NBA Should Not Consider More Safety for Court-Side Seats [VIDEO]
By now, most people have seen the video of Cleveland Cavs star LeBron James crashing into Ellie Day while chasing down a basketball during last night's game against Oklahoma City. The wife of PGA star Jason Day was taken off the court on a stretcher and stayed at a local hospital overnight for observation. She said later that she felt like she was "hit by a truck". The incident sparked some concern in the sports world for fan safety at basketball games.
Unlike baseball games, which is dealing with fan safety following multiple incidents where people were seriously injured by batted balls or flying bats, basketball does not have the same injury risk. LeBron James is 6'8 and 250 pounds, and anyone would be in danger if a person that big is coming full speed at you while trying to save a basketball. However, these type of plays do not happen often enough in basketball to warrant any type of added barriers to protect fans.
Every individual knows that they are in some risk when they sit in the "Nicholson seats" at a basketball game. However, the view is so good from the court, that they would take that chance every time. Plus, teams can charge a premium for court-side access, and they would not want to lose out on that revenue. As unfortunate as the Day injury was, that is part of the live sports experience.