If you read that headline and thought of the Chicago White Sox, you’re in luck! Forget Fenway Park, that tightly packed anachronism of Boston. Forget Dodger Stadium, only reachable through the epic congestion of Los Angeles highways. Major League Baseball’s most accessible stadium for disabled fans is Chicago’s Rate Field, home of the White Sox.
Fresh off the losingest season in MLB history, Rate Field boasts an average 60% vacancy rate in ballpark seating, with some games seeing overall attendance under 1,000 people for the 40,615-person stadium. Disabled fan Gil Gunderson says that, for wheelchair users, this is a dream come true.
“I’ve been to all 30 stadiums, and there’s nothing like the mobility and open space of a Sox game.” For a recent 10-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals, Gunderson says he enjoyed an entire section of seating to himself. And while using concessions and restrooms at other stadiums is a long tribulation of maneuvering around drunks or waiting for them to notice him and make room to pass, Gunderson enjoys unfettered access to all of Rate Field’s amenities. “I never miss any of the game there, and I don’t worry about anyone spilling beer on me because nobody is there in the first place.”
The absence of crowd stimulation is also plus for neurodivergent fans who may otherwise have a diminished threshold for tolerating high-sensory environments. Fans who struggle with concentration or emotional regulation will have no issue following the predictable three-up, three-down routine of the White Sox offense. And visually impaired fans can enjoy the sounds and smells in the ballpark without the humiliation of seeing what White Sox baseball looks like. If not for the occasional stabbing, Rate Field is a disabled baseball fan’s ideal.