Standing room only

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An event is described as standing room only when it is so well-attended that all of the chairs in the venue are occupied leaving only flat spaces of pavement or flooring for other attendees to stand. Some venues issue standing-room-only (or SRO) tickets for a reduced cost since it can become very uncomfortable to stand through the course of an event. However some fans actually prefer standing-room-only tickets as the crowds that gather can be more active than people who are sitting down for much of the event. Such crowds can become dangerous with the potential of riots and crushing movements occasionally occurring and resulting in death or injury.

Standing at football (soccer) matches across the globe is very common, and tickets sold as standing area tickets are sometimes the most popular, i.e. they are not sold merely when all seating tickets have been sold out.

This term can also describe public transportation services that have extremely high riderships.

The term is used in the song Zero to Hero in the Disney movie Hercules to describe the popularity of the eponymous character, "Point him at a monster and you're talking S.R.O.".

The 1984 musical Chess (written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Tim Rice) opens with the song Merano which also includes the term: "I know I'm the best there is, but all they want is a show. Well, that's all right, I'll be glad to oblige. S.R.O. S.R.O."

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