Blue Jays fan in wheelchair says he was 'booted' from field level at Rogers Centre (2024)

Lifelong Blue Jays fan and wheelchair user Oliver Zlatanovski, 41, of Oshawa, was excited to see his first baseball game from what he thought was an accessible part of the field section at Rogers Centre on April 8 during Toronto’s season home opener.

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Zlatanovski, who bought his ticket — labelled W111, accessible section, seat 2 — through Ticketmaster back in February for between $50-$60, said he thought it was in a “new accessible section on the field that (was) part of the renos that were just completed.”

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“I was totally excited to go,” he told the Sun, adding that he arrived two hours early to watch batting practice.

“Being a fan (for the last 30 years) with a disability in a wheelchair, I’ve always had to sit up in the higher levels, on the concourse levels or higher, so to finally have a seat for accessibility on the field, I was so pumped.”

But then Zlatanovski, who was born with a disability, said he was told by an usher — the same one who had sat him earlier without any issue— that he had to move upstairs to an accessible part of the concourse level because he was in the seats of other able-bodied ticketholders (who would be sitting in foldable seats on the field level).

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“I was the only one in a wheelchair in that section,” he said. “So I found it weird that the only person in the (wheelchair) who needs it was getting booted from the section.”

Once higher up in the concourse level, Zlatanovski said he only stayed until the sixth or seventh inning as his view was blocked by able-bodied people walking around in front of him.

“I just wanted to get the word out,” he said of his story. “I will plan on going to more games but with this happening at the first game of the season at home, it might happen at other ones.”

Turns out, Zlatanovski, who posted about his experience on the Blue Jays Facebook and Instagram pages, and his own Instagram and TikTok, was not alone in his experience.

Another Blue Jays fan in a wheelchair by the name of Andrew Nielsen, who lives with cerebral palsy, also said on his X account that he was moved from his field-level tickets to the Blue Jays’ matchup against the Colorado Rockies on April 12.

Nielsen said he was asked by security to relocate sections during the early innings of the game after learning that the tickets he purchased on Ticketmaster had allegedly been mislabelled as “wheelchair accessible.”

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“When this issue has been brought to our attention, we quickly relocated fans to upgraded accessible seating in the 100 level bowl behind home plate,” a Toronto Blue Jays spokesperson said in a statement to the Sun late on Wednesday.

“We have since modified the online ticket purchase process to ensure a better experience when selecting accessible seating at the ballpark.”

When selecting ‘accessible seating’ on the interactive online map, it previously highlighted accessible seating for both the lower bowl (field level) and upper bowl (top of 100 level.) When flipping screens between the two sections, it could become confusing identifying the difference between the two.

The function has been changed to provide better clarity going forward.

Zlatanovski was also encouraged to contact fanfeedback@bluejays.com “to discuss his specific situation and support moving forward.”

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