All Things Sports

Hi guys, welcome back to All Things Sports! Earlier this week, during the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade celebrating their February 11th Super Bowl Win, there was a shooting with 2 gunmen that killed 1 and injured 22, including some children. Just earlier today, two people were charged with being responsible for the shooting. While this should come as no surprise given the epidemic of shootings(talking about that requires a lot more than this blog post so I won’t touch on it here) that currently plagues America, that’s not what I am here to talk about. You see, this incident reminded me of how much violence we see in the NFL as a whole, thankfully not in the form of shootings as much. This violence is not just on the field, but, more worryingly, off of it. NFL fans are notoriously violent. In fact in one survey according to the New York Post, 40% of NFL fans said in a survey that they witnessed some violent occurrence at a game. It is not super uncommon to see scuffles break out in the stands and taunting, insults, and general rudeness from fans is a part of the experience for many. This has led to situations where fans have died, yes DIED, while attending NFL games because of incidents that broke out. That is what I want to talk about today: why is the NFL fan culture so violent? 

The first, and most obvious, reason itself is the game itself. American football is a brutal game that involves a lot of violence. The very nature of the game itself is to end a play by tackling the person with the ball, something that is very dangerous, risky, and violent. Oftentimes, big hits are rewarded by fans and when penalties are called on some of these hits, fans may say “the game’s gone soft”. In their defense I myself feel like sometimes the calls get a little too soft and I also used to cheer on the occasional Richard Sherman hit. I myself am guilty of participating in this culture at times, but I can safely say I would never get into fights at stadiums, especially those of the nature that would result in the death of a fan. That all being said, because the game itself involves a lot of violence that is intrinsic to the concept of American football itself, a culture of rowdiness and violence is created. Since the fans themselves are cheering on violence, even as the hits get more dangerous, and the players continue to hit big even in the era of player safety(James Bradberry not included), the violence of American football is encouraged and a culture of tolerating it is created. The fans get riled up as well, increasing the likelihood of aggression. Whether you like it or not, this is, in my opinion, the reality of NFL fan culture, especially at stadiums. 

Does that mean every fan is like this all the time? Absolutely not. Does this mean NFL fans are maniacs? No, it does not. In fact fan communities in NFL can be inspiring. For instance, youtuber and 2023 NFL Fan of the Year Tom Grossi(the guy in the photo if you were curious) has created a loving and supporting community of NFL fans that stepped up to raise over 500,000 dollars for St. Jude’s Hospital last year and support the victims of the Kansas City shooting. They can have a positive impact and they have in many instances. In fact there are many more examples that go undocumented and most NFL fans are good people I am sure of it. However, the violent culture surrounding games still lingers. This isn’t unique to football itself. Sports as a whole have always celebrated physicality and physical attributes in addition to technical skill(depending on the sport itself) because of the concept of sports. It’s physical activity and that inherently breeds things like rowdiness and in some sports, violence. Is American football the only sport that is violent? No, it most certainly isn’t as seen with things like Rugby, “Brexit” tackles in real football, and other sports. However, the culture in the NFL and American football as a whole(including college) combined with America’s own cultural history and problems with violence(especially shootings) creates a uniquely dangerous situation. 

So what can be done? Well according to many fans, security is lacking at stadiums at times to actually prevent these fights or break them up before they become full on brawls. This can be seen in a CBS article talking about violence at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles. That is the first thing that can be done: buff up security. This can be seen across the pond as oftentimes, stadiums will go as far as to block out entire sections between home and away fans in order to ensure there is no violence between rival fans. The second thing is harsher penalties for those who do get into fights. Right now there are punishments including loss of tickets and getting kicked out of games, but clearly, these aren’t enough to deter fans. The answer is to go further with stricter punishments for things such as all-out brawls. Finally, it requires better promotion and campaigning itself from the NFL because the best way is to encourage the fans to cooperate and focus on enjoying the unique experience that is the NFL and American football. That’s what this is all about. Fights and deaths prevent people from enjoying sports and if people such as myself can’t enjoy sports: what are we all doing here? We need to make sure that fans have a safe, peaceful environment where they can enjoy the sport they love in peace. At the end of the day, that’s why we’re all here.