Want to hear from someone who's been to all but 4 games in the last 13 seasons? I'll put it all here, but it will be a lengthy diatribe, so if you really wanna know...
1. Lack of a regular, consistent fan base. The notion that PSLs will help pay for the stadium with a minimum of taxpayer burden was a great idea back in the early 90's when the Panther organization started becoming a reality. However, one huge segment of the PSL buying population is the business sector and those businesses regularly use the PSLs for their clients, entertaining, schmoozing and other various reasons- one of the reasons we often see so many fans from opposing teams.
Second part of this, I see different people around me for every game. There are the regulars, but I would estimate that 30% of my section has different people sitting in the seats every game. All those PSL owners are selling seats left and right- one need only look in the Charlotte Observer classifieds and look around the stadium on game day. Do you know how many times I've brought friends to games without tickets, knowing they would be available all around the stadium on Sunday?
Third part of this, a non-NFL experienced fan base that allows, tolerates and welcomes fans of opposing teams to come into BOA and make noise, talk a lot of smack and display a complete and total lack of respect for the home team. I have attended football games in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York (New Jersey, actually), Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, Jacksonville and New Orleans- one does not get away with acting like an idiot fan pulling for the other team in those stadiums, but in Charlotte you are quite welcome to say anything derogatory you like about the team, it's players, the fans and their mothers without hesitation or threat of retaliation.
2. This is not college, rah-rah athletics. The demographic and geopgraphic area is spoiled by, influenced by and know nothing but college athletics. People in this area are so used to hearing and seeing college basketball they are accustomed to nothing but winning and do not know how to accept losing. Put this together with #1 above and you've got a stadium crowdthat's not typical of an NFL franchise. It's still, in large part, a fancy wine and cheese crowd as well. I thought this aspect of a fan base would change over time, but it looks like it's here to stay.
3. Jumbotron, sound system, announcer and music. All basically suck. I sit on the field level on the opposite end of the stadium from the single speaker sound system and we can't hear the announcer 75% of the time. The sound system is terrible and the "Jumbotron" is tiny by today's standards in NFL stadiums around the league. The oldest stadium in the NFL has a larger screen than the one in BOA. The announcer does nothing to get the crowd involved, does not recap plays, the music is the same ol' $h!^ and the replays are useless because the screen is so small. The visuals are childish- lose the flag boys running across the field, lose the rarely used cannon and please lose all those ridiculous highlights from games past. The Sir Purr is officially old, worn out and no longer anything but a kiddie ambassador.
4. BOA is a place to be seen, not heard. It is a social gathering like no other. It is a place to be seen, a reason to buy new clothes every week, get your hair done... makes me wanna puke. I see women wearing leather and heels, freshly coiffed hair, men wearing khakis, oxford shirts and the new look- loafers without socks. This is the NFL- you know, dirt, blood, spit, hit the other guy harder than he hits you. The people I saw at the Van Halen concert the other night looked and acted more like football fans than those I see on Sundays in Charlotte.
Last week's game I had little interest left by the third quarter so I began to look around at the crowd and really take notice of what goes on in the stadium besides the game. You know, the guys and girls who are calling their friends, who are also in the stadium, on cell phones, standing up, looking around or up or wherever, waving and yelling in the phone, "Do you see me?" The two exceptionally well-dressed women 2 rows in front of me who never watched a single play the entire time they were in those seats! They paged through the program talking about the cheerleaders' hairstyles, shared nail colors and related experiences of their children's trials and tribulations at college.
Game day for us is a 14-hour experience that has become a 14-hour necessary evil. I get up at 6AM and begin filling coolers, make final preps on the food and load up the Tahoe. I wake the wife at 6:30 and we're on the road around 7AM. We arrive in Charlotte usually around 9:30. We've had the same tailgating group forever, it seems, and our 12 reserved parking spots are already filled by 10. We cook, eat and drink. We talk about the week's events and get caught up on everyone else's news. Rarely does the talk center on football- we save that for after the game. We usually wait for the traffic to clear off a little before hitting the highway home after the game and by around 8:30 or 9PM we're home. 4-5 hours of driving time, 4 hours of tailgating and 3 hours of food and friends with the usual wait times makes for a long day and, sadly, if it weren't for all the friends, I would have to question whether it's worth the effort.
By Kelly "Anybodyhome" Benton
[Comments will be taken in the PantherCoalition Forums.]
No comments:
Post a Comment