Fall Sports and Stadium Injuries

Sep 30, 2025 - Personal Injury, Premises Liability by Cross & Smith

Fall sports are in full swing! Even though we don’t have a professional sports team in Alabama, no state can compare with our passion for high school and college sports, particularly football. Storied Alabama college football rivalries include Alabama vs. Mississippi State, Alabama vs. Oklahoma, Alabama vs. Georgia, and, of course, Alabama vs. Auburn. 

Going to a football game can be exhilarating, particularly in the crisp autumn weather, but it’s not always fun and games. All kinds of mishaps can occur. The range of personal injuries that can result at a sports venue includes slips and falls, flying projectiles, and parking lot car accidents. Here’s a basic guide to understanding premises liability, which is a type of personal injury that occurs while on another’s property.

Premises Liability

Premises liability refers to the liability that a landowner or land occupier, such as a stadium operator or concessionaire, has for an injury that occurs on their property. A landowner has different levels of liability, depending upon the status of the person who has been injured. In Alabama, there are three types of status;

• An invitee is a person who is on the premises for some purpose that is of commercial benefit to the owner or occupier of the premises. For example, if you purchased a ticket to a football game, you would be considered an invitee. Landlords and occupiers have a duty to keep the premises in a safe condition, using reasonable care and diligence. If there are dangerous conditions that cannot be immediately remedied, the landlord has a duty to provide sufficient notice of the hazardous condition. This duty extends both to conditions that the landlord is actually aware of and those conditions that the landlord should know or have known about.
• A licensee is a person who is on the premises with permission from the owner for the licensee’s own convenience, curiosity or entertainment. Licensees include social guests. A landowner has a duty to correct or warn Licensees of dangerous conditions, but can only be held responsible for dangers they actually knew existed.
• A trespasser is a person who is on the premises without the owner’s permission. Owners and occupiers have a duty to refrain from intentionally harming trespassers.

In most cases, fans at a live sporting event will be considered invitees. That is, they will have purchased a ticket for the right to enter the venue and watch the event. So in the event of a personal injury, the legal inquiry will be:

• Did the landlord or occupier use reasonable care and diligence to keep the Invitee safe from dangerous conditions, or
• If the danger could not be immediately remedied, was there sufficient notice given of the dangerous condition?

Let’s analyze several situations to see where liability will attach for several personal injuries sustained at a sports venue.

Example A: Jason is in the stands rooting for the Crimson Tide when he is hit in the head by an airborne beer can, causing him a concussion. Jason might be able to file suit against the fan who fired off the errant beer can, but the stadium owner or operator will likely have deeper pockets and an insurance company with whom your Tuscaloosa premises liability attorney can negotiate. Whether the sports venue is liable will depend on whether the drunk fan can be considered a dangerous condition. If the owner, operator, or concession vendor knew, or should have known, that a fan drank too much and this type of behavior might logically follow, those parties might be liable for the injuries. But note that all premises liability cases are highly fact-specific. 

Example B: Rachel is at her son’s high school football game. As she takes a bathroom break, she trips on broken concrete, causing her to break her ankle. As in Example A, the question is whether the venue owner or operator used reasonable care to discover the danger and knew, or should have known, of the dangerous condition. However, note that an owner or operator may have certain defenses to liability. These include:

• The danger was open and obvious
• The defect was so trivial that no duty of care was involved
• The plaintiff was contributorily negligent
• The plaintiff assumed the risk of harm

Let’s assume that, in Example B, Rachel was texting her husband about her son’s touchdown as she tripped and fell on the broken concrete. If Rachel is deemed to be even only 1 percent negligent, her recovery will be barred. This is because Alabama has a rather punitive contributory negligence law, which requires the defendant to be entirely at fault before a plaintiff can recover damages. 

Let’s look at a final case, Example C. Let’s assume that Sean is at a baseball game rather than a football game, and is seriously injured by a flying baseball. Can the sports venue be held responsible for Sean’s injury? In this case, the answer will often be no. Most courts have adopted what is commonly known as “The Baseball Rule,” which asserts that foul balls are a common part of the game that can reasonably be expected and anticipated. As a result, fans struck by flying baseballs have assumed the risk of their injuries and will usually not be able to pursue an action. The same rule generally applies at hockey games, when spectators are injured by fast-flying pucks. 

Contact a Skilled Premises Liability Attorney at Cross & Smith, LLC

Enjoy your fall sports outings, but be sure to take care as you navigate the parking lot, climb the stadium risers, head to a slippery concession stand, or leap for a foul ball. If you are injured in any of these situations, whether you will be entitled to compensation is dependent on the unique facts and circumstances of your case. If you prevail, you will be entitled to economic, non-economic, and possibly punitive damages. Here at Cross & Smith, we have extensive experience handling personal injury cases and can help you assess the merits of your case. Contact us today to learn how we can assist you.