BC Place apologizes after disabled guests turned away from lounge

BC Place is issuing an apology after several groups with wheelchairs were denied access to the Edgewater Lounge for the BC Lions game Sunday.

Marcia McNaughton says she bought five tickets for herself, her husband, and some friends, one of whom is in a wheelchair, to catch Sunday’s CFL game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from the lounge. The section, she explains, allows wheelchairs and groups so people can sit together.

“It’s been done for years, never been a problem. But upon arrival, my group was told the policy had changed and it’s no longer allowing wheelchairs,” she recalled.

“I was in absolute disbelief.”

McNaughton says she wasn’t with the group when they were denied entry, adding her husband let her know by text that they were being turned away and offered to stay in the concourse to watch the game on TVs.

“It was unbelievable and, of course, I went directly running to Guest Services where I saw other people with the same issues and the BC Lions ticket agent came and tried to do anything they could to alleviate the issue but there was no where for us to go. The family I was standing behind at Guest Services, they were in tears. The little boy in the chair was just beside himself, the family couldn’t believe it,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.

“I teach special ed for a living, so my job daily is to advocate for people who aren’t able to advocate for themselves. These people, my friends, are able to communicate for themselves and they were just disgusted with the entire situation. We had friends from out of town for the game who flew in from Alberta, so it didn’t just put one person out, it put a lot of us out. My friend was just disgusted.”

She claims the lounge wasn’t even full and that there was plenty of space for her group and others, including the wheelchairs.

McNaughton says she was shocked, noting she and her friends have caught games from the lounge previously. She adds when she bought the tickets, she was not informed of any changes or accessibility restrictions.

“That’s where people with wheelchairs and families and groups go, because you can get group seating in there. Accessible seats usually only allow one guest, so it’s where everybody goes as a group,” she said of the Edgewater Lounge.

McNaughton says she and others were told there were no more tickets available in the accessible seating section. While some other people were offered refunds, McNaughton says she refused and demanded BC Place find somewhere she and her friends could go.

Ultimately, she explains her group was offered a $100 food voucher and seats in the club section — where she says they had to watch the game from TVs.

BC Place says ‘unclear communication … likely contributed to this issue’

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, BC Place says it “regrets the ticketing issue” that happened, adding it apologized “to those impacted.”

“We are aware that some ticketholders encountered issues accessing the Edgewater Lounge area of the stadium. This general admission area is available to ticketholders between sections 225-230 with seats available on a first-come-first-served basis, but due to high demand, the accessible seats were already occupied when the impacted guests arrived. We recognize that our 41-year-old building poses challenges for accessibility, and while we are actively working to improve this, it was a mistake to deny entry to the lounge,” BC Place said in an email.

“In response to the inconvenience caused, we offered affected ticketholders new seating in the club section, complete with food and beverage service, as a gesture of our apology. Those who preferred not to accept the alternative seating were advised to contact BC Place for a resolution. We intend to invite these guests to a future game, with the tickets, food and beverage covered to provide a positive experience and make amends for our error.”

BC Place says it acknowledges “unclear communication regarding lounge access for different ticket types likely contributed to this issue,” and that it “takes full responsibility for the mismanagement of this situation.”

“BC Place … recognizes that we fell short of the high standards of service we strive to provide. We are conducting a thorough review of the incident and are implementing additional staff training to prevent similar issues in the future.”

McNaughton says the BC Lions also reached out, but she explains it’s not the team’s issue to try to make good on.

“It wasn’t their policy and it wasn’t their problem.”

Assistant General Manager Jenna Visram says BC Place is working to right its wrongs as of Monday afternoon. She says she’s been in touch with McNaughton, inviting her and her guests to join them for a future game “in the way that they should have been able to” on Sunday.

“The feedback that [McNaughton’s] provided is invaluable for us. And we’re really taking that and trying to really dig down and figure out what exactly happened, because that isn’t the experience that we strive to provide here at BC Place for any of our guests,” said Visram.

She says her team is working to get in contact with everyone else affected.

“Accessibility is very important to us, and it’s top of mind, and it’s something that we are actively working on improving. We’re actually currently hiring for a guest experience coordinator that’s going to be focused on accessibility, and that’s just one of the pieces that we are looking to implement to ensure that every guest that comes to BC Place can have a positive experience when they come here.”