Fan Violence in Sports Stadiums

Sports provide society with an exciting form of entertainment, equips children with great heroic role models to admire, and provides people with the valuable opportunity to release energy after long periods of work. Sporting events are often perceived as ritualized symbolic warfare, which allows people to enjoy the exhilarating experience of tough competition without anyone suffering from actual injuries during the symbolic battle. However, the recent decades have encountered a dramatic increase in sports stadium violence in which the fans who attend the sports stadiums are engaging in brutally violent behavior at an unprecedented level. The American culture should take diligent action to reduce or eliminate the amount of violence that occurs at sports stadiums and athletic events, for the violence leads to terrible injuries and wasteful fatalities, diminishes the quality of the atmosphere at the stadiums and discourages families from desiring to attend games.

The amount of violent incidents that are occurring in sports stadiums has been rising rapidly in America and in foreign countries. Foreign cities and countries have been experiencing a rise in stadium violence in recent decades, as the intense passion and unbridled enthusiasm that many foreign populations display for soccer often leads to the eruption of violent incidents and fatalities. The violent incidents at soccer games typically involve large brawls between the rival fans of opposing teams, the excessive alcohol consumption associated with the games, and “hooligan” criminals who attend the games with destructive intentions. Additionally, many European and Latin American countries consistently experience incidents in which the fans explode into massive riots to harm each other and destroy the stadiums during or after the games. Although moderate violence at soccer stadiums has always existed, the frequent rate of violence, riots and fatalities at soccer stadiums has been increasing (Mayeda). For instance, the most recent report demonstrated that the violence among soccer fans in Italy, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and Chile had reached extreme and unprecedented levels in 2007.

However, the United States has experienced the same trend of increased violence at sports stadiums. While the American public is generally indifferent and disinterested in soccer, during the recent decades the US has seen a consistent rise in violence among fans in sports stadiums for football, baseball, and basketball. The frequency at which violent incidents are developing at sports stadiums is rapidly increasing, and the degree or severity of the violence is intensifying as well, for American sports stadiums are experiencing fistfights, brawls, stabbings, shootings, and murders among the fans. As a result of the sports stadium violence epidemic, American media outlets have been urgently vocalizing and commenting on the issue. Several sports media outlets –such as ESPN and FOX Sports— have been consistently addressing the problem of violence among fans. The audience of these outlets typically consists of sports fans, and thus the sports media outlets are attempting to encourage sports fans to understand the nature of the problem, demonstrate self-control at live games, and help stop or report violent incidents at stadiums. Regular news media outlets have also been emphasizing the trend of violence between fans at sports stadiums, for the shockingly brutal and sometimes fatal consequences of the intense violence requires that these news outlets address the problem. The primary intention of news outlets discussing the issue is to illuminate the epidemic and motivate many different groups to take action, including sports fans, the general public, team owners, stadium managers, and political legislators.

The epidemic of violence in sports stadiums is a crucial issue because the number of violent incidents is rising to excessive levels, are diminishing the beneficial quality of the sporting events, and preventing people from being able to enjoy a safe environment at the games. Attending live games gives friends and families a chance to spend valuable time together while unleashing the cathartic excitement that accompanies great live sporting events. However, the violence instead causes some fans to suffer from injuries or fatalities while also discouraging families from attending games (Mayeda). Furthermore, the unprecedented level of violence at sports stadiums is indicative of the broader cultural problem in which Americans are lacking empathy, demonstrating hateful attitudes towards one another, and participating in vicious and unnecessary violent crimes at excessive rates, including “knockout” games, deadly attacks, brutal street fights and mass shootings. Thus, understanding and solving the problem of extreme violence amongst fans at sporting events can improve our ability to also address and alleviate the broader issue of excessive violence in the American culture.

However, the primary reason that the epidemic of sports stadium violence has recently been receiving an abundance of media attention is that the statistics and news reports demonstrate that the amount of violence at the stadiums is rapidly increasing and dramatically intensifying. For instance, all 32 NFL teams maintain incident records and police reports regarding all criminal activities that occur during home football games. So, not only is the National Football League itself considered too violent, just attending a game can make fans susceptible to violence as well. In just over a two-year span, an unprecedented 10,000 criminal incidents occurred and were reported at NFL stadiums, including violence, assault, kidnapping, rape, theft and drug dealing. Because many violent incidences and fistfights that occur at the stadiums or in the parking lots do not get officially recorded, it is also reasonable to assert that the amount of violent and criminal incidents was significantly more than the 10,000 mark (Halsne). Although relatively smaller crimes do not appear on the news, many shocking crimes and horrendous acts of fan violence in the stadiums or in the parking lots have been addressed by news outlets to inform the public regarding the severity of the problem. For instance, in recent years a Giants fan was beaten unconscious and severely injured by Dodgers fans in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, a Philadelphia Phillies fan viciously attacked a young girl, and a Dodgers fan was stabbed and killed outside of the San Francisco AT&T baseball stadium. The 2013 NFL football season also experienced extreme levels of violence at the various football stadiums. During the season, three men were stabbed outside of the Denver Broncos stadium, a man was killed in the Kansas City Chiefs stadium parking lot, a man was beaten nearly to death outside of the Dallas Cowboys stadium on Thanksgiving, and a cell phone video went viral on the internet for showing a fight at the New York Jets stadium in which a man punched a young girl in the face during a very wild and violent brawl (Sangosti). Thus, the frequency and severity of violent incidents occurring in American sports stadiums and in the parking lots are drastically increasing.

Many factors can help our culture understand the possible causes of sports violence. Many experts agree that the primary facilitator of excessive violence among fans at sports stadiums is alcohol. A significant appeal of attending exciting and cathartic sporting events is that people can consume alcohol, become drunk, and yell without any inhibitions. Although most fans can drink alcohol without becoming violent, the fact that alcohol decreases or eliminates inhibition causes some fans to behave in a reckless and aggressive manner. For instance, many violent incidents at stadiums generate from drunken fans taunting, insulting and verbally abusing each other, and as the yelling escalates a fight inevitably ensues and leads to significant injuries or even fatalities. The lack of inhibitions caused by alcohol consumption also increases the levels of violence because the sensation of drunkenness intensifies the anger, enhances the aggression, and increases the willingness of fans to fight. Additionally, the aggression associated with alcohol consumption causes some people to viciously attack innocent fans of the other team without any provocation (Lovett). Thus, alcohol consumption removes the inhibitions and self-control abilities of the people in the stadium, causes some fans to insult and yell at each other, and often stimulates those angry fans to engage in violent fights or to attack fans of the other team.

Rivalries between teams also instigate many violent incidents that occur at sports stadiums. Most fans of a particular team develop a rivalry and possess hatred towards another team. Rivalries can develop for many possible reasons, such as a close proximity between cities, consistently intense competitions between the two teams, or being in the same league division necessitates that the teams frequently compete for playoff spots. Nonetheless, most sports fans understand that the ritualized warfare of sports is entirely symbolic, the hatred for a rival team is merely playful, and as a result, most fans can root hard against a rival team without desiring for any harm to be inflicted upon the members or fans of the opposing team. For this reason, cameras at games between rival teams often humorously show friends or even married couples wearing opposite team jerseys, and this indicates that the hatred associated with the rivalry is playful, symbolic, and not a real form of actual human hatred (Lovett). However, some fans seem unable to distinguish between the symbolic form of hatred directed towards a rival team and the literal form of hatred associated with the desire to actually hurt fans of the other rival team. Thus, during or after games between heated rivals, the drunkenness and the hostile animosity between rival fans causes some fans to insult each other and physically fight against each other.

Although excessive alcohol consumption is involved with most incidents of sports stadium violence, prohibiting alcohol from stadiums would be a disproportionate measure. The majority of fans at stadiums can drink alcohol without allowing the drinks to impair their judgment or facilitate violent behavior, and thus banning alcohol would be unfair to the majority of fans and would diminish the exciting atmosphere associated with live sporting events. Instead, action should be taken to prevent people with aggressive or violent tendencies from attending the games or entering the stadiums. California is in the process of passing a legislative bill that would prohibit violent offenders from entering the sports venues in the state, and the bill reflects a similar law that Europe utilizes to prevent violent criminals from entering its soccer stadiums. The law would enable ticket companies to refuse to sell stadium tickets to people with violent criminal records and would allow stadium professionals to ban violent fans from the games. While some people with violent tendencies might still find ways to enter the stadium, taking diligent action to prevent such violent offenders from attending the games would reduce the number of dangerous fans and minimize the level of violence in the stadiums.

The bill would also allow stadium security professionals to place people who have displayed violent behavior at the games on a list to prevent them from attending future games. A significant problem of the stadium violence issue is that stadium security personnel are generally not motivated to apprehend and file police reports for each violent offender, for doing so requires an extensive amount of effort and the offender would merely receive a trivial fine for a punishment (Assael). In contrast, if stadium security professionals can inflict severe consequences on offenders by banning them from future games, then this would enhance the motivation, frequency, and efficaciousness of stadium security interventions. Thus, the American culture can help alleviate the sports stadium violence epidemic by enforcing laws that would enable stadiums to prohibit violent offenders from attending games, for the law would deter violent behavior among fans and would reduce the number of violent fans that are in the stadiums.

Professional sports and great athletes serve an important function for kids. Because Children replicate who they admire, exposing the kids to athletes who spent their lives working hard to achieve success and receive praise encourages the kids to also work hard to achieve success and receive praise. However, in recent decades the rate and intensity of violent incidents at American sports stadiums have rapidly increased, which is discouraging families from bringing their young children to the games because of the dangerous and hostile atmosphere that is permeating through the stadiums. Thus, the United States must develop and implement a policy that can prevent violent people from attending games, minimize the number of violent incidents that occur at live sporting events, and provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere for every fan and every stadium.

Works Cited

Assael, Shaun. "Bill would ban violent fans from stadiums." ESPN. N.p., 23 Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/blog/_/name/assael_shaun/id/7726918/california-bill-ban-problem-fans-stadiums>.

Halsne, Chris. "Crime inside NFL stadiums hidden from police." KIRO News. N.p., 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/crime-inside-nfl-stadiums-hidden-police/nT9RP/>.

Lovett, Ian. "Dodger Stadium Beating Highlights Fans Unease." The New York Times. N.p., 9 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/sports/baseball/10dodgers.html?_r=0>.

Mayeda, David. "Sporting Violence: The Fans." Bleacher Report. N.p., 20 July 2008. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://bleacherreport.com/articles/39517-sporting-violence-the-fans>.

Sangosti, RJ. "Recent sports stadium-related violence in the U.S." The Denver Post. N.p., 13 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24718357/recent-sports-stadium-related-violence-u-s>.