How Accommodating are MLS Bathrooms?
KP
I know where I can enjoy sports this summer in Cincinnati. I’m going to go to TQL Stadium. FC Cincinnati is on fire. It is easy to find people to go with me to games. TQL Stadium is bumping. And even if none of this were true, I would still be happy to support the team because they now have free pads and tampons in the women’s restroom.
LET’S GOOOOOOOO!!!!
Side note: You can find the pads and tampons in a white box on top of the paper towels or next to the sinks. Some are near the exit. FC Cincinnati, for $50 a bathroom, I will happily mount containers to the wall for you. The setup at MadTree is a good model and seems inexpensive.
Most people will bring their own period products, but unexpected things happen. In these cases, free pads and tampons directly help fans with periods and indirectly help lots of people. Here is one scenario. Young fans often go to games with someone other than their parent. They may go with a friend and their friend’s parent. Young people often have unpredictable periods, and they can be embarrassed about them. Free in-restroom products save them from having to disclose private information to people who are not their parent. It also saves the parent from a problem they may not know how to solve. It helps these groups of fans have a positive experience, and young fans having a positive experience is an investment in the future fanbase.
It’s not just young fans and women who teams can accommodate. Back in March, I emailed every MLS team to ask if they provided free period products in their restrooms. I also looked on their websites to see if anyone listed this (no one does), but I learned a lot about what other restroom accommodations teams offer. The top 4 additional facilities mentioned were: the prevalence of baby changing stations, the availability of adult changing stations, if the stadium has gender neutral bathrooms, and if nursing rooms are separate from bathrooms. I created a bathroom accommodation score for each team based on how many and how extensively teams have each accommodation on the list. There is much more information at the bottom of this post. Teams could score up to 5 points. No team got a perfect score.
All scores are based only on the information provided on official websites or from the emails I sent to each team. This felt fair to the stadiums I have not visited yet. Also, other fans looking for this information are going to look online. As an example, I have seen pads and tampons at Columbus and Cincinnati. However, neither team scored points, because neither team answered my email. The Crew did respond, but only to ask if I wanted to buy season tickets.
Of note, I did not include scoring on restroom accessibility for fans requiring mobility assistance - often referred to as ADA compliance, although ADA compliance covers more than this. US stadiums are required to be ADA compliant. However, ADA requirements can be insufficient, and this level of accommodation can only be assessed in person. If you want to learn more, there are many articles and videos by experts about it online.
The accommodations included in the score are necessary and contribute to the health, human dignity, and essential function of fans who need them. A lot of these accommodations are still pretty rare, and being early adopters can be an easy win for teams. In addition to being necessary, these accommodations make fans feel included. It signals that teams intend and plan for these fans to attend games and be part of the fanbase. There are certainly many other accommodations that teams should offer, and this list is not intended to ignore or diminish those. I just picked the five most common things I saw mentioned, and with that, I present to you the spring 2023 MLS Bathroom Accommodation Rankings. (Teams might update their websites, and I might not update these scores. So, please check team websites for the most up to date information.)
1. Austin FC: 3.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.75): Most restrooms
○ Gender Neutral Restroom (1): Have in stadium
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
2. (Tie) Colorado Rapids, Minnesota United FC: 3
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (1): Well described
i. Minnesota: “Those who use the room will have access to supplies for nursing and changing, including a bottle warmer, diapers, baby-friendly soap, and baby sunscreen.”
ii. Colorado: “The suite provides privacy, cleanliness and all necessities for nursing mothers including a fold down table, a chair and electrical outlet.”
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
3. Toronto FC: 2.8
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Gender Neutral Restroom (0.05): “[family] washrooms are available to all of our fans, priority will be given to families, nursing mothers and mobility-impaired fans”
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
4. New York Red Bulls: 2.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.75): Most
○ Gender Neutral Restroom (1): Have in stadium
○ Nursing Room (0.5): Pod
○ Pads and Tampons (0.25): Cost in restroom
5. Houston Dynamo: 2.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
6. New England Revolution: 2.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.75): Almost all
○ Nursing Room (1): “[the room] includes a comfortable swivel chair, a power outlet, side table and supplies.”
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in-restroom
○ Note: Since they responded to my email about period products, I asked them to clarify about the baby changing stations. They are in almost all restrooms. However, their website makes it sound like they just have one baby changing table in the entire stadium.
7. Atlanta United FC: 2.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.75): Nearly All
○ Gender Neutral Restroom (1): Have in stadium
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
8. Sporting KC: 2.10
○ Adult Changing Stations (1): Have in stadium
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (0.10): Marked on stadium map, but no info
9. LAFC: 2
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
10. FC Cincinnati: 2
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (1): “The suite provides privacy, cleanliness, and all necessities for nursing mothers.”
○ Note: I have seen pads and tampons in the stadium, but they didn’t respond to my emailed question. So to be fair to all teams, they get 0 points.
11. Columbus Crew: 1.85
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.1): Confusing info
○ Gender Neutral Restroom (1): Have in stadium
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
○ Note: I have seen pads and tampons in the stadium, but they didn’t respond to my emailed question. So to be fair to all teams, they get 0 points.
12. San Jose Earthquakes: 1.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (0.5): Pod
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
○ Note: They do not have a fan-services email on their website. They only have a phone number to text. The person behind the phone number let me know about pads and tampons so I asked about baby changing stations. Apparently they are only in family restrooms. Their website does not mention baby changing tables.
13. Chicago Fire FC: 1.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
14. New York City FC: 1.625 (It is the average score from Yankee Stadium and Citi Field)
○ Citi Field: 2.5
○ Adult Changing Stations (1): Have in stadium
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.75): Most
○ Nursing Room (0.5): Pod
○ Pads and Tampons (0.25): Guest Services
○ Note: Most of this information came from the Mets website
○ Yankee Stadium: 0.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.50): Restrooms on all levels
○ Pads and Tampons (0.25): Cost in restroom
○ Note: According to the Yankee Stadium website there is a nursing room in the kids clubhouse, but I could not figure out if that was open for NYCFC games. The NYCFC website says, “A mother may nurse her child in any public location where she is comfortable,” which suggests to me that they have no accommodation.
15. Nashville SC: 1.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.75): Nearly All
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
DC and Vancouver tied, and I couldn’t come up with a good tiebreaker.
16. DC United: 1.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (0.5): First Aid
17. Vancouver Whitecaps: 1.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.5): Throughout
○ Gender Neutral Restroom (1): Have in stadium
18. St Louis City FC: 1.25
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
○ Pads and Tampons (0.25): At Guest Services
○ Note: All of this information came from an email and not their website. They claim on their website that they want to be the most inclusive team.
19. LA Galaxy: 1.25
○ Nursing Room (1): “offers a changing table, sanitary supplies, electrical outlets, and a shared refrigerator.”
○ Pads and Tampons (0.25): Guest Services
20. Charlotte FC: 1
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (0.75): Not well described
21. Philadelphia Union: 0.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (0.5): Pod
22. Seattle Sounders: 0.75 (This, Portland, and the Canadian teams were surprising)
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (-0.5): Nurse in the family restrooms
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
23. Portland Timbers: 0.75
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.25): Family restrooms
○ Nursing Room (-0.5): Nurse in the family restrooms
○ Pads and Tampons (1): Free in restroom
○ Note: They don’t list a nursing room on their site, but they responded to my email and said that there are chairs in the family restrooms for nursing mothers.
24. Real Salt Lake: 0.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (1): All
○ Nursing Room (-0.5): Nurse in the family restrooms
25. Inter Miami CF: 0.5
○ Baby Changing Stations (0.5): East and west stand
○ Note: Their stadium is called, “DRV PNK,” in partnership with AutoNation to drive out non-specific types of cancer.
26. (Tie) Orlando City SC, FC Dallas, CF Montréal: 0
○ Note: I could not find websites that were not in French for CF Montréal’s stadium. I used Google Translate on these sites, and still could not find information.
Scoring Criteria
Adult (and Child and Teenager) Changing Table:
1.00: Has adult changing table
0.00: No accommodation or information
According to an article on the Dayton Daily news from 2020, about 4% of Ohioans require a height adjustable adult changing station. So it’s probably fair to assume the US percentage is about the same. Height adjustable adult changing stations are not just for adults. Most baby changing tables are only designed to handle up to 50 pounds and children up to 35-40 inches. This means an older child or teenager requiring a changing table would be too large for most current tables. When this happens, their caregiver’s only option may be to change the child on the floor of the bathroom, and that is an unacceptable and avoidable outcome. There are many stories online of caregivers having to do this, and it is terrible. We can do better for these fans and caregivers.
Baby Changing Stations:
1.00: All restrooms
0.75: Most or nearly all
0.50: Some indication of less than most
0.25: Only family restrooms
0.10: Confusing information or only marked on map
0.00: No accommodation or information
I assumed that if they said most or nearly all this meant that like some luxury suites wouldn’t have baby changing stations. This might give teams too much of the benefit of the doubt. Also, there should be changing stations in all restrooms: men, women, gender neutral, and family. A positive thing though is that no team only had them in the women’s restroom.
Nursing Rooms:
1.00: Well described private nursing room
0.75: Not well described private nursing room
0.50: Nursing Pod or First Aid
0.10: Nursing room listed on stadium map, but no info
0.00: No accommodation or information
-0.50: Nurse in the family restroom
The scarcity of comfortable places to nurse or pump prevents people from going out. People should be able to do these things wherever they are comfortable, and some people prefer to have privacy. According to UNICEF, private nursing rooms should have - at minimum - a lockable door, a comfortable chair, outlets, a controllable thermostat, and a sink. The room should be able to be cleaned easily and have few dirt accumulation sites. This means bathrooms are insufficient. Well-intended nursing pods or a curtained off section in First Aid may also not be enough. I cannot confirm the extent of each team’s accommodation, only the information listed on their website. Also, if a stadium is telling people to nurse in the family bathroom they are willfully ignorant.
Pads and Tampons:
1.00: Free in restroom
0.25: Cost in restroom or free at first aid or guest services
0.00: No accommodation or information
I think fans needing a pad or tampon would be more likely to solicit a stranger for a pad, tampon, or a quarter or bunch up toilet paper than go all the way to first aid or guest services to find a tampon. I presume most people also don’t have quarters anymore. Fans with periods may not always use the women’s restroom, and ideally they would be in every restroom that these fans could use.
Gender Neutral Bathrooms:
1.00: Has gender neutral restroom
0.05: You can use the family restroom, but families have priority
0.00: No accommodation or information
Gender neutral bathrooms are for all fans. This means everyone can use them. You reading this can use a gender neutral bathroom. To that end they can help with general line management. If it’s a private stall with a full sized door, it can help fans with shy bladders or provide privacy to fans who need to have a caregiver in the restroom with them. It’s also for fans who may be uncomfortable using gendered restrooms. Some teams tell all fans they are welcome to use the family restroom, so I gave them a little bit of points. But, if you’re telling fans they can use the family restroom, but it’s really just for families, that’s actually only marginally better than not having one at all. Also, some caregivers are not related to the person in their care.