Are you rowdy for some football?
The Ralph gets points as venue, but bad rap for booze-fueled behavior hangs over fans
So who has the rowdiest fans in the National Football League? Buffalo Bills fans were stung last month when the Wall Street Journal said the team has struggled to control “some of the worst-behaving fans in all of sports.”
And now data culled from a survey by SI.com ranks Bills fans fifth worst among 32 NFL teams in their treatment of opposing fans.
The only teams’ fans scoring worse in that category were the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders, New York Jets and tonight’s opponent, the Cleveland Browns.
Not all the news is bad, though.
By all accounts, Bills fans are among the most knowledgeable in the National Football League. And the stadium has a reputation as one of the top tailgating venues in the NFL, a place where new friendships are forged over cold beer and grilled sausage.
The SI.com survey ranked Ralph Wilson Stadium eighth overall as a desirable game-day venue, 15th in stadium atmosphere, first in tailgating, second in affordability and food and about sixth in fan IQ.
The downside of all that fan fervor and alcohol is a reputation for being one of the rowdiest stadiums in the league.
Hans Steiniger, a 1993 Lancaster High School graduate trying to visit all 31 NFL stadiums, agrees with the Wall Street Journal story, saying that Bills fans “are quite possibly the worst-behaved fans in the NFL.”
Some other cities’ crowds behave worse toward the opposing fans, Steiniger believes, but he’s struck by the abuse Bills fans shower on each other.
“I don’t know why people move past the line of friendly interaction and turn it into physical action — like pouring beer or spitting or offering to fight,” said Steiniger,
whose Quest for 31 Web site address is www.nflfootballstadiums.com . “I think that’s what earned us the moniker of worst-behaved fans.” Ralph Wilson Stadium — set to host tonight’s Monday Night Football tilt with the Browns — earned some national notoriety two weeks ago, with the news that a couple were arrested for having sex in a women’s bathroom stall during the Bills-Jets game.
Other stadiums have carved out even worse reputations:
• Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, the Eagles’ former home, was so wild that the stadium had its own game-day basement courtroom to arraign and even try fans who were arrested.
• Oakland Raiders fans are known for their expletive-laced greetings for anyone daring to wear the opponent’s colors.
• And New York Jets fans took a hit last fall, when the New York Times reported that hundreds of fans gathered on a pedestrian ramp in Giants Stadium, chanting obscenities and encouraging women to expose their breasts.
One Bills season-ticket holder, Bill Bodkin, 52, of Cheektowaga, who has traveled to about 10 Bills road games in the last decade, has a mixed view of the fans here.
Bodkin has found that some crowds, such as those in Jacksonville, Miami and Indianapolis, completely lack the passion found in Ralph Wilson Stadium.
“I would say we’re probably in the top third [in unruly behavior], but not as out of control as Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Philadelphia,” Bodkin said. “I wouldn’t even go back to Philly. It was so over the top.”
The Bills are taking steps to try to shed their reputation, just as the Eagles did since moving from Veterans Stadium to Lincoln Financial Field.
Safety initiatives
Starting with the Jets game Nov. 2, the Bills implemented their new text-messaging system, GuestAssist, allowing fans inside the stadium to alert team officials to any concerns about unruly fan behavior.
The Bills had been criticized in the Wall Street Journal story for not implementing their text-messaging system earlier. The team also has a fan hotline number, 312-8933, to report similar problems.
“All the things we’re doing, in terms of the text messaging and the fan hotline, come under the same heading: ‘In order to accomplish our fan initiative, we need the fans’ help,’ ” said Scott Berchtold, the team’s vice president of communications.
“We want help from the 99.8 percent of the fans who want to enjoy the game and act responsibly, to help us police the other .2 percent,” added David H. Wheat, senior vice president of business operations. Wheat’s numbers make sense.
At the Jets game, security and law enforcement officers made 37 arrests, ejected 109 fans and turned away 21 at the entrance gates. That’s a total of 167 people, roughly one-quarter of 1 percent of the sellout crowd that day.
Besides the text-messaging system, Bills officials point out that they eject and arrest many of the most unruly fans; they turn away a few dozen fans each game for being overly intoxicated; they cut off beer sales at the end of halftime, earlier than most NFL teams; they revoke season tickets held by any season-ticket holder arrested at the stadium; and they have taxis available to escort highly intoxicated fans back home.
“Our organization takes our fan behavior policy very seriously, but it also has to be pointed out that all our games are sold out, and our fans feel safe while they’re enjoying the games,” Berchtold said. “So it’s important not to overreact.”
Some rowdy behavior at Ralph Wilson Stadium may be attributable to factors that make Bills games so popular, especially tailgating, the electric atmosphere in the stadium and the affordability of tickets. The Bills are listed in the SI.com survey as having the lowest average ticket price, at $51.24.
What the Bills don’t do is eliminate in-stadium beer sales or pregame tailgating.
The SI.com rankings, based on interviews with fans from each league city, list Buffalo as having the league’s best tailgating scene, with 97.4 percent of the responding Bills fans rating it “excellent” or “above average.”
“So much of the experience of a Buffalo Bills game is the tailgating culture,” Wheat said. “It’s a celebration of Buffalo Bills football. We want to help people maintain that culture, but we have to find a way to help them do that responsibly.”
Most observers seem to agree that the atmosphere is terrific at the pregame tailgate parties. Fans clad in Bills and opposing teams’ jerseys can be seen tossing around a football, toasting a few cold ones and enjoying the game-day camaraderie.
“Bills tailgaters are a very welcoming breed, offering food, beer and conversation to any stranger that stops by,” Steiniger, the former Cheektowaga and Lancaster resident, has written on his Web site. “But unfortunately as soon as Bills fans enter the gates of ‘The Ralph,’ it’s like a switch flips, and this sleepy community that prides itself on small-town values turns into a pack of dregs and miscreants, causing all types of problems . . .”
What causes that switch to flip?
Alcohol is one trigger
Alcohol is the obvious culprit, with various sources saying it fuels anywhere from 90 to 100 percent of the wild behavior here.
Last month, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judge Seamus McCaffery, who once presided over the Veterans Stadium basement courtroom, told Sports- Business Journal the main triggers for outlandish spectator acts: “Anonymity, excessive testosterone and last, but not least, excessive alcohol.”
Tailgate drinking and in-stadium beer sales aren’t the only causes of rowdiness here. Also a factor are all-day bus trips from Southern Ontario and various parts of New York State, where some fans drink virtually all day.
Of the 132 people arrested at the first four Bills games, according to a Buffalo News computation of police reports, 38 were Canadians. That’s 29 percent, whereas the Bills estimate that Canadians make up an estimated 15 to 20 percent of their crowds.
The Bills won’t comment on the Canadian factor, but one anecdote suggests the problems triggered by such all-day drinking.
One fan arrested at the Sept. 7 game stopped at the Bills offices later, on his way to court, to apologize. He told Bills officials he had gotten on a bus in London, Ont., and started drinking at about 7 a. m. that day.
“He said he didn’t even remember being in the stadium,” one team official has told The News. “He was very apologetic to us.”
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