Updated 6/15/2011 morning
Wednesday night will be only the second time that a Boston pro sports team could win a championship and I won’t be responsible for putting on a viewing party involving it. And even though I haven’t been in the viewing party business since 2008, it is still odd not to be at this point in a championship series and not be all consumed with putting on an event that would do justice to the championship possibility and keep students from gathering in Kenmore Square.
When the Boston Red Sox made their 2004 run towards their first World Series title in 86 years, I was a brand new graduate intern in a student activities office. My boss and I were charged with planning viewing parties of all playoff games – a big task, given that the school’s residence halls didn’t yet have cable. (I know, it seemed like the Dark Ages. They would get cable just a few months later.) If students didn’t come to our viewing parties, they would have to go find a lounge with a working TV or off-campus to see the games. In student affairs, your aim is not to have students find their enjoyment off campus if you can help it, so we had to make those viewing parties as delectable to as many students as possible. Plus, the event had to appeal to the most die-hard of sports fans and those who hadn’t watched a single game in their lives and just wanted to gather because it was a big deal. The other challenge? Effectively communicating to and convincing university administrators and Boston city officials that these plans would keep students safe and out of Kenmore Square.
That was a lot of stakeholders to make happy at once, especially as a 22 year old Boston newbie.
And yet, every single time we threw a viewing party, riots happened anyway. Young people got hurt, destroyed things, and in extreme circumstances, even died. No matter how authentic the catering sausages were, no matter how posh the door prizes were, no matter how much you locked the doors to the arena and picked the furthest point west on campus to hold the party, the minute the last out was recorded or the last second expired, people sprinted towards Kenmore Square.
So when the Boston Bruins and the City of Boston flip-flopped Tuesday on a potential viewing party, eventually deciding not to hold one because of safety concerns, I wasn’t surprised. Sure, you get a large contingent of fans together in one contained area, but that act alone doesn’t keep people from rioting and otherwise acting stupid. You could keep attendees contained within the building until a certain point after the game ends, but that can get troublesome when crowds get antsy and when suburban attendees want to try to get home. You release that crowd all at the same time, and there go 17,000 people at one time onto the streets. You then focus all your police presence on that group, creating the perfect storm for something to brew in another area of the city. Could that happen anyway? Of course. But without a viewing party, the crowd is a bit more spread out over different parts of the city, and you get a few less people coming in from out of town.
Is the thinking right? I don’t know. As someone who planned viewing parties, I still see their purpose. A possible championship is a big event, and watching it with thousands of friends and neighbors just gives it that extra panache. It does help in some aspects of crowd control, and it is a more controllable and positive alternative to having crowds at bars.
But now, as of Wednesday morning (thanks to Jason’s comment), fans aren’t allowed to enter bars after the second period of Game 7 begins. From a public safety stand point, that just pushes people into the streets, and creates a bigger issue for getting revelers contained. Where are you going to contain them? You’re just going to push them until they’re over a city line, and then let another jurisdiction take care of them?
It’s disappointing to think that the city can’t trust its citizens and visitors to celebrate a possible win civilly, without flipping over cars, stampeding over peers, or overstaying their welcomes. As much as I’d love to believe that a viewing party would decrease that possibility, our experiences as a city do not prove as such to us, and I think that’s why the City of Boston made the decision it did. But after how many of these celebrations, the powers that be can’t come up with a productive and safe way for fans to celebrate? It’s been ten years of Boston sports success, and we can’t figure out a plan by this point?
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Interested in reading some of my posts from my viewing party planning days?
Why I Moved To Boston – This might be the most favorite post I’ve ever written, written after I got home from working a 2004 ALDS viewing party.
On Being The Best Luck Charm – The first championship I was able to watch without putting on a viewing party was the 2008 NBA Finals.
They have taken it a step further this morning. Three new rules have surfaced.
1. Bars have to black out their windows so people can’t gather outside to watch
2. Anyone near the Causeway Street area that isn’t in a bar will be escorted away by police
3. Bars must close their doors to patrons after the second period, no one is allowed to come into the city after 2 periods of play tonight.
These aren’t new rules – they’ve been in place the past few years (at least since the Sox ’07 win) for clinching games.
Here is what I don’t understand…what would they do if it had been a home game for game 7? All those people would have been in the Garden anyway…