Seeing the Light at the Stadium : Most sports fans will welcome the decision to ban smoking in the stands

The announcement by the Chargers, Padres and Aztecs to ban smoking in the stands at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium is a welcome one for San Diego sports fans. Starting next season, the minority of fans who smoke will have to leave their seats and go to the concourse to light up.

Smoking bans are still fairly unusual in open-air stadiums, but probably not for much longer.

Stanford University already bans smoking in the stands, as do the Oakland Athletics; and next season it will be outlawed at Texas Stadium, home of the Cowboys. The San Diego teams just saw the economic and legislative future a little sooner than most.

The San Diego State University Aztecs said the lack of a smoking ban was hurting ticket sales.

The Chargers and Padres said they, too, were responding to ticket holder concerns. And the Stadium Authority has been considering imposing a ban.

For two years, nonsmokers have had to rely on the courtesy of smokers. “Please be considerate of your neighbors” signs have been posted at each entrance and flashed on the scoreboard.

Many smokers observe them. But, even with the sign now being flashed four to six times a game--up from once a game when the policy was initiated two years ago--some smokers don’t get the message.

There’s still a steady stream of complaints. As more has been learned about the dangers of secondhand smoke, what was once an annoyance became intolerable.

The Chargers, Aztecs and Padres took a major step toward assuring a healthy environment for their fans. Now the Stadium Authority should finish the job by extending it to other events.