In Germany, fans of Borussia Dortmund boycotted the first 20 minutes of their game against VfB Stuttgart, and they also peppered the pitch with tennis balls in protest of their ticket increase to £70. Dortmund went on to win, but their message was heard loud and clear.
And now, the EPL is worried that fans of other European clubs will do something similar, and some clubs have already taken precautions to prevent fan walkouts. Manchester United, akin to Liverpool, also announced a ticket price freeze beginning in the 2016-17 season.
Owners and front office members of every sports league, team, etc. around the world, especially Europe and the United States better take notice. Fans have a tremendous amount of untapped power that we've all failed to recognize.
So what else could fans impact? Well, with the Super Bowl last weekend too, let's take a look at the NFL. The NFL is the unquestioned king of sports entertainment in America. It's not really close. And this is despite all the morally questionable aspects to both the game and the business end. It's a game that influences youth while promoting violence. It's a league that doesn't seem to care about the health of it's former, current, or future players. It's a league that, until last year, didn't care about the domestic violence. It took a video of Ray Rice hitting his fiancee for the NFL to do anything about violence against women. And newsflash, the NFL still terribly fails in this matter.
It's a league that lets players like Greg Hardy still play and get paid, and it's a league that profits from its Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, as well as its Salute to Service campaign. From the outside, it seems like a terrible company, right? If this was just your average business, it would have no chance of sustaining life, especially with all the bullshit it does and allows. So why is it more popular and profitable than it has ever been? Well that answer is simple. It's us, the fans.
And we are the reason why the NFL will refuse the change. As long as they put out a solid PR campaign saying that they are making all these changes, we accept them, and we continue to consume the product. No matter how hollow and corrupt the measures taken by the NFL l̶o̶o̶k̶ are, nothing is going to change as long as fans continue to spend hundreds of dollars filling stadiums every weekend, buying merchandise, and devoting their whole Sunday to the game.
Almost 112 million people watched the Super Bowl between the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos on February 7. That's one-sixth of the entire country. So here's the dilemma. If fans really have an issue with everything, the NFL does or doesn't do, which it appears we do, then why would we, myself included, continue to watch and pay for the product?
It's possible to be dismayed about what takes place but to enjoy the game. I get that. The media is constantly on the NFL's back, and fans display outrage, some faux, some real, but it's impossible to tell. I can acknowledge that the NFL is terrible company, from the owners down to the players, but also enjoy sitting down for three hours to watch a game. I can tell you that I wouldn't like it if my favorite team willingly signed a guy like Greg Hardy after finding out what he did just last year. That would affect my viewership greatly, to be quite honest. But why is it so difficult for fans to take a stand against the NFL? Honestly, I believe that it's fear that the game we all love will go away for good. Deep down inside humans is an insatiable thirst for violence. It's our release. It's our escape. These are our modern-day gladiators, and we are afraid of losing them, but we can make it better.
If fans, media, etc. really wanted the NFL change, take a look at what the EPL fans are doing. Hit the owners and the league where it hurts -- their wallets. Say for eight Sundays out of the year, fans avoid and protest their favorite team's home games and just stay home. What would happen? Drastic changes, that's what. That's a ridiculous amount of the money the owners and the league would be losing out on. That's something they wouldn't like. I can guarantee that. Fans have the power to affect change by simply spending their time and hard-earned money elsewhere. It's simple. The fans for Liverpool and Dortmund did it, and they got what they wanted. If European fans, who are probably more rabid about their sport of soccer than Americans are about football, can walk out in the middle of a match, why can't Americans do the same, while also demanding change?
If ticket and merchandise sales dipped dramatically due to fans taking a stand against an issue like domestic abuse, I guarantee you that change would happen. But fans won't partake. Why? Because the NFL is a drug, and each fan needs his or her tri-weekly fix. From the time the Super Bowl ends until late July, early August, most fans have gone through withdrawal. So much so that they are fiending and counting down the days until we get football back again. It's this hunger that the NFL takes full advantage of, and it's why it can get away with anything. If fans strengthened themselves and took a stand against the almighty NFL, fans could create an environment where the NFL has to change for the betterment of all, fans and players alike, or they will perish. And nobody wants that.
The fans have all the power here. Not the owners, not the front office, and definitely not the commissioner. We have it, people, and it took the devout supporters of Liverpool to show us all that.
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This doesn't just go for sports, either. This can be applied to any sort of entertainment that we consume. If we demand better product, we will get better product.
Sick of hearing Skip Bayless talk out of his ass on a regular basis? Then stop watching that miserable dross that is First Take. Stop tweeting at the guy. Stop giving him any attention and he will slowly slip away into insignificance.
Sick of seeing those terrible Adam Sandler movies that seem to pop up every year? STOP GOING TO THEM!!! They are trash, and they deserve to be treated as such.
Sick of Fox News and MSNBC doing their daily smearing of the opposite party? Find another news outlet. Read something worthwhile. Don't be lazy by just watching television to stay "informed." These networks are paid to get ratings, and they will do whatever it takes, no matter how ridiculous their tactics are to achieve that goal. They don't give a damn about you or how you think. Make a concerted effort to find the truth because it is out there, whether you believe it or not.
Remember when Jon Stewart systematically destroyed Crossfire (which was essentially the political version of First Take)? He called them on their bullshit, and only a year after his appearance on the show, Crossfire was gone. It took one person to destroy a show that was utter garbage. Can you imagine what we could do if we united as one?
By maintaining the status quo, we are part of the problem. We have the unmitigated power to change things for the better, but we either refuse to do so, or we don't care enough to. I think it's a bit of both. But the potential for change is there if we want it to be, and we can thank the crazed soccer fans of Europe for showing us that.
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