a ringside seat

ringside seat

1. Literally, a front-row seat next to a boxing ring (thought to be the best place to watch the match). Wow, you got ringside seats to that fight? They must have cost thousands!
2. By extension, a place in close proximity to a certain situation or event. I unexpectedly had a ringside seat when a fight broke out at the bar. Living near this forest my whole life, I've had a ringside seat to witness the change in the population of birds.
See also: ringside, seat
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a ringside seat

or

a ringside view

If you have a ringside seat or a ringside view, you have an excellent and clear view of what is happening somewhere. From this hotel, you get a ringside seat at the volcano's performance. The first US presidential election for which I had a ringside seat was that which brought John F. Kennedy to office over 30 years ago. Note: In boxing, the ringside seats are the seats that are closest to the ring and have the best view.
See also: ringside, seat
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • ringside seat
  • have a ringside seat
  • have a ringside seat/view
  • ringside
  • ringside view
  • have a ringside view
  • be wide of the mark
  • be/fall wide of the mark
  • be the dead spit of (someone)
  • be the spit of
References in periodicals archive
Guests will pull up a ringside seat and enjoy the unexpected as Level25 serve up at three-course themed dinner whilst immersed into a world of fantastical curiosities, daring acts and exotic wonders.
Diners urged to roll up for theatrical treat; STAR BRIEFING
Guests will pull up a ringside seat and enjoy the unexpected as Level25 serve up a three-course themed dinner whilst immersed into a world of fantastical curiosities, daring acts and exotic wonders.
Diners are in for a theatrical treat; E&S BRIEFING
But ticketnetwork.com were asking PS81,000 for a ringside seat.
Tickets still available if you've got big bucks
Manny Pacquiao showed he still plenty of energy by dominating Jessie Vargas in a WBO title fight on Saturday - and his rival Floyd Mayweather was there to see it with a ringside seat. Pacquiao, who turns 38 next month, floored Vargas in the second round en route to a one-sided victory which allowed him to reclaim the WBO welterweight title which both he and Mayweather held previously.
Mayweather invite stirs speculation of second fight
We have a ringside seat at conception, gestation, the birth and Joey feeding.
3TO SEE
The cookie brand Oreo is getting a ringside seat for the latest instalment of the Transformers' franchise, aACAyTransformers: Age of Extinction'.
Oreo gets in on Transformers action
The students will spend the morning having a taster session of various sports, before in the afternoon having a ringside seat watching the athletes train.
Kids have school training day with a difference..
Matthew fights for a world title while Ricky will be relegated to a ringside seat.
MAD MATT; BOXING WORLD TITLE
DEAN Harrison is set to turn down a ringside seat for the fight of the year in Las Vegas to have a few beers with his mates from Wolverhampton.
DEAN: MATES COME BEFORE HATTON
In 1963 a ringside seat was pounds 4-4sh and the 1966 fight was pounds 6-6sh.
Backchat
evacuated in the aftermath of events, and thus offers the observations of one who had a ringside seat to the politics behind the response to al Qaeda.
War By Other Means
But Friday's fiasco in front of a two-thirds full Braehead Arena in Glasgow, means it will be harder to convince fight fans to part with their cash - up to pounds 125 for a ringside seat - again.
BOXING: There has Scott to be an enquiry; INQUEST INTO THE 59-SECOND FARCE
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, scholar, writer, politician, and, as long-term member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a man with a ringside seat on the slow unveiling of the troubling performance record of the $28-billion-a-year U.S.
Secrecy: The American Experience
The restaurant contains three giant LCD screens, providing a ringside seat from which to view all the racing action, with easy access to betting and the trackside.
Race away with some great offers; BIRMINGHAM POST SPECIAL OFFER
The SOHO spacecraft, which stares at the sun continuously from a vantage point 1 million kilometers in front of Earth, had a ringside seat for the solar display.
Solar cloud hits Earth's magnetosphere