DENVER (KDVR) — When most people think about seats for a sporting event or concert, they are typically looking for the best bang for their buck. For one group, finding seats that accommodate them while they are having fun can be a struggle.
A group of advocates wants to make sure large venues in Colorado have seats that are free of drugs and alcohol while they navigate sobriety.
Duke Rumley is the executive director of Sober A.F. Entertainment.
“A.F. can stand for a lot of things. Sober A.F. can stand for sober and fun, it can stand for sober alcohol-free or we try to make it edgy,” Rumley said.
Rumley has been in sobriety for 33 years. He said a sober support group of Dead Heads helped him realize he could still enjoy shows sober.
“That helped me figure out that being sober could be tolerable. If I could, you know, still be able to go out see Grateful Dead shows and be around a community of people having fun at dead concerts, then I was like, wow, this I can try for a while,” Rumley said.
Bill would enforce 4% sober seating at large venues
Now, he wants others to have that same opportunity. Rumley is advocating for a bill that would require all venues in Colorado that hold more than 7,000 people to designate and enforce 4% of their seats to be substance-free. Think venues like Ball Arena, Coors Field, Empower Field, Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Folsom Field among others.
Language in the bill said the seating would need to be inclusive for folks with disabilities and the seats cannot exclusively be in the nosebleed section.
“The U.S. Census came out and it said 38% of Americans who are adults don’t drink. So I think 4% is a pretty small percentage, and I think there is a community of people looking to have fun without either substances or being around people who are on substances,” Rumley said. “Half of the NFL teams already have some type of substance-free seating, the Boston Red Sox has a substance-free section already, so it’s done throughout the country in different areas. We would be the first state in the country to have it mandatory, to have it dictated at 4%. So we feel like 4% is a very fair and equitable number.”
If it were to become law, violation of the law would be deemed as good cause for refusal or denial of an alcohol license issuance or renewal from the state. Failure to comply would also be a basis for other license-related discipline, including suspension, revocation or a fine.
The bill has not had its first hearing yet but there is one scheduled for March 28. Rumley is hoping the community will support what could be an uphill battle to get the measure passed.
“We’re dealing with stigma and we’re dealing with large revenue companies, meaning the venues, the alcohol companies, the cannabis companies, so not a lot of people want to support us it feels like, because all the money is on the other side. So we really need people to contact their senators and state representatives,” Rumley said.
No matter what happens with this bill, Rumley and his group host sober seating events periodically at different venues. They have a sober event coming up at Ball Arena on March 25 when the Denver Nuggets take on the Milwaukee Bucks.