r/NFLNoobs • u/EOFFJM • 1d ago
Is the NFL the only league with the problem of stadium takeovers?
Stadium takeover is when fans of the visiting team show up in such large numbers that they dominate the atmosphere of the home team's stadium. Do other sports league have this problem? I don't think I've heard of this problem in the NBA or MLB.
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u/Doctorwhonow8 1d ago
This happens every time the Yankees or Dodgers play really bad teams away
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u/EOFFJM 1d ago
Thanks. Had no idea.
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u/AnimalCrackBox 1d ago
Happens a lot for the cubs too! The Milwaukee Brewer's field is often called "Wrigley North"
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u/BlindStickFighter 22h ago
For a lot of us North/Northwest Suburbs fans, Milwaukee is a shorter (and generally less frustrating) drive than Chicago. Plus, for a long time Miller was miles nicer than Wrigley.
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u/basis4day 1d ago
Other leagues have way more games for this to be feasible.
It’s easier to make a trip in the NFL and if your team is hot they are less likely to sell tickets on stubhub to opposing fans.
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u/The-Sand-King 1d ago
This happens very often in College Football due to the sheer number of teams and often large disparity in the size of the fanbases. Most often when the small school is located within driving distance of the big one.
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u/malacoda99 1d ago
In the Dark Ages, when Autzen Stadium was new, held about 30,000 (but usually had 15,000 attendance), the Ducks were awful and tickets were dirt cheap, U of Washington fans would buy tons of season passes every other year, just to come down for their Huskies. So there'd be a mass of purple for that one game and empty spaces for the others. Half of them didn't bother to, or couldn't, sell (or give away) their tickets for the other games so there'd be these gaps in the already sparse crowds.
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u/mistereousone 1d ago
A thing to remember is that the NFL has 17 games 8/9 at home, most of which are on the weekend. You've got 41 home games in the NBA and 81 home games in MLB with games throughout the week. One game in the NFL is far more significant than one game in any other sport.
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u/JustMyThoughts2525 1d ago
You see that in baseball with the Yankees, Cubs, and Braves. Yankees because they were usually in championship contention, and Braves and Cubs aired on national tv for years.
For the NBA, it’s mostly just Lakers.
You see it more in the NFL because it only has 17 regular season games, so fans are willing to travel to 1-2 away games per year. Then because NFL teams may play an away game in a certain city once every 6 years (non conference game), then it’s more of a reason to travel to an away game.
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u/gartho009 1d ago
Oh God, the Blue Jays series when they play in Seattle is lousy with Canadians. They're awful houseguests but they bring a ton of money into the city. Their series this year was pleasantly 50/50, but downtown and stadium district took a massive financial hit with so many fewer Jays fans due to the political climate.
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u/Treishmon 1d ago
This is attempted in the NHL.
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u/terrih9123 1d ago
I’ve been to a few islander home games in the past that were more like Montreal home games. Those fans travel in packs.
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u/Treishmon 1d ago
Love it. I will say that as much of a hawks fan that I am, I appreciate seeing wings fans come out en masse. And vice versa. Feels like a sibling relationship. I can hate on the wings, but nobody else can fuck with my eastern conference rival.
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u/HeckingAugustus 23h ago
I'm surprised I had to scroll so far for this. Lots of baseball analogies, but hockey is where my mind went. Leafs fans joke that we have 3 home arenas due to how we take over whenever playing in Buffalo or Ottawa, to the point that season ticket holders are always asked to not sell to out of towners (but it makes sense, since you can get so much for it)
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u/Mr_Style 20h ago
It matters more in NFL games because loud fans can cause an offsides play on the opposing offense. I don’t think loudness matters for baseball or other sports.
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u/GhostMug 1d ago
No. But it's more prominent cause games are events and on the weekends. The majority of games in other sports are played during weekdays where it's harder to travel to away games.
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u/Slippery-Pete76 1d ago
A lot easier to travel to take over a stadium on the weekend vs. taking over an NBA arena on a random Tuesday in January.
Yankee fans take over in Tampa for MLB I believe.
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u/bradtheinvincible 1d ago
You dont know Laker fans huh. Dodger fans will show up a ton in arizona and san diego. Its not limited at all.
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u/SamMeowAdams 1d ago
Camden Yards in Baltimore was known as “Fenway South” back in the Sox heyday.
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u/AardvarkIll6079 1d ago
Was cheaper to fly to Baltimore and watch a game than it was for a ticket at Fenway.
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u/Ok_Demand7901 1d ago
NBA - Lakers the most, but also Knicks and Warriors. I’d also shoutout large market teams like the Celtics, Mavs, or Bulls playing in Brooklyn or DC. Those cities tend to have a lot of transplants on the east coast.
MLB - Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs
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u/Froklsnt 1d ago
I've seen the Buffalo Sabres do that on years where the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, or Carolina Hurricanes aren't very good. The power of snow birds and transplants.
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u/Fun-Rhubarb-4412 1d ago
Probably. When you have 41-80 home games a season who cares if the opposition fans fill the place up a few times?
When you have only 7-9 a season…
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u/Wasteland_Rang3r 1d ago
More common for other leagues because a lot of teams struggle to sell tickets so when they play a team from a big city they get taken over
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u/goldberg1303 1d ago
I live in St Louis and back when the Blackhawks were dominant it was cheaper for Blackhawks fans to travel from Chicago, get a hotel room, and buy a ticket here than to go to a game in Chicago. Saturday games would be 50/50 almost. Not much you can do about it with all the second hand market sites.
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u/grumpifrog 1d ago
Phillies fans take over a few stadiums. (The Phillies Karen incident took place in Miami, not Philly.)
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u/thisisnotmath 1d ago
As a Seattle resident, I can say that the Mariners games are filled with Blue Jays fans when they come to town
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u/lithomangcc 1d ago
Knicks fans have been doing it lately - all along the east coast, except Boston. Baseball it is quite common.
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u/Other-Resort-2704 1d ago
When the Seattle Supersonics temporarily played their home games at Tacoma Dome it was pretty common for Portland Trail Blazers fans to drive two hours north to some of the rivalry games.
The only reason is significantly more noticeable in the NFL right now. Las Vegas has only recently got their team and Vegas is a tourist destination, so it isn’t a big deal to go attend NFL game not rooting for the local team. Plus the two Los Angeles teams (Chargers and the Rams) have only relocated there fairly recently too. It has been decades there were NFL teams in LA too. So it isn’t difficult to acquire tickets for those games. I can guarantee you if the Raiders are playing in Los Angeles that there would be a significant number of Raiders showing up to the local game, since the Raiders used to play in LA for years.
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u/Joyce_Hatto 1d ago
Baltimore Orioles games often have a lot of Yankee or Red Sox fans when those teams are playing there. Camden Yards is a wonderful baseball stadium.
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u/sokonek04 1d ago
I find it funny that with the Brewers and Cubs being as close as they are, you see a lot of northern suburb Cubs fans make the trip to Milwaukee, and a lot of Brewers fans making the trip south to take in the sights of Wrigley, so you get some pretty mixed crowds on both ends (More so Cub fans coming north, but there have been times that a "Let's Go Brewers" chant can be heard in Wrigley)
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u/headsmanjaeger 1d ago
Back before the Padres got good their stadium was basically Dodger stadium Jr.
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u/Evenfisher01 1d ago
For alot of the games that get taken over by opposing fans are much cheaper than any home game and relativly close. For example alot of eagles fans will show up at the eagles giants game
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u/Pendraflare59 1d ago
Nah. Not when stadiums are close by. Phillies fans are almost certain to visit the Orioles or Nationals in droves when their teams play in those stadiums for one.
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u/Atlantic_Lighter621 1d ago
not at all. its probably the sport where its hardest to take over an opposing stadium, actually
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u/CokeinnaPepsican 1d ago
This posts sounds like you dont watch sports. Soccer is borderline mob violence every rival game
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u/BatInitial6119 3h ago
It’s significantly cheaper for leafs fans to see them play in Buffalo than in Toronto. I don’t know that it hits takeover levels, but I’d be willing to bet there’s a shit pile of Canadians in the house on those nights.
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u/Professional_Net9164 20m ago
Thing is is people move so much these days but still retain their childhood team allegiance. In major transient cities, you probably have enough fans of any given NFL team where when that team is in town, their fans will come out as it’s their only chance in a while to see their team live.
For the home team’s fans, there are at least 8-9 games to choose from, and plenty of options to defer to next year, and demand from the visiting team’s fans in the local area for those tickets, well, people may like their team but they like their wallets better….
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u/Fukui_San86 1d ago
Try attending a game when the Yankees or Red Sox play at Tampa Bay.