[garyreasons]

why is it that raiders home games are blacked out more often than not in their home market (about 60% of their home games since 1995)? the raiders seem to have one of the biggest and most rabid fanbases in all of the four major sports, and they certainly have a national following. so why can't they consistently fill their stadium to avoid local blackouts of their home games? it just doesn't make sense to me.

obviously the bay area is a large and wealthy market, and i know for a fact that some of their fans drive from hours away (southern california, extreme northern california, etc) to attend raider home games. you'd think every game would be completely sold out and that there would be a waiting list for season tickets, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

hopefully the raiders fans out there and/or bay area residents can shed some light on this matter.

[NASCAR Gnome]

I've lived in the SF Bay Area for over 20 years and I was here when the Raiders was here, after they split for LA and now that they're back. I'm a Forty Niners fan so there's absolutely no love lost for the Raider fans but I do have friends who are big-time Raider fans so I get to hear them bellyache every time the local games are blacked out!

The reason why they can't fill the Oakland Coliseum is simple: thuggery. Many Raider fans I know won't go to the games because they can't stand being around the rowdy fans who do nothing but curse all game long! Several of my buddies who have children have avoided that place like the plague because as much as they want their kids to continue the tradition, the thought of exposing their kids, wives, moms, etc., to the barbaric nature of the Oakland fans have them really disgusted. And these are the FANS I'm talking about!

Another portion of filling a stadium - aside from having a good product, which is something the Raiders haven't had for a while - is selling 8,000 to 15,000 extra visitor seats! If you have a stadium that sits 70-80 thousand and you need a certain percentage sold in order to be broadcast on Sunday, I'm no expert but I think that if you can encourage visiting team fans to come in and watch the game live, you can help bolster that percentage! I've been to many Forty Niners games and every time I've gone, I'll see fans from the visiting teams tailgating and mixing with the local fans, no problem. Friendly banter, sure but assaults and threats of physical harm? Not that I've seen.

Finally, the Oakland Coliseum is located in an area of Oakland that is probably better off avoided. Candlestick park - where the Niners play also sucks in terms of location - but it doesn't have nearly the kind of neighborhood that the Coliseum does! The SF Giants built this great stadium in a portion of San Francisco that has a lot of restaurants, easy transportation and is generally a safe area to wander about to sightsee... if you do that outside where the Coliseum is located, you are likely going to get mugged or killed or both! No kidding...

Oh, and I almost forgot... welcome to the board!

[garyreasons]

thanks for the detailed response. it all makes sense now, but still, it's a shame that they don't sell out with the size of their fan base. that franchise is just a mess right now.

as far as you know, was there ever a period in their history when they sold out regularly? perhaps in the early '70s? or has the combination of thuggish fans and a bad location scared off both home and visiting fans since the very beginning of the franchise?

[garyreasons]

slightly off-topic, but since you live in the bay area and have a better sense of what's going on with the local teams, what are your thoughts on the niners' and raiders' stadium issues? do you think the niners are really going to move to the santa clara area? what's going to happen to the raiders? do you think they ultimately move out of the area again, or do they get a new local stadium of their own? do you think their situation gets resolved only after al davis is no longer owner (for instance, if he passes away in the next few years)?

[Seahawker 562]

Yeah ur right on. I have some friedns who are raiders fans, but they are afraid of going becuase of the area and fans. And thats a reason not a lot of visitng teams fans come either