Minnesota Viking Supports Freedom to Marry originally uploaded by Freedom to Marry
A few weeks ago, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal provided the Vikings response to a fan submitted letter to the StarTribune which labeled fans as, “loud, obnoxious, purposefully rude and inconsiderate, foul-mouthed, and drinking heavily or already drunk.” While the response was more or less what you’d expect, the real question is whether this is truly the problem the letter claimed it to be.
From the article:
“We do not condone or appreciate any derogatory language or indecent behavior by Vikings fans,” Anderson said in an e-mail. “Our goal is to make the game-day experience as positive and memorable as possible for all attendees.”
Anderson said the team has implemented a variety of measures aimed at preventing and/or reporting offensive language and otherwise poor behavior at games. The team has a text number that fans can use to to report incidents, and a fan “code of conduct” is posted throughout the stadium and inside The Playbook, a game-day publication that is distributed on every seat.
In addition to the mostly useless and passive attempts at controlling fan behavior, the Vikings are considering adding a family section to both the Gopher Stadium and the new Vikings stadium when it is built in an attempt at curtailing some of the observed problems.
While I have only been to two in-season Vikings games (and two preseason games), I have never witnessed anyone who was unruly and, to be perfectly honest, it’s so unbelievably loud in that stadium that hearing anything 98% of the time is almost impossible. To say that people are “drinking heavily” is relative I suppose. At $8 – $10 a beer, it’s not exactly a common occurrence to see someone chugging down beers during the game and I have witnessed very few who aren’t immediately walking off the train on their way to the game completely sober. However, a few bad eggs always ruin it for everyone but for 311 people responding to the MSPBJ’s poll to say it’s safer at home is rubbish unless they were only choosing that option because it’s more enjoyable to not sit in $40 (face value, not what you can get them for online) seats 3.5 miles away from the 50 yard line and instead actually be able to see what’s happening down on the field.
Have you been to a Vikings game recently? If so did you find the fans to be rude, obnoxious, drunk, and foul-mouthed? Could you actually hear anything other than the roar of the stadium? How many beers do you buy at the stadium when you go to any sporting event? Do you think a family section would solve these problems? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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November 27th, 2012 at 8:15 am
I would tend to agree with this assessment based on the game or two a year I go too. But, I don’t know that it’s any different at any other NFL Stadium and it’s certainly much better than Oakland Alameda County Stadium where walking across the parking lot before a Raiders game is not only scarier than hell, it requires one to have hands over childrens eyes most of the time.
Last time I was at a Vikes game I saw a guy get a beat down in the concurse from security, there was puke in the bathroom and lots of fans in purple jerseys were wandering around like mindless zombies. As they say- Purple Liquor Pigs in effect.
Profanity on the other hand, haven’t heard that, only on fans twitter feeds when the team doesn’t meet expectations. :)
November 27th, 2012 at 9:45 am
I think a family section would be a big mistake. It would be better to clamp down on misbehaving drunks in public just like you would if they were on the street. Creating a family specific area implies then that everywhere else isn’t a family area and that rules are lessened everywhere else. That’s the wrong message.
I went to one vikings game at the Metrodome and found it to be stupid. You can barely hear what is going on due to noise. If I ever go back I’ll bring a ready with ear buds so I can hear the game while I watch it. I can recall going to a game as a child at the old Met Center during the winter but I recall being much closer to the action, even though the seats were not particularly close.
November 27th, 2012 at 10:17 am
I dont think its any more of an issue than any other event. I was at Buffalo Wild Wings the other night with my son, and was seated at a table next to two younger guys, probably late teens or early 20′s. The place was nearly empty and they were loud, rude, and using pretty much every swear word in the book. As the meal wore on, it also became obvious that one of them worked there.
I guess my point it that this type of behavior can happen anywhere, and likely thousands of people at the game had a great time, and a few were seated near or next to drunks who ruined it for the people around them. Best thing to do is probalby to take advantage of the text system to make a complaint and let security deal with the drunks.
November 27th, 2012 at 10:54 am
Yeah – Well – – when my children were in high school, as a fund-raiser, we worked concession booths during Twins games, Viking games, and an occasional monster truck show. Rating each on fans, noise, and obnoxiousness would go something like:
MLB – Pretty orderly, an occasional pair of drunken younger folks, but mostly keeping to themselves, loud crowd noise at appropriate times during and in response to what is happening on the field.
Monster Truck – - To my amazement, this was the most family friendly event that we worked! Lots of kids with Dads, or families together (BTW – often the Moms looked as if they were dragged to the event), but really a family outing, beer sales were steady, but very few inebriated folks. Noise was extreme, but comes from the trucks with no mufflers. Majority had on ear protection. Lots of testosterone here.
Vikings – Wow! No noise protection here. In line 6-8 deep at the beer sales, loud, evidence of pretty much everyone who came to the beer stands of the effects of over consumption, did I say loud, many obnoxious folks, not necessarily limited to the “younger” crowd, impatient, swearing at/about the service and lack of speed at being served. $8-$10 beer doesn’t seem to be an issue.
Cheers!
Irving
November 27th, 2012 at 11:00 am
Anybody that goes to Vikings games regularly is stupid.
I’ve been to one game in the past 15 years or so and, while the game was fun, sitting around through commercial breaks, time outs, halftime etc. is fucking boring.
The only thing that got me through the boredom was twittering things on the twitter about how fucking stupid the majority of the fans are. Most of them were pretty drunk in my area and there was some (a lot of) swearing, but I think that is expected because avid Viking fans are fucking stupid. Every call against the Vikings gets booed as if the ref screwed it up. Every incomplete pass gets booed because there was not Pass Interference called, etc.
Bottom line, if you go to a Vikings game, just know that you will probably be surrounded by a bunch of people who took out a second on the trailer to pay their $2000 for season tickets and expect to deal with their idiocy.
Just think of all the motor homes that are going to go into foreclosure once they charge for seat licenses at the new stadium.
Me? I’ll be home comfy on my couch watching NFL Sunday Ticket without worrying about commercials, drinking $3 Surly pints in a real glass and eating good food. From 12-6:45 on Sundays, there is probably less than 10 minutes where there are literally no games going on. That is how it’s supposed to be done.
November 27th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
They’re rabid football fans. Of course some of them are obnoxious. Duh.
November 27th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
The biggest dicks I have had to deal with in life are often those that make more money in one day then I make all week. There maybe nice wealthy people, but I wager there are more wealthy assholes as a percentage than there are those that live in trailer parks. Get a a group of rich bastards drunk and you’ll find they can be as big of a pain in the ass as others, sometimes more so.
November 27th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
I haven’t been to a Vikings game in years, but the last one was full of drunk louts, and the guest I had in (we were entertaining and out of town fan) was passed out by the 3rd qtr in his seat, which was a relief as he was completely out of hand before that.
I have shared some season tickets to the Twins over the past 3 years so I can also comment on that, there is no shortage of drinking and drunkeness there too, its mostly limited to the 21-40 year old range, and then mostly males. My intake levels have signficantly declined from my 20′s and 30′s though i was astounded watching some people drink at least 6 x 20 ounce beers in 7 innings , which is nearly a full 12 pack of beer. I have no idea how they functioned at work the next day. per Irving above, overall the larger part of the crowd is well behaved and in control.
The price of beer at these events doesnt seem to have any bearing on loutish consumers. Even at the outrageous prices the cash flows. While the organization rakes in profits and advertises its Budweiser roof , and the various leagues endorse grabbing some Buds.
I sound like a teetotaler, and a puritan, I am not, but I do believe the confluence of sports entertainment and booze is reaching its crescendo. One can only imagine what it is like in Philly or oakland …. or that state to our East.
November 27th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
I went to my first game this year. I found the stadium loud (i wore earplugs). No one around me was unruly. I did have fun watching a lady trying to find her seat again (alcohol consumption was a factor) but no obvious drunks in the seats around me. No beer consumed by me. On the way out I did see quite a few people who had too much to drink, but no one was out of line. I had worse experiences at a Wild game.
November 28th, 2012 at 8:30 am
Mikeh,
I think you just described one of Minnesota’s most famous rich guys.
November 30th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
I’ve been to 4 Vikings home openers. I’m a Packer fan and haven’t paid for any of those tickets, I’ve just attended as a fan of the game after someone offered me their seats. I’ve always had seats in the lower level along the sidelines anywhere from the end zone to midfield. I’ve had one or two instances where some of the people around me definitely made the experience less enjoyable and a few others where nobody was an issue, though it’s definitely much louder than any other sporting event regardless of how drunk the people around you are. The one time my wife went with me wasn’t that great and she vowed to never go to an NFL game again due to the noise, profanity, and long stoppages of play. We’re both bigger baseball fans and the Vikings games definitely bring out a rowdier crowd, but I think that’s true of football in general. I don’t imagine Lambeau is some magical family-friendly haven either.
If you watch a football game on TV and make it through the hours of beer commercials there and then are surprised when you walk into a stadium and see people who have consumed excessive quantities of said beer, I don’t think you’re very good at deductive reasoning.