YMCA Provides Update on Plans to Work Around Condemned Seating in Fort Lauderdale

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, February 11. AS reported last month, city engineers of Fort Lauderdale recommended the closer of the entire grandstand seating area at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex. This action lead to YMCA organizers going into scramble mode to determine the best way to deal with the loss of 1,500 seats for the YMCA Short Course Nationals scheduled for April 5-8.

The latest announcement came out today on plans to work around the seat loss, which includes remaining in Fort Lauderdale primarily because of how many people had already made travel plans to head to Fort Lauderdale.

The new changes include preliminary events being split by gender with the women beginning at 8 a.m. and the men competing at 11 a.m. The reasoning behind not rotating a different start time for gender throughout the week is to "allow for a consistent approach to the week's competition related to rest, consistent sleep patterns and meal consumption."

Additionally, the YMCA and the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex will set up three areas to view the meet to compensate for the loss of the grandstands.

One area will be 700 seats sold at $5 per ticket, this zone is made up of bleacher seating on the north and west sides of the pool. Tickets will only be available per session, but these tickets are transferable and sharing the tickets is actually encouraged by the YMCA.

A Skybox location being sold for $10 will be created with a total of 100 tickets available. The viewing area is location on the second floor in the Hall of Fame building. Skybox spectators will not have access to the deck bleacher seating.

Meanwhile, 350 free bleacher seat as well as standing room only viewing will be available in the lawn area between the Hall of Fame and the dive well, where a pair of Jumbo-tron video screens will be installed. Live streams of the east and west pool will be available at this location.

Full text of YMCA update.

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