Binkythefrog
10-28-2005, 03:24 PM
I am a long time lurker and Broncos Fan.. I come here to get my broncos news and good takes. Came across an interesting article about the raiders.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/27/BAG7VFEO8H1.DTL#121
OAKLAND
Are rowdy fans sinking Raiders?
Bizarre fans' rowdy behavior puts team at financial crossroads
C.W. Nevius
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Raiders fans, wearing a variety of bizarre costumes, whoo...
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Are Raider fans the barbarians of the National Football League? Well, consider this: how many other teams have fans so rowdy that they've been the subject of their own documentary film?
"Oakland Raider Parking Lot'' will be shown tomorrow night at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival. The documentary, by independent filmmaker Jason Blalock, introduces viewers to the infamous, loud and often boozy members of the Raider Nation. Blalock, now in graduate school at Cal, says he is no sports fan and so his friends warned him what he was getting into.
"Everybody I mentioned it to went, 'Oooooh, I don't want to go there. Not to the Black Hole,' '' Blalock says.
The film couldn't be more timely because the Raiders, as well as Oakland and Alameda County, are at a crossroads, in no small part because of the reputation of its fans.
When the team returned from Los Angeles 10 years ago, fans were sold personal seat licenses -- in effect, contracts sold to generate some of the cash needed to bring the team back to Oakland and renovate the Coliseum without a tax hike. Critics called the unpopular PSLs a ticket to buy a ticket -- the idea was to get fans to not only pay for a season ticket, but the privilege to buy it. It didn't work. Not enough fans bought the PSLs.
The 10-year PSL plan expires this year, and if fans don't sign up again -- or if another, more popular plan isn't introduced to replace it -- the losses to Oakland, which bankrolled the return, could reach tens of millions of dollars.
Reinforcing the point, Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills -- which the Raiders won 38-17 -- didn't sell out. It was another home game with empty seats, which means locals couldn't catch the game on television because it was blacked out.
All of this calls into question the popularity of a team that played in the Super Bowl just two years ago, and why it can't seem to fill a stadium. Is interest in the Raiders waning, or are people -- particularly the high rollers who will buy the season tickets -- afraid to go to the games because of the reputation of Raider fans?
The reaction of Blalock's friends saying they wouldn't dare venture into the Black Hole is not unusual. You hear the same thing out in the suburbs. Why go to a Raider game if there is a chance of a confrontation with one of those tattooed, painted, aggressive nuts we see on television?For a while everyone -- including team management -- ignored the concerns. Raider fans are rough and tough, they all said, and if you can't take it, stay away. But recently, reality has set in.
"I think it is an issue and I think the Raiders are concerned about it,'' says Gail Steele, chairman of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, which oversees McAfee Coliseum. "I know for a fact that they are trying to work on it.''
Oakland police, who provide security during home games and so know a thing or two about fan behavior, agree.
"Recently the Raider management has been taking an active role in fan behavior,'' says Oakland police Lt. Dave Kozicki, who is both a season ticket holder and the officer in charge of coordinating police security efforts. "People kind of bought into the idea that the Coliseum was someplace where they could go and act like idiots. The fact is, that has never been tolerated.''
Raiders management insists the rough-and-tumble reputation of the fans -- and the negative impact it has on the team -- is unwarranted.
"It really is entirely a misperception,'' says Amy Trask, the Raiders chief executive. "The reality is the Coliseum is a very nice environment to watch a game. If you walk through the sections, as I do, you literally see everyone from babies to elderly grandparents.''
That may be true -- Steele says she thinks the number of kids at the game is up, a good indicator that parents find the games less threatening -- but it only takes an incident or two to reinforce the negative image.
Several years ago I drove my wife's new car to a game. Some fans recognized me as a reporter and gave me what I thought was good-natured ribbing. When I came back, the car had been trashed to the tune of over $2,000.
In another case, while making his film during the 2004 season, Blalock attended a game where a fan was badly beaten in the parking lot.
Granted, such incidents are growing increasingly rare.
"We are putting fewer people in jail on a per-game basis and we are throwing fewer people out on a per-game basis,'' Kozicki says. "We were probably making 70 arrests per game in years past. Now we are down to half of that."
So things are looking up. But they've still got a long way to go.
One way to make further progress, Kozicki says, is to get more season-ticket holders into the stands. They have a vested interest in keeping things orderly to protect their investment.
"The people who cause trouble are invariably one-game ticket holders," he said. "They go with the idea that they can get drunk and act stupid and probably don't even remember what they did the next day.''
Ironically, one way to clean up the team's reputation might be to see more people join the die-hards of the Raider Nation. Its most flamboyant citizens -- regularly decked out in chains, paint, skulls and Mad Max leather -- are often the best behaved.
"People says, 'They have those crazy people who dress up,' '' says Kozicki. "I say, 'You know what? Those people have never caused me a moment of trouble.' I don't think it has ever been that scary.''
Are they buying that in the 'burbs? The Raiders, the city and the county desperately hope so. Otherwise fans won't buy a ticket. Let alone a ticket to buy a ticket.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/27/BAG7VFEO8H1.DTL#121
OAKLAND
Are rowdy fans sinking Raiders?
Bizarre fans' rowdy behavior puts team at financial crossroads
C.W. Nevius
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Raiders fans, wearing a variety of bizarre costumes, whoo...
* Printable Version
* Email This Article
Are Raider fans the barbarians of the National Football League? Well, consider this: how many other teams have fans so rowdy that they've been the subject of their own documentary film?
"Oakland Raider Parking Lot'' will be shown tomorrow night at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival. The documentary, by independent filmmaker Jason Blalock, introduces viewers to the infamous, loud and often boozy members of the Raider Nation. Blalock, now in graduate school at Cal, says he is no sports fan and so his friends warned him what he was getting into.
"Everybody I mentioned it to went, 'Oooooh, I don't want to go there. Not to the Black Hole,' '' Blalock says.
The film couldn't be more timely because the Raiders, as well as Oakland and Alameda County, are at a crossroads, in no small part because of the reputation of its fans.
When the team returned from Los Angeles 10 years ago, fans were sold personal seat licenses -- in effect, contracts sold to generate some of the cash needed to bring the team back to Oakland and renovate the Coliseum without a tax hike. Critics called the unpopular PSLs a ticket to buy a ticket -- the idea was to get fans to not only pay for a season ticket, but the privilege to buy it. It didn't work. Not enough fans bought the PSLs.
The 10-year PSL plan expires this year, and if fans don't sign up again -- or if another, more popular plan isn't introduced to replace it -- the losses to Oakland, which bankrolled the return, could reach tens of millions of dollars.
Reinforcing the point, Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills -- which the Raiders won 38-17 -- didn't sell out. It was another home game with empty seats, which means locals couldn't catch the game on television because it was blacked out.
All of this calls into question the popularity of a team that played in the Super Bowl just two years ago, and why it can't seem to fill a stadium. Is interest in the Raiders waning, or are people -- particularly the high rollers who will buy the season tickets -- afraid to go to the games because of the reputation of Raider fans?
The reaction of Blalock's friends saying they wouldn't dare venture into the Black Hole is not unusual. You hear the same thing out in the suburbs. Why go to a Raider game if there is a chance of a confrontation with one of those tattooed, painted, aggressive nuts we see on television?For a while everyone -- including team management -- ignored the concerns. Raider fans are rough and tough, they all said, and if you can't take it, stay away. But recently, reality has set in.
"I think it is an issue and I think the Raiders are concerned about it,'' says Gail Steele, chairman of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, which oversees McAfee Coliseum. "I know for a fact that they are trying to work on it.''
Oakland police, who provide security during home games and so know a thing or two about fan behavior, agree.
"Recently the Raider management has been taking an active role in fan behavior,'' says Oakland police Lt. Dave Kozicki, who is both a season ticket holder and the officer in charge of coordinating police security efforts. "People kind of bought into the idea that the Coliseum was someplace where they could go and act like idiots. The fact is, that has never been tolerated.''
Raiders management insists the rough-and-tumble reputation of the fans -- and the negative impact it has on the team -- is unwarranted.
"It really is entirely a misperception,'' says Amy Trask, the Raiders chief executive. "The reality is the Coliseum is a very nice environment to watch a game. If you walk through the sections, as I do, you literally see everyone from babies to elderly grandparents.''
That may be true -- Steele says she thinks the number of kids at the game is up, a good indicator that parents find the games less threatening -- but it only takes an incident or two to reinforce the negative image.
Several years ago I drove my wife's new car to a game. Some fans recognized me as a reporter and gave me what I thought was good-natured ribbing. When I came back, the car had been trashed to the tune of over $2,000.
In another case, while making his film during the 2004 season, Blalock attended a game where a fan was badly beaten in the parking lot.
Granted, such incidents are growing increasingly rare.
"We are putting fewer people in jail on a per-game basis and we are throwing fewer people out on a per-game basis,'' Kozicki says. "We were probably making 70 arrests per game in years past. Now we are down to half of that."
So things are looking up. But they've still got a long way to go.
One way to make further progress, Kozicki says, is to get more season-ticket holders into the stands. They have a vested interest in keeping things orderly to protect their investment.
"The people who cause trouble are invariably one-game ticket holders," he said. "They go with the idea that they can get drunk and act stupid and probably don't even remember what they did the next day.''
Ironically, one way to clean up the team's reputation might be to see more people join the die-hards of the Raider Nation. Its most flamboyant citizens -- regularly decked out in chains, paint, skulls and Mad Max leather -- are often the best behaved.
"People says, 'They have those crazy people who dress up,' '' says Kozicki. "I say, 'You know what? Those people have never caused me a moment of trouble.' I don't think it has ever been that scary.''
Are they buying that in the 'burbs? The Raiders, the city and the county desperately hope so. Otherwise fans won't buy a ticket. Let alone a ticket to buy a ticket.