.pdf](http://static.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/gems/athletics/AthleticsCodeofConductComegn.pdf) > [@](#): > > I will do my best to remember that participation in sports is a privilege not a right. My ticket to the game provides me with the privilege of observing the contest, not berating officials, coaches or players. Source: [http://www.chilesbasketball.com/pdf/codeofconduct.pdf](http://www.chilesbasketball.com/pdf/codeofconduct.pdf) > [@](#): > > Parents and fans are reminded that good sportsmanship, respect for rules, respect for others and fair play are the heart of an interscholastic athletic program. Unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of parents or fans will result in immediate removal from the contest. Repeated displays of unsportsmanlike conduct will result in the parent or fan being banned from attendance at contests. Source: [http://www.parkridge.k12.nj.us/Athletics/Forms/Code%20of%20Conduct.doc](http://www.parkridge.k12.nj.us/Athletics/Forms/Code%20of%20Conduct.doc) I looked at few professional sports fan codes of conduct and the response is generally the same – if you act like a jerk, the door will be shown to you, regardless of the cost of the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/15 "2008-02-27T00:44:08Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Your remedy would be an action for breach of contract. [/QUOTE] I must respectfully disagree with counsel. Tickets to entertainment events are licenses and not easements, and as such are revocable. Even if you paid for your ticket, when the party who sold it to you revokes it, you are trespassing if you refuse to leave. Exercising one’s right to revoke a license is not grounds for a breach of contract action. Interestingly (or not, if you’re not a law nerd), courts have carved out a niche in property law for such tickets in that licenses are not normally transferrable, whereas theatre/sports tickets may be sold to third parties. Of course, this is just a theoretical “law school” answer, so if you want a more “real world” answer, you should either a) listen to the actual attorney (supra) or b) consult your own. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/16 "2008-02-27T00:50:16Z")
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer] Tickets to entertainment events are licenses and not easements, and as such are revocable. Even if you paid for your ticket, when the party who sold it to you revokes it, you are trespassing if you refuse to leave. [/QUOTE] Rre they revocable without cause? Is there any requirement to refund the price of a license if it has been revoked without cause? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/17 "2008-02-27T01:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer] I must respectfully disagree with counsel. Tickets to entertainment events are licenses and not easements, and as such are revocable. Even if you paid for your ticket, when the party who sold it to you revokes it, you are trespassing if you refuse to leave. Exercising one’s right to revoke a license is not grounds for a breach of contract action. Interestingly (or not, if you’re not a law nerd), courts have carved out a niche in property law for such tickets in that licenses are not normally transferrable, whereas theatre/sports tickets may be sold to third parties. Of course, this is just a theoretical “law school” answer, so if you want a more “real world” answer, you should either a) listen to the actual attorney (supra) or b) consult your own. [/QUOTE] So I have no property rights in the ticket? In other words, I paid $10 and in return they allow me to watch a HS basketball game? You are saying “No”, that they can eject me for no reason AND not refund my money? What if it is a tie game with 40 seconds left? Can the principal step in and say that since it is such a good game, everyone has pony up another 10 bucks or hit the door. “Come on, we aren’t starting the game back up until everyone has paid!” Seems to me that there should be no way this is correct.. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/18 "2008-02-27T01:56:13Z")
Why do you keep saying they can eject you “for no reason at all”? In this hypotentical, you would have been ejected for rudeness, unsportsmanlike conduct, being a jerk or whatever. With that in mind, your question should be, “what if I’m _wrongly_ ejected from a high school basketball game?” ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/19 "2008-02-27T03:00:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Why do you keep saying they can eject you “for no reason at all”? 😕 How about where **Randy Seltzer** writes (without any qualification about it being for cause): > [@](#): > > Tickets to entertainment events are licenses and not easements, and as such are revocable. Even if you paid for your ticket, when the party who sold it to you revokes it, you are trespassing if you refuse to leave. Exercising one’s right to revoke a license is not grounds for a breach of contract action. Or earlier, how about where **DSYoungEsq** wrote: > [@](#): > > Other than that, what “right” do you think you possess to be on someone else’s property? ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296/20 "2008-02-27T04:46:35Z")
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer] I must respectfully disagree with counsel. Tickets to entertainment events are licenses and not easements, and as such are revocable. Even if you paid for your ticket, when the party who sold it to you revokes it, you are trespassing if you refuse to leave. Exercising one’s right to revoke a license is not grounds for a breach of contract action. [/QUOTE] Huh? Regardless of whether a ticket gives you a license or an easement, it’s still a contract. (Maybe it makes more sense to think of the purchase of the ticket as the contract, but the result is the same.) The most fundamental terms of the contract are (1) I pay you money, and (2) you let me on your property at a certain date and time. However, there are other terms as well, including, “I have to behave myself,” however that’s defined. Those additional terms might be written on the back of the ticket, or displayed somewhere in the ticket-buying process, or perhaps just implied by a court based on what a “reasonable person” should expect of you while you’re attending a concert or whatever. > [@](#): > > Exercising one’s right to revoke a license is not grounds for a breach of contract action. Sure, but this begs the question of whether you _have_ the right to revoke the license. The essence of the ticket-sale transaction is that, in exchange for money, you are giving up your right to exclude the ticket-holder from your property for a given period of time, subject to certain limitations. If you revoke when you’re not entitled to do so, you’ve breached your contract. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-are-asked-to-leave-a-sporting-event/439296.md?page=2)