Interesting Article: Fan Behavior In American Sports

Interesting story here by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal. Sports Business Journal is the same magazine that broke the Mark Noozai Vegas bid story. After that article I signed up for a four week trial to get their magazine in the mail and have been impressed by their coverage of MLS. In their current issue they have a nice Rio Tinto Stadium two page spread and they report alot on MLS and soccer compared to any other American sport's magazines I have seen.

I also found their story this week on fan behavior in American pro sports very interesting and worth a read. Especially in regards to the relatively minor issues we have had with opposing fans of Toronto FC, West Ham, etc. at home and away this season. In the Sports Business Journal's article on Fan Behavior, Major League Soccer fans were not mentioned once, probably to the surprise of sensationalists like MLS Rumors or Dougie Brimson(not really to my own surprise as MLS is probably the safest major sporting event in America). Alone in our section, the two or three incidents that have occured have been minisicule in comparison to Block O or the Dawg Pound or any NFL game. In the Nordecke(our section's name for the North-corner), I have seen 7 year old kids, a journalist in Dispatch writer Bob Hunter(doubt that would happen in Europe), sons and dads, whole families in La Turbina, and even my mom and sister during the Beckham game. If anything the Nordecke has tried to bring people together, not to tear them apart.

It seems on the other hand, other pro sports have way worse problems than MLS. Last year, NFL Commissoner Roger Goddell spent time sat in the pauper seats at a New England Patriots game and came away with the impression that a Fan Code of Conduct was needed. I'm assuming that a New England Patriots game gets a little more rowdy than a New England Revolution game. At NFL games in my experience: I have seen Browns fans knock over a porter john with a Patriots fan in it during a 90's playoff game; I have seen Browns fans throw cherry bombs and rip out seats in their last home game at Municipal Stadium; and, In 2003, when I went to a Browns game in Pittsburgh with my dad we both dressed up in a neutral green so we wouldn't get harrassed by Steelers fans. During that same game, which the Browns surprisingly won in 2003, I saw Steelers fans almost throw a Browns fan into the Ohio River after their loss. The Steelers fans picked him up and were joking but if I was the guy I wouldn't have found it very funny. None of that happens in MLS.

I believe that past and present hooliganism in Europe puts a wrong name on MLS supporters groups as a whole when minor incidents have occured this year and in the past. In other sports you don't have another hockey league, football league, or baseball league where when a couple minor incidents occur in your league, then everyone will compare your league's fans with the bigger and more aggressive football or hockey league in another country.

In MLS, it's usually more about mutual respect then mutual aggression between fans. I have shared at least 100 beers with opposing Toronto, Chicago, KC fans, and etc. I even recently had a Chicago leader contact me about an issue that one of our hispanic fans had with being harassed by security in Chicago for no reason. On the other hand, I have witnessed two minor fights during my time at Crew games. Two stupid fights where the most action was a push. However, the next thing you know there are big headlines of an epidemic by sensationalists.

This year in 16 games at Crew Stadium and over 300,000 people attending, I have seen and heard of twice where a couple of punches have been thrown between drunk fans(and even these incidents led to no injuries). I bet that any policeman in a town of 300,000 people would be pretty thrilled with only two disputes. However, websites like MLS Rumors try to brand MLS fans that sit in Supporters sections as something they are not. What they are, are some of the most passionate fans in America, what they are not are European soccer fans like you would find in Italy(the same spread in the Sports Business Journal actually focused on Italian hooligans in a seperate article). As in almost any rivalry with any pro sport, you will get the occasional two idiots bickering, but overall except for some online razzing there is a mutual respect between MLS fans.

In the Nordecke's rocky start(as with anything new and foreign idea is expected to have) we had some issues with a few bad apples. We have worked hard to eliminate those elements from our section and to set examples. Since West Ham in June, we have turned a corner and haven't had any issues. In the Sports Business Journal story, according to Bernie Tolbert, NBA senior vice president for security, stated that in 2005 a fan threw a coin at a team bench and, "immediately 10 people pointed him out." This is very similiar to the policies known now to the Nordecke. Our policy is don't throw anything on the field except streamers in celebration. Since that change, in the Nordecke we have had one incident where someone threw a cup of beer. When that occured the individual was immediately pointed out to security by about 20 fans, which led to a chant of "kick him out" and he was ushered out of the stands. I saw his face and it was pretty red with embarrassment.

Unfornately for us, the issues we have had at the beginning of the season, led later in the season to away fans taking the acts of a few bad apples that we have eliminated as the consensus of the group. However, the only objective of the Nordecke is to support our team and bring more atmosphere to the stadium.

Some other interesting quotes from the Sports Business Journal article:
"Whenever a person crosses from being a spectator to being a quasi-participant, they've crossed the line. That's not what their ticket entitles them to. They can boo and yell and cheer; they're not entitled to participate."
--Bob Dupuy, MLB President and COO

I think streamer throwing on corner kicks, although enjoyable, was participating. The Crew FO banned that but Toronto FC still does it.

"In some stadiums, fans are getting thrown out for simply trash talking an opposing player(Colorado's Dicks Field anyone?) You still want to have an atmosphere where a fan can get loud and have fun and get behind his team. The true measure is how stadium security tries to enforce the rules."
--Enrico Campitelli, Blogger at the700level.com

The Nordecke is an alternative option for fans who want to stand up and cheer for their team, it's not a place to act like an idiot. It's about pushing for a happy medium of atmosphere and responsibility.