Game Day and Premises Liability

Sep 30, 2026 - Premises Liability by Cross & Smith

Fall is football! Whether you’re a fan of the Auburn Tigers or the Alabama Crimson Tide, this is an exciting time of year for football fans. But football is not all fun and games. Stadium venues can be complex, large crowds can be intimidating, and fans’ behavior isn’t always ideal. Here are the types of injuries and accidents that routinely occur in football stadiums:

• Slipping on spilled drinks 
• Tripping on broken stairs or bleachers
• Getting hit with projectiles such as beer bottles
• Twisting an ankle in a poorly lit stadium parking lot

That’s not a comprehensive list, and many other injuries and accidents can happen on game day. So, do you have recourse if you’re injured as a spectator at a football game?

Premises Liability

Premises liability is a legal concept that arises from personal injury claims for accidents and injuries that occur on another person’s property. If you’ve had an accident in a stadium, then you likely have a premises liability cause of action. In Alabama, the law is clear that people who own or control property have a duty of care to certain people who enter their property. 

Alabama law classifies people who enter the property of other people as follows:

• Invitees include visitors, guests, business customers, and others on the property for the owner’s or occupier’s financial benefit. Invitees are owed the highest duty of care, meaning the owner or occupier must maintain the property safely and warn of potentially dangerous conditions. If you have a paid ticket for a football game, you are considered an invitee.
• Licensees are people who are on the property primarily for social purposes. This group generally includes family and friends. A property owner owes a duty of care to licensees to correct and warn against dangerous conditions they actually are aware of.
• Trespassers are people on the property without permission. An owner or occupier must only refrain from engaging in reckless or intentionally harmful activities. However, if an owner or occupier knows children are regularly on the property, even without permission, they must post warnings about unsafe conditions and take reasonable steps to protect children from exposure to those dangers.

In order to prevail in a premises liability case, it’s necessary to show that:

• The premises owner owed a duty of care to the plaintiff
• The duty of care was breached
• The breach was the proximate cause of the injury
• The injury was compensable

Property Owner Defenses

A complete defense to negligence in a premises liability case is that the dangerous condition was open and obvious and that, therefore, the invitee plaintiff should have known about it. A property owner may also assert as a defense that the plaintiff acted negligently. Here’s an example to help illustrate how premises liability works as a legal cause of action. 

Let’s say you are at the Iron Bowl, the storied Auburn-Alabama football rivalry. Your alma mater, Auburn, has just made a field goal. You excitedly text a friend from the bathroom, where you inadvertently slip on a puddle of water and break your ankle. Is the stadium owner negligent and responsible for your injury, or are you at fault here?

In the legal analysis, the first question will be whether you were an invitee, licensee, or trespasser. Because you purchased your ticket, you are an invitee. This means the owner owes you the highest duty of care and must take steps to provide safe premises and warn you of hazards.

The next part of the analysis is whether the puddle was a hazard you should have been warned about. As is often the case in evaluating the law, the answer is often “It depends.” Did the puddle come from a roof that’s been leaking for weeks and the owner knew it, or did it just happen?

The third question is whether you were negligent by texting while moving around the bathroom instead of paying attention to the task at hand. Alabama has a particularly harsh rule about plaintiff negligence. If you are found to be even 1% negligent, you will be unable to collect any damages from the defendant. 

What Damages Are Available?

If the judge or jury finds in your favor, you will be entitled to damages. These include economic damages, non-economic damages, and possibly punitive damages.

• Economic damages are sometimes called compensatory damages because they aim to compensate you for your out-of-pocket losses. These losses include lost wages, medical bills, rehabilitation bills, home health care, and similar types of costs. If you’re involved in a legal dispute, including a personal injury such as a car accident, damage to your automobile also falls under economic damages.
• Non-economic damages are harder to quantify and include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of companionship and consortium.
• Punitive damages are meant to deter egregious behavior by the defendant. In Alabama, punitive damages are difficult to obtain and generally require that the defendant engaged in wanton, malicious, or fraudulent behavior. Your Tuscaloosa personal injury attorney will evaluate whether punitive damages may be appropriate in your case.  Alabama caps punitive damages. They may not exceed three times the amount of compensatory damages or $1.5 million, whichever is greater. However, if the defendant knowingly committed fraud or intentionally hid or destroyed evidence, there is no cap.

Contact Cross & Smith to Discuss Your Legal Rights and Options

At Cross & Smith, we have years of experience representing clients in personal injury and premises liability cases. We are knowledgeable, thorough, and always get our clients the best financial outcome possible. Contact us today for a free consultation to see how we can help.