New: Perception Vs Reality Re: St. Louis & Oakland NFL Fans

[STL-Rams]

ROD, I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for being the best board in all of Rams Nation. Hope everyone is doing well. This is always my favorite Rams board to interact on. Class act all the way around.

My latest. I think you all will enjoy this one very much. Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading and responding to any comments:

http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLc...-Regarding-St-Louis-and-Oakland-NFL-Fans.aspx

 

[RamFan503]

Another good read Shane. But has there ever been a question if the St Louis fans were better than Oakland fans?

 

[OldSchool]

While I don't think either fan base of late has anything to brag about I'm curious about a couple things with these numbers. What are the % of seats sold for each year. Also is there a way to track how many tickets are sold to visiting fans. I know for a fact from watching and having been at some games in St Louis the last few years you see a very large quantity of opposing jerseys. Tavon Austin was mic'd up one game and even made a comment about the other team getting cheers on his home field. Something you won't see in Oakland, for well known reasons.

I'm also curious did Raider tickets drop form their previous tenure in Oakland? One aspect that isn't accounted for is Oakland fans were the a jilted lover. They'd lost their team, and possibly a lot of fans, when they left for LA. St Louis conversely felt a chance at redemption having lost the Cardinals and wanted to show up and support the team that let them have another shot at the NFL. Two fan bases with vastly different feelings towards their teams.

Again I don't think either teams attendance figures are something to toot the horn over. But I am curious about some contributing factors.

 

[Robocop]

depressing to read but interesting all the same. but I'm curious Shane if you see this as a check in the plus column or minus column when talking about keeping the Rams in St. Louis? Im also curious to if you have any way of gauging what type of loyal fan base the Rams still have in the LA area compared to the Raiders. NFL reps have been on the Network before saying that if there were to be a move that they would prefer a "hot" team to move to LA. if the Rams have a hot season this year and the Inglewood plan continues to be the most lucrative and ideal stadium plan then does this info push the Rams out of St. Louis or help keep them in your opinion? I'm not a local fan so I'm more indifferent to all of this. As a resident outside the DC area all i know is the move to LA would at least generate much more media coverage in that market considering I drown in constant arrogant overhyped NFC East bullshit out here every year.

 

[Alan]

@STL-Rams
Great stuff as usual Shane. Thank you for giving me the stats to prove what I knew to be true intuitively.

As I said on your site, you need to write more articles!

I hope you're doing well. It's been so long I was getting worried.

 

[dbrooks25]

Very good article, Shane, it pretty much backs up what a lot of people here (including myself) have said about the fan base here in Stl. This city gets a bum wrap when it comes to supporting this franchise.

 

[Rambitious1]

ROD, I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for being the best board in all of Rams Nation. Hope everyone is doing well. This is always my favorite Rams board to interact on. Class act all the way around.

My latest. I think you all will enjoy this one very much. Thanks for reading and I look forward to reading and responding to any comments:

http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLc...-Regarding-St-Louis-and-Oakland-NFL-Fans.aspx

Hi Shane,

Another good read my friend.
A very interesting comparison and I think a valid conclusion that St. Louis Rams fans really don't get their due.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Thanks, Shane... great piece!

As far as opposing team's fan base "taking over" home field, it appears that this happens in most stadiums.... especially with fan bases that travel well. In the thread regarding "best fans", I wrote about my experience in Dallas when the Steelers came to play... it was clear that the place was close to 50/50 Cowboys/Steelers fans. When San Francisco played the Cowboys, a similar thing happened. And Cowboy fans were being portrayed as really good fans.

With fans of all teams having easy access to tickets to see their team playing elsewhere, I think a lot see that as a "mini-vacation" and hit the road.

And, depending on how much those out of town fans are willing to shell out, home team tickets can be sold to offset the significant price of season tickets. If you're not a season ticket holder, it's easy to suggest those are not good fans. But if I held two season tickets and Steeler fans were willing to pay twice what I paid? Tough decision.

Like I said, it's happening in nearly all of the markets. I'm not sure those transaction are tracked... but, if they were, it'd be interesting to see them.

Keep up the good work!

 

[LACHAMP46]

Great read...always figured attendance wasn't really a problem...Thanks Shane

 

[Angry Ram]

I didn't know the Raiders left the same year the Rams did. Thought it was much, much earlier.

 

[bubbaramfan]

I'd like to know how many tickets were purchased so the game wouldn't be blacked out localy. those seats are counted, which skews the actual attendance upward.

 

[STL-Rams]

Another good read Shane. But has there ever been a question if the St Louis fans were better than Oakland fans?

Thank you my friend ... and I will leave the question alone there

 

[STL-Rams]

depressing to read but interesting all the same. but I'm curious Shane if you see this as a check in the plus column or minus column when talking about keeping the Rams in St. Louis? Im also curious to if you have any way of gauging what type of loyal fan base the Rams still have in the LA area compared to the Raiders. NFL reps have been on the Network before saying that if there were to be a move that they would prefer a "hot" team to move to LA. if the Rams have a hot season this year and the Inglewood plan continues to be the most lucrative and ideal stadium plan then does this info push the Rams out of St. Louis or help keep them in your opinion? I'm not a local fan so I'm more indifferent to all of this. As a resident outside the DC area all i know is the move to LA would at least generate much more media coverage in that market considering I drown in constant arrogant overhyped NFC East bullcrap out here every year.

I would see it as a plus considering the last 11 years of awful football overall. Getting the corporate support back up is more concerning to the league and something Peacock is working on if new stadium deal gets done. As for Rams fans in L.A., the metrics that are more accurate -- things other than polls that can be voted on 100 times by the same people, for example -- consistently show other teams than the Rams as being more popular in Los Angeles. For example, the twitter map breaks it down county by county and is not something that can be manipulated like a poll: https://interactive.twitter.com/nfl_followers2014/#?mode=all&order=1

 

[STL-Rams]

@STL-Rams
Great stuff as usual Shane. Thank you for giving me the stats to prove what I knew to be true intuitively.

As I said on your site, you need to write more articles!

I hope you're doing well. It's been so long I was getting worried.

Big thanks, Alan. How are you my friend? I write at least one column per week, by the way, but don't typically share the stadium related ones here (this is my favorite Rams board, by the way). You can always find any of my articles here if you'd like to bookmark this: http://www.insidestl.com/insideSTLc...Type/AuthorView/authorID/16545/ShaneGray.aspx

 

[STL-Rams]

Very good article, Shane, it pretty much backs up what a lot of people here (including myself) have said about the fan base here in Stl. This city gets a bum wrap when it comes to supporting this franchise.

Agree with you 100% and then some -- if that were possible. Thank you for the very kind words, dbrooks25

 

[STL-Rams]

Hi Shane,

Another good read my friend.
A very interesting comparison and I think a valid conclusion that St. Louis Rams fans really don't get their due.

Thank you my friend. It's been awhile. How are you doing? I agree with your sentiments completely. It's ridiculous the false beliefs and the double standards that abound on this topic.

 

[Alan]

STL-Rams pretending like he works hard:
How are you my friend?

I'm doing well Shane and I just bookmarked that site. :cheers:

 

[STL-Rams]

Thanks, Shane... great piece!

As far as opposing team's fan base "taking over" home field, it appears that this happens in most stadiums.... especially with fan bases that travel well. In the thread regarding "best fans", I wrote about my experience in Dallas when the Steelers came to play... it was clear that the place was close to 50/50 Cowboys/Steelers fans. When San Francisco played the Cowboys, a similar thing happened. And Cowboy fans were being portrayed as really good fans.

With fans of all teams having easy access to tickets to see their team playing elsewhere, I think a lot see that as a "mini-vacation" and hit the road.

And, depending on how much those out of town fans are willing to shell out, home team tickets can be sold to offset the significant price of season tickets. If you're not a season ticket holder, it's easy to suggest those are not good fans. But if I held two season tickets and Steeler fans were willing to pay twice what I paid? Tough decision.

Like I said, it's happening in nearly all of the markets. I'm not sure those transaction are tracked... but, if they were, it'd be interesting to see them.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the kind words, Rmfnlt. THey are appreciated.

Great point on opposing fans. Some act as if large amounts of opposing fans only show up in STL which is far from the case. It happens in many cities, especially in the Midwest or with teams that are struggling or playing close to a rival, for example. For example, there have been games in past where San Diego and Indy, among others, went silent count at home. We have seen games in Dallas, SF, KC and many other cities have huge swaths of opposing fans during games in recent seasons.

 

[STL-Rams]

Great read...always figured attendance wasn't really a problem...Thanks Shane

You are welcome and thank you. Keep in touch here or on twitter (and anyone else who would like to: @ShaneGmoSTLRams)

 

[STL-Rams]

I didn't know the Raiders left the same year the Rams did. Thought it was much, much earlier.

Yes, same year... you might be thinking of when they moved from Oakland to L.A. in the early 80s...