Fans Get Stiffed: Owners' money game killing sports fandom

Originally published by The Master Report (Sacramento, CA)

Mar. 2006

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Fans Get Stiffed: Owners' money game killing sports fandom

By Mark Bryant

In the days of old I used to love the Oakland Raiders, and I still do. Their pugnacious image and us-against-the-world mentality meant something. I became a rabid sports fan primarily based on this affinity for the Silver & Black warriors. I was a miserable lad on the occasions they lost.

Now, my feeling is more resignation. Since winning their last world championship in 1984, it is obvious the franchise has seen better days. Owner Al Davis was once a renegade hero, now he is reviled by many for moving the team to Los Angeles and strangling the organization due to his cantankerousness and stubbornness to change with the times.

It's not just the Raiders' fall from grace that has turned me cynical and hardened my love for sports like a dinosaur fossil. I look at most of these players today that populate the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, and get the feeling that 90 percent of these dudes could give a rat's posterior what uniform they're adorned with as long as they're getting paid. It used to be exactly the opposite. Players played for pride, dedicating themselves to winning the ring.

The fish stinks from the head, and a similar feeling of malaise has occurred lately here in Sacramento with the Kings fans. As the Maloof brothers have babbled constantly about the need for the good people of the River City to pony up duckets for a new arena, fans have become increasingly irritated by their condescension. Already paying through the nose for some of the highest prices in the league for what has so far this season been a substandard product, the bloom is starting to fall off the rose.

The problem with the current Arco Arena is that while it's certainly not an ancient building by conventional wisdom, it was built in 1988 and therefore ill-equipped to handle the amenities that are a requirement for new arenas and stadiums today. This would include luxury boxes and suites, kiddie playlands and fan entertainment zones, restaurants, sports bars and other goodies that come with the modern day sports palaces.

Sports used to be great competition. Now it's all about great business.

Recently, the stewards of the Seattle Supersonics have discussed possible relocation to San Jose with the owner of the NHL Sharks franchise. Call me naïve, stuck on yesterday, a hopeless nostalgic, but it has always been my belief that the owners may run the teams as they see fit and direct their operations and ultimately their fortunes. However, the teams themselves—and the franchises thereof—belong to the people of the city they represent and their community. For an owner to break that trust and go whoring himself to the highest bidder is a purely reprehensible act in my book.

The Raiders are obviously more than a local phenomenon. They still have a large fan base from their days in Southern California, and indeed all over the country and the world. Their fandom is dubbed "Raider Nation" for their numerous passionate fans and outrageousness and fierce loyalty they project. But rumblings persist they may be moving back to Los Angeles because of the lack of sellouts and guaranteed money in Oakland that were promised them in 1995 when they returned.

Al Davis was raked over the coals by the rest of the NFL and fans when he had the audacity to move the team from Oakland in the early 80's, where they enjoyed their greatest success. But what transpired afterward was that owners slowly realized that they could increase the value of their franchises dramatically by holding cities hostage for new stadiums paid for with public funding. Failing to get the required support gave them a license to pull up stakes and go elsewhere for the almighty dollar.

Thus the Baltimore Colts became the Indianapolis Colts overnight in moving vans, the St. Louis Cardinals found greener pastures in Phoenix, the Los Angeles Rams migrated to St. Louis after years of horrible play in Anaheim, the Browns pulled out of Cleveland and began anew as the Baltimore Ravens, and the Houston Oilers eventually became the Tennessee Titans.

What happens is that the owners, who feel the need to put even more money in their bloated pockets, gouge the fans with exorbitant prices and then insist they help pay for new digs. If the fans balk, the next step is to threaten to wave goodbye unless they cave in. Even more discouraging is the fact that most of the true fans and diehards are priced out of the new ballparks, arenas, and stadiums because they can't afford it. They are then replaced by sheeple who will plunk down the cash to have a place to see and be seen, rather than give a damn about what takes place on the field.

If the owners want new stadiums to keep up with the Joneses, let them build the things themselves. I'm not paying one dime to support their whimsical demands when these guys have amassed more assets than you or I will most likely see in three lifetimes, let alone this one!