Deaf and hard of hearing sports fans should have an equal opportunity to learn and enjoy the information broadcast over the P.A. system during hockey and basketball games and other sporting events. This was the premise of Disability Law United’s suit against the owners and operators of Denver’s basketball/hockey arena – now called Ball Arena – filed on behalf of deaf lacrosse fan Kirstin Kurlander Garcia.
In 2016, Disability Law United filed a class action lawsuit under Title III of the ADA requesting that the arena owners provide open captioning for sporting events. After the court granted class action status, Kurlander v. Kroenke Arena Co., LLC, 276 F. Supp. 3d 1077 (D. Colo. 2017), the case settled with the owners agreeing to provide captioning on four LED boards around the arena.
