Tim Ellsworth

Oakland Raiders fans are notorious for being loud, rabid, obnoxious and drunk. And now some are suggesting that the behavior of some Oakland fans is actually keeping people from attending home games out of fear for their safety.

When the team returned from Los Angeles 10 years ago, fans were sold personal seat licenses — in effect, contracts sold to generate some of the cash needed to bring the team back to Oakland and renovate the Coliseum without a tax hike. Critics called the unpopular PSLs a ticket to buy a ticket — the idea was to get fans to not only pay for a season ticket, but the privilege to buy it. It didn’t work. Not enough fans bought the PSLs.

The 10-year PSL plan expires this year, and if fans don’t sign up again — or if another, more popular plan isn’t introduced to replace it — the losses to Oakland, which bankrolled the return, could reach tens of millions of dollars.

Reinforcing the point, Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills — which the Raiders won 38-17 — didn’t sell out. It was another home game with empty seats, which means locals couldn’t catch the game on television because it was blacked out.

All of this calls into question the popularity of a team that played in the Super Bowl just two years ago, and why it can’t seem to fill a stadium. Is interest in the Raiders waning, or are people — particularly the high rollers who will buy the season tickets — afraid to go to the games because of the reputation of Raider fans?

It’s an interesting article to read. Thanks to Joel Maners for the link.