Board Considers Smoking Ban at San Diego Stadium

The nine-member Stadium Authority Board has agreed to study a proposal by one of its board members to ban smoking in any seating area of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium and permit it only on walkways or concourses.

If the other eight members go along with Mike Gotch, who proposed the ban, the measure would proceed to the City Council for a binding vote. If it passes, the stadium--home of the San Diego Padres and Chargers--would become the only major outdoor stadium in the country to have a smoking ban.

Si Coleman, chairman of the Stadium Authority Board, said the board will have “a full hearing” on the matter at its next meeting, Sept. 1. He said he has received no fewer than 125 letters since Gotch made the proposal several weeks ago.

Emotional Issue

“It’s obviously an emotional issue, with a lot of different viewpoints to take into account,” Coleman said.

Gotch’s proposal has also raised a question about what would become of a Marlboro advertising sign in left field if the smoking ordinance is approved. John Connolly, manager of special media for the New York-based Philip Morris Co., which pays for the Marlboro sign, had no comment when asked about Gotch’s proposal.

Jack Teele, director of administration for the San Diego Chargers, said he believes the stadium had been generous enough in providing no-smoking sections.

Gotch, a former city councilman, said he favors the proposal out of concern over the health hazards of smoking. He said he has worked with the Lung Assn. of San Diego and other anti-smoking organizations and has championed the city’s no-smoking ordinance in restaurants and offices, which took effect in 1982.

Still a Place to Smoke

“People will still have the opportunity to smoke,” Gotch said, “they’ll just be asked to leave their seats. Now that we have TV monitors at all concession stands, they won’t be terribly inconvenienced. They can stand out there and have a cigarette, if necessary. They’re only being asked to momentarily leave their seats.

“It’s important to me as custodians of the stadium, as public policy makers, that we be in the leadership position,” said Gotch.