Saturday, November 2, 2024
Sports

Clear eyes, blocked views, bad seats: Meet the fan who exposes stadium view obstructions

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  • Kalan Hooks, ESPNOct 29, 2024, 01:34 PM ET

Michael Barker remembers the most iconic play that he missed because of an obstructed view.

When Barker was looking for a ticket to watch the Gardner Minshew-led Washington State Cougars take on the Oregon Ducks in 2018, the average price was over $700. He ended up finding one for $250, but it came with an unexpected problem.

Once he arrived at his seat, he was surprised to find a giant light pole blocking his view of the game — an obstruction that wasn’t marked on the ticket. It ended up causing him to miss a 6-yard touchdown pass in the far-right corner of the Washington State end zone.

The only thing Barker could see were his fellow fans throwing their hands up in excitement after the play.

“After that, I wanted to warn people about obstructed views because of how I was impacted,” Barker told ESPN.

Barker, a California real estate agent, took three weeks off work in the summer of 2017 to scout college football stadiums — and to visit the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, which partly inspired Stephen King’s novel “The Shining.” He visited 99 schools, which sold him on the idea of traveling to different college campuses to attend college football games with a specific objective: helping fans avoid subpar viewing experiences.

Instead of the best seat in the house, he seeks the opposite.

“I started to light fires on social media, and since then we kind of branded it as obstructive-view alerts. And now it’s my responsibility to do that at every stadium,” Barker said.

Since starting his journey, Barker has visited 222 college football venues, including all 134 FBS stadiums — a milestone he reached by witnessing the Kennesaw State Owls upset the Liberty Flames last week.

BARKER’S PREPARATION FOR a stadium visit begins seven months in advance. It consists of researching photos and seating charts. Along with an online search, repeat stadium visits have been some of his most informative work. When Baker visited Indiana’s Memorial Stadium in April for the Hoosiers‘ spring game, stadium officials wouldn’t let fans on the home side of the stadium where the press box resides. But he was still able to spot where the press box stuck out. He pulled out his phone, snapped a photo from across the field and made a note of the potential obstruction.

Months later, Barker returned to the stadium when Indiana took on Western Illinois during the regular season. As soon as the gates opened, Barker ran over to the left of the press box and sat in Section 108, Row 41, Seat 104, where he estimates only 64% of the field could be viewed. He couldn’t see the action until the line of scrimmage moved past the 25-yard line toward midfield.

He also recalled an experience at the 2023 Cotton Bowl between Missouri and Ohio State at AT&T Stadium. He ran into two out-of-town fans who were greeted with obstructed views that they said weren’t noted on their tickets.

According to Barker, both fans could view only about 30% of the field.

To prevent other fans from having the same experience, he took a photo from each section and described the fans’ experience on Instagram.

“You don’t know what happens until you put your butt in the seat and you look and can’t see the field. I felt bad for them, but if I can help in any way, then it’s worth it.”

That wasn’t Barker’s only obstructed incident involving the Buckeyes.

Of all the unsatisfactory seats Barker has occupied, he says one of the worst is at Ohio Stadium. He visited Ohio State when the Buckeyes took on Michigan State on Nov. 11, 2023, and sat in Section 11C, Row 41, Seat 31 — the highest row in the stadium.

The ticket for his seat was listed for sale with an “obstructed” note because the press box jutted out near the row. Barker could see only one end zone, which amounts to 8% field visibility.

That same day, he ran into three fans who unknowingly purchased season tickets with obstructed views. According to Barker, this detail wasn’t disclosed on the sale listing. Ticket distribution companies like SeatGeek and StubHub list whether or not a view is obstructed when selling a ticket, but whether or not a view is defined as such is generally up to individual venues, according to their help pages.

“He tried to minimize it and say, ‘Hey, I could see the videoboard and it’s not a problem,'” Barker said of his interaction with one of the fans. ” … You don’t want to get ripped off at an event. And if I could help anybody out with that through social media, then I feel honored to be able to do that.”

DURING COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON, Barker travels to four to six games each week — sometimes attending two or three in the same day. The trips can get costly.

“I live in California, and it’s the hardest place to travel because like 80% of programs are east of Texas,” he said.

Barker self-funds his trips, which leads him to budget as frugally as possible. When he flies to a game or rents a car for transportation, he avoids getting a hotel room. Instead, he sleeps in an airport or inside a rental car to keep costs down.

“I joke that whatever rental car I get, I put the word hotel in front of me. So Hotel Camry, Hotel Jeep,” Barker said. Barker estimates he spends an average of $35,000 on travel per season.

Barker spends approximately $150 on one-way airline tickets around 15 to 20 times per month, averaging about $2,250 to $3,000 monthly. He also spends an average of $60 per day on a rental car, amounting to about $1,080 through 18 college football game days each month.

When he arrives in a city for a football game, the first thing he does is locate a grocery store where he spends about $25 on food that can last him through the day. To save money, he set a personal rule: No buying food at airports or during games. Paying for parking is also off limits in his attempt to stretch every penny.

He often goes through the process of applying for a media credential for stadium access, but if denied, he relies on his social media followers for tickets.

“When I put my schedule out every week, there’s a community of people that want to help me out,” Barker said.

Though Barker’s quest is self-funded, he pays for his travel and bills with airline credit cards, which helps him rack up points to assist with overhead.

“If you want to go to 80 college football games, then you cut out all those other costs and you do it as cheap as possible,” he said.

Barker’s frugality was on full display when he attended Eastern Washington‘s season-opening home matchup against Monmouth. Barker took a $2 bus ride from Spokane International Airport to the school. Once he arrived, he met with Kelsey Hatch-Brecek, Eastern Washington’s director of alumni relations, with whom he connected via social media and who gave him a tour of the campus.

Not having a hotel room to store his belongings, Barker placed his backpack in the alum’s vehicle during the tour. He collected it once the game concluded before catching the last bus from Eastern Washington back to the airport. Though his flight didn’t depart until 5:30 a.m. the next morning, Barker arrived at the gate at 11:30 p.m. and waited there overnight.

Eastern Washington defeated Monmouth that day, but it was Barker’s pockets that won in the end. He calculated that a hotel and rental car would have cost him $210, but he spent only $4 on transportation and “lodging.”

“So it’s not fun. Nobody likes to sleep on the floor in the airport. But these are the kind of things that if you love travel, if you love college football, and you’re trying to be, you know, as cost-effective as possible, you’re willing to do these things,” Barker said. During the 2023 season, Barker estimates he lost 11 pounds from the stress of traveling and poor nutrition.

THE CURATOR OF @cfbcampustour on X and Instagram credits his online followers for keeping his quest alive.

“I would not be traveling if it wasn’t for social media, because the community that is out there, you know, I’ve been able to build around myself,” Barker said. “People are awesome. … I have friends all over the country, and it’s all because of Twitter and college football.

“When you go to these people’s town for the first time, they see it in their idealistic view because they graduated from there. So when you meet them, they’re trying to give you the experience to see it through their eyes. And that’s special because that’s their experience. And, you know, my account is almost like I’m showcasing these places for people, hopefully to inspire them.”

Barker plans to keep chronicling stadiums for the love of his followers and stadium infrastructure.

“I want to keep doing this as long as I can,” Barker said. “And again, I’m just grateful to be able to, you know, showcase this stuff on social media, because in my opinion, college sports, college football in particular, is the best sport in the world.”


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