Is There "Peanut-Free" Baseball in Chicago?

There have been a number of visitors to Food Allergy Buzz in search of information about accommodations for peanut allergic fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  To answer your questions, I put a call into the Chicago Cubs ticket office.  They informed me that there is a section at every game which is designated as alcohol free, and also serves as a seating area for fans requiring other special accommodations.  Those seats are sold out for the season.  Anyone desiring seating in that section should call for tickets in February; seats go fast! The representative noted that they receive few inquiries about seating for peanut allergies.

I also called the White Sox/Kaminksy Park office responsible for fans requiring special accommodations. They confirmed that there are no peanut-free zones or games planned for this season.  They do, however, try to accommodate fans on an individual basis.  For example, one family with a peanut allergic child visits Kaminsky Park each year, and the family reserves seats in a specific location near a wall.  The family creates its own buffer zone by having family members occupy the seats around the peanut allergic individual.

To collect information about “peanut-free” baseball games this season, I have contacted a number of baseball parks to inquire about “peanut-free” seating.  I discovered that every baseball team I contacted is painfully aware of the problem for peanut allergic baseball fans.  Many baseball parks which do not have peanut-free zones cited the difficulty in guaranteeing peanut allergic fans’ safety.  With the popularity of peanuts at ballgames, there is great concern that peanut shells or miniscule remnants of peanuts might find their way into “peanut-free” areas, particularly in outdoor venues.  They are still working on ways to accommodate everyone, and many teams are watching and waiting to hear how “peanut-free” seating in other parks has worked this season.