The Washington Redskins football team plays its games at FedEx Field. Before 2006, the stadium did not caption any announcements made over the public address system, but did provide assisted listening devices to hard of hearing fans. Since 2006, most public address announcements have been closed captioned on two LED ribbon boards located between the upper and lower decks at the 50-yard line. For example, pregame announcements, and announcements stating the type of play, names of key players and yards gained or lost have been displayed on the ribbon boards. However, in 2006, a suit was filed under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), claiming that the team and stadium must also caption the lyrics of music played over the public address system during halftime, and other entertainment routines.

In late September 2008, a federal district court judge in Maryland ruled that a wide range of aural information provided at sporting events must be made accessible for hearing impaired fans. Feldman v. Pro Football, Inc., CA No. – AW-06-2266 (U.S. Dist. Ct. Md).  Specifically, the court held that the ADA requires stadiums “to provide deaf and hard of hearing fans equal access to the aural information broadcast over the stadium public address system at FedExField, which includes music with lyrics, play information, advertisements, referee calls, safety/emergency information and other announcements.”

Under Title III of the ADA, no individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability “in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities . . . or accommodations of any place of public accommodation . . . .” Under applicable regulations, public accommodations, such as stadiums, must “furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure effective communications with individuals with disabilities.”

The court rejected the team and stadium’s argument that the ADA only required it to provide assistive listening devices, particularly in this case, where it is undisputed that such devices are useless for the plaintiffs in the case. The court also rejected the argument that the additional accommodations sought in the suit were not required, because the only integral information is the game play itself. However, the court held that much more than a football game is provided to fans. Defendants also provide “public address announcements, advertisements, music and other aural information to hearing fans…” The court held that without some form of accommodation, the plaintiffs would not have the equal access to this information required by the ADA.

Significantly, while the court ordered that the stadium and team must provide appropriate accommodations for the all public address announcements, including music, the court declined to order that captioning, as opposed to other auxiliary aids or services, be required. Therefore, while this decision does require stadium operators and teams to find ways to accommodate a broad range of aural events, teams and stadium operators still have some flexibility in how to comply with the law.

Samuel K. Charnoff
charnoff.samuel@arentfox.com
202.857.6221