Only so much can be done on stadium safety

The death of 23-year-old Stuart Haverty of Harvard at Sunday's Bears game at Soldier Field illustrates how dangerous sports stadiums can be, with their wide-open-by-design panoramas, and how difficult it is for stadium security to deal with the inherent risks, given the sheer number of fans at an event, who can be expected to be exuberant and excited if not overserved.

Haverty's death was ruled an accident Monday by the Cook County medical examiner, who found that Haverty had crossed a 3-foot-high railing onto a 2-foot-wide ledge between Soldier Field's distinctive columns, then fell as much as 50 feet to a concrete landing below.

The Bears issued a statement saying, “Our hearts go out to his family and friends. They will be in our prayers during this difficult time.”

It's a delicate issue for teams and their stadium facilities, who would appear to prefer not to draw any additional attention to the topic. Chicago-based Monterrey Security Consultants handles security at Soldier Field but referred questions to the stadium's global SMG management firm, which did not return calls for comment.

The Cubs, White Sox and Bulls also declined to comment.

Yet it seems clear that, while stadium security generally does a good job of balancing safety with what can be a rowdy clientele, there's only so much that can be done.

There has been a rash of fatal accidents at stadiums and other venues recently.

A 2-year-old died in a fall from a luxury suite following a Lakers game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles just last week, and a 20-year-old man died after a fall down the stairs at a Rutgers football game earlier in the month.

In October, a man fell 20 feet and survived at a Jacksonville Jaguars NFL game, and another man survived a 30-foot fall at a Texas Rangers baseball game in July after going over the upper-deck railing reaching for a foul ball.

Baseball stadiums tend to be especially dangerous with their highly pitched upper decks, but the modern stadium has many other places for the unwary to be cautious.

Two years ago, a 36-year-old man died in a fall from an escalator after a Mets game at Shea Stadium in New York.

And it's not only sports stadiums that are prone to such accidents. Megan Duskey, a 23-year-old Chicago schoolteacher and Northern Illinois University alumna, was killed during a Halloween party at the Palmer House Hilton last month when she attempted to slide down a banister in an open stairwell and fell to her death in the basement.