YouTube to Blame For Drunken Fan Fights

What could possibly cause fans to fight in the cheap seats at Blue Jays games? My best guess: booze. Well that, mixed with cheap seats, combined with the fact that our friends to the north enjoy fisticuffs.

But, according to Jays CEO Paul Godfrey, my best guess would be way off. No, the fan fights apparently have less to do with alcohol and more to do with YouTube. He attempts to explain:

The sudden surge in drunkenness and fighting in the cheap seats at Blue Jays games may be tied to the phenomenon of personal broadcasting via You Tube on the Internet, says Godfrey.

The chairman and chief executive officer of the major league club was reviewing the public relations wreckage of two fight-filled nights in the stands and tightening a zero tolerance policy for illicit booze and brawling among fans when he saw "a couple of messages people have out on You Tube — and that's the reason there may be a sudden increase in that type of activity," Mr. Godfrey said in an interview.

"Some people go, film their experiences and then call out to friends and unknowns alike to come down and join their party."

The result of all this brawling in the seats? No more beer for the 500 level. Like, at all. Of course, the well-to-do folks in the 100 level can still drink all the Labatts Blue they can handle, but if someone is found sneaking some of the sweet nectar from the lower levels back up to the cheap seats, security will “show them the exit sign pretty quickly.”

Man, what a buzzkill YouTube is.

For the record, I could only find one extremely poor quality video of an extremely poor quality “brawl” at a Jays game on YouTube.

(Photo H/T to Busted Coverage)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.