Fan generation gap at Giants Stadium an ongoing issue
Uh, oh. Mike Francesa is taking a series of calls from Giants fans frustrated by relatively subdued, relatively old, relatively cranky crowds at Giants Stadium.
"Has Giants Stadium lost its edge?" Mike asked.
Maybe, but if so it lost it at least 14 years ago, when I started covering the team, as this delicate topic has been a complaint of coaches, players and team officials since I have been around the team - one that usually remains private but sometimes leaks out in public.
Dan Reeves once famously complained about the lack of homefield edge compared to places such as Denver or Kansas City. That was around 1995!
This is why some in the Giants organization would not have minded having their playoff game scheduled for Saturday night rather than early Sunday afternoon, knowing prime time crowds are younger and more enthusiastic.
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Comments (8)
Wait until you get the new stadium with PSL:'s. The younger crowd won't be able to afford the seats. The place will be dead.
No doubt about it, night games have a younger louder crowd, or it could be the same people who just had more time to drink. But if you think it's quiet now just wait until all the corporate types fill all those club seats. It will be like the Garden for Ranger games, all the real fans will be in the upper deck.
Not just PSLs, but also consider that the people who pay for the "best seats" in that Coaches Club area will probably never be in their seats to begin with. They'll be in that high-falutin bar downstairs staying warm.
New stadiums and arenas seem to built in such a way and priced as such to take the rabid hatred out of the crowd, and thus home-field advantage disappears.
I sometimes dream of the Giants and Jets having a stadium in a more urban setting.... like in Queens where there would be more of a blue-collar, working-class, younger vibe of fans who came on the Subway and started to pick fights with opposing fans from the seven train all the way down the streets of Flushing Meadows. Then all of the young, tough Giants fans start singing "Forever Blowing Bubbles" and start coming up with witty songs about Donovan McNabb and chunky soup. Then I wake and realize I was just watching Green Street Hooligans on Starz and "like me dreams they fade and die".
Yes I cannot stand the old Giants fans, especially the ones who are complaining about the PSLs despite the fact their parents or grandparents ever are solely responsible for them even possessing season tickets to begin with only to sell them off on the online auction block (I still have a hatred for those fans who sold their tickets of the Patriots game).
I am not being ageist but honestly the one time I went during a 4:00 game versus Caroline 5 years ago the place was rocking at half capacity and had more spirit than it did at full capacity. The younger fans were no longer afraid to root/disparage the team as they stood out of their seats without any person telling them to sit down or get out of their way.
I shudder at the thought of the atmosphere the new stadium will be with PSLs surely eliminating the few rowdy ones. We're going to have to start pumping crowd-noise in the stadium like they did in Washington that one time.
I also hate Mets fans who never go to games but have season-tickets and therefore reflect badly on the scoreboard attendance. I mean that is embarrassing. Especially games in the summer versus the Phillies it was downright shameful, and you can no longer wonder why the Wilpons made the CitiField smaller.
I have an excuse for these things, I have lived in Upstate (Not Westchester County) NY my whole life. What do these people have?
Not to completely disparage my entire team's fan base, I must say our fans who travel are more than excellent.
I remember going to the final Jets game at Shea Stadium against Bradshaw's Steelers in 1983 and it was a doozy. Fights in the stands, bonfires in the bleachers, broken urinals, and the Same Old Jets.
Take it to a new venue, and another generation Same Old Jets. Descendants of the same Shea fans make their way to Giants Stadium.
RE: the older fans: many in the later months of the season sell or give their tickets to others ... pattern is especially seen in Jets fans ... the infamous Gate D incidents come right out of that.
The young fans can have it. They can sit out in the cold, get bombed, curse, scream, burn cars, act like idiots. The new 'Fan' is an idiot.
I am lucky enough to go to most Giant games,
getting tickets through a season ticket holder who does not go.
I definitely notice a difference in the night games. The crowd was very loud
vs. the Patriots last year and vs. Carolina this year. Noticeably more vocal than
other games. I thought the crowd was good not great on Sunday.
I am a lifelong Giant fan, I am 44, scream and yell throughout the game.
The guys I go with are 44, 41, and 24. We go to have fun and we do.
We never leave until it is over. People behind us are mid 60s and leave at halftime.
We could use some new blood.
What we really could use are coaches and players who know the stadium and
can play to its conditions. Oh well.