U-M Says It Can Add Handicap Seating

Ann Arbor News

In compromise, stadium would get 295 more wheelchair spaces

By Dave Gershman
November 20, 2007

Michigan Stadium would open in 2010 with hundreds of additional wheelchair seats under a concession the University of Michigan is making in an attempt to avoid a legal fight with the federal government.

The university is offering what it calls a compromise in its dispute with the U.S. Department of Education and submitted a proposal Monday to install 295 more wheelchair seats in the stadium bowl than it had initially planned during the upcoming renovation and expansion project.

The additional seats would be placed on portable platforms in a ring around the stadium bowl at the entrance portal levels. Some would be installed in time for the next football season.

After investigating Michigan Stadium for years, the U.S. Department of Education issued a letter of findings Oct. 26 that stated the stadium violates the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The DOE had given the university a second deadline of Monday to file a corrective plan, or it would refer the case to the U.S. Department of Justice for legal action.

In the university's response, interim vice president and general counsel Gloria Hage wrote that the university still believes the stadium is in "full compliance'' with the law, but it is offering to add more wheelchair seating to avoid a lengthy legal battle.

While the Department of Education did not put an explicit number on how many wheelchair seats must be added, its interpretation of the law might call for nearly 1,000 additional wheelchair seats in the stadium bowl, based on ADA regulations that call for a percentage of the total seating capacity.

Under U-M's new compromise, when the stadium opens in 2010 after the $226 million renovation and expansion project is finished, it would have 592 wheelchair seats, many more than the 88 to 90 wheelchair seats it currently has in the end zones.

As part of the expansion and renovation project, the university had already planned to add 72 wheelchair seats to the topmost row of the western side of the bowl, and another 135 wheelchair seats in the skyboxes and club seating areas that will be built as part of two massive sideline structures.

The additional 295 seats would be installed on the maximum number of portable platforms that are structurally feasible to install, Hage wrote in the letter to the DOE. Depending on the demand, the university is seeking to be able to remove some unused wheelchair seating on a seasonal basis, but it would retain a sufficient capacity to accommodate an unexpected number of single-game fans who need wheelchair seating.

"We keep very careful track of ticket holders' needs for accessible seating,'' said Hage in an interview.”The proposal is we would have sufficient accessible seating and always have excess for people who change out tickets on a game-day basis.''

Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the Department of Education, said Monday that the university's offer is under review.

It won't resolve a separate lawsuit filed in federal court by the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America that also raises complaints of accessibility.

"This is not just a case about seats, and this is not just a case about football,'' said Richard Bernstein, the attorney representing the disabled veterans.”This is really a case about ADA accessibility and the accessibility of all types of different public venues for disabled people across the country.''

Both sides are to appear before the judge Wednesday for a status conference, he said.