Monday, September 10, 2012

NFL Fans To Pay For Unruly Behavior

This time of year is always an extremely exciting time for NFL fans, the start of the regular season. Fans around the league have hope that this may be the year for their team to make a Super Bowl run. With all the excitement comes a competitive spirit. The competitive spirit can often be mishandled and turn into an issue at NFL stadiums across the country. Last season about 7,000 fans got ejected from stadiums.


The National Football League has taken action for this season to help further make NFL fans aware of the importance of safety in the stands. If a fan is ejected from a game this year, they will be required to take an online class which will take about four hours to complete. They will also be paying for the class which will cost around $75.

The class was designed by psychotherapist Ari Novick who will receive $55 for every person who takes the test. The rest of the money will go to charities that focus on the dangers of driving under the influence.

Fans who are ejected will get a letter stating that they will need to pay for and partake in the class in order to be welcomed back in the stadium. If fans fail to complete the class, they can be charged with trespassing if they try to go back to a game. It is estimated that about 25% of fans will not complete the test.


Final Thought
The policy of making fans complete a course is not completely new to the league. Some teams have had similar rules in effect for their fans for a few seasons. It is now becoming a league wide initiative to have all teams participate in the program. Unfortunately I do not think this program will have the desired effect. Fans are not going to stop being unruly because of some class that they probably don't know about being held over their heads. The only way to limit unruly fan behavior is to take away a large contributing factor to that behavior, alcohol. Teams will never stop selling alcohol at games because the revenue is far to great for them to see go away. I find this program to be a nice way for the league to show they "care" about fan safety and behavior, but this program will have no effect on the way fans act at games.

 @dmrosen7

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