When the Ravens moved to Baltimore (Maryland born residents).

[Laxdad24]

Baltimore football fans have earned the right to have high expectations. Every professional football team we’ve had has won Championships! The Colts. The Stallions ( first and prob only American team to win a Grey Cup) , the Baltimore Stars ( USFL) and now the Ravens (2x).
As much as it pains me ...Baltimore is like Pittsburgh. Beer drinking , Blue Collar , Football City. We embrace our guys like family. Hell they even joke about it in Movies “ Crabcakes and Football...that’s what Maryland does”.

As far as bandwagon goes ...eh...who cares. We can’t all be ride or die. I think our real fan base is one of the best in the league. Just look at this board. Some here defend this team no matter what! It’s Awesome! I don’t always agree but it’s Awesome to have fans like that. Bandwagon or Fair weather fans will come and go. But our base is loyal to a fault! Blee-Dat!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Laxdad24]

Very similar to me. I sporadically could attend Colts games as a young boy, then became a season ticket holder during the Bert Jones era before moving South, then returning to an empty Memorial Stadium. Two years attending most Stallions game (wtf is a "rouge, anyway?). Then bought season tickets in 1996, and never looked back until now. Even though I have fantastic, rain-protected sideline seats, my inclination is to give them up after 25 years of support, due the the Ravens unnecessary foray into matters which are not football related. Most other season ticket holders I know have either already bailed, after London, or are on the same fence as me: leaning towards quitting (live attendance).




and




A part of the problem is that the old Colts fans are dying off or quitting in disgust due to the new NFL's policy of medding in non-football issues. Colts fans who were ravenous Baltimore supporters who identified closely with the players, many of whom worked in Baltimore in off-seasons instead of moving out to income tax-free Nevada and Florida to evade Maryland's high income tax rates.

The millenials and Xers etc have too many other alternatives. Fascination with their cellphones and other distractions And its getting worse. I took my 9 y/o grandson to Redskins club seats last season when these face value $400 seats were going for $21. As soon as it got chilly, young grandson and buddy went into the section of that club lounge to play "Madden" video games for the entire 2nd half.

I don't think that it's a Ravens bandwagon fan problem. It's NFL-wide.

Well said. The younger “fans” don’t see going to the game as a necessity or even that fun. It’s too easy to watch it in Ultra HD at home or on your phone at the gym or whatever. Why spend that ticket $$?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PTORaven]

i don't buy the notion of a "bandwagon fan" for anything. it's just some elitist BS for superfans to look down on others. happens in other stuff like music. all the time people say shit like "i was into them WAAAY before Album X came out..." like they get some "cool points" for "discovering" this band nobody else heard of. anybody who's a Ravens fan is alright by me. don't care when they became one, or how much of their life they devote to it. i'm also not gonna shit on other teams' fan bases and call them bandwagon fans. football is awesome. love watching it. genuinely don't care if there are twice as many Ravens fans as last year and they're awkwardly trying to act like they're bigger fans than they are. the reason they feel insecure in the first place is that fan elitism makes them feel "less than." welcome aboard. go ravens!

[wecoxepa]

I thought Irsay asked for 25 million

oh, yes, that's right. Evenso, in NFL terms, it's a smallish fee. The NFL could have easily brokered it, pitched in some bux, leaned on Jimmy, if necessary, as they did Modell.

The whole NFL history with Baltimore is strange and jaded...

The Colts ordered from above (Rosenbloom?) to beat the spread in the 58 championship

the Don Chandler field goal

the SB III fix and Rosenbloom's subsequent golden parachute to the Rams...taking with him the league's big bux offer to steer the Colts to the "inferior" AFL/AFC (all of this is one sordid affair centered on post-merger TV rights fees for the new AFC and MNF)

mediation (er, meddling) in the Joe Thomas/Ted Marchibroda player mutinee

blocking the Raiders trade with Accorsi for Elway (that was more anti-Al Davis, but both teams were frowned upon)

Bidwell had pen in hand then a last second switch (that worked out well, who could root for the Baltimore Cardinals?...)...but ya know the NFL stepped in...

"underdog" Jax > Baltimore in expansion...although that was probably more simply choosing safe Wayne Weaver after getting the creeps from that Boogie hippie weirdo...not a good image for Baltimore...I think the NFL secretly nudged Boogie partner Glazer to imply that they'd fit him in the league in the future...what do you guys think of the Bombers logo after googling? I like the color scheme although that nick would have been given the hook in a few years...

legal action vs. Speros...followed by destroying him with the Browns and lifting the Stallions logo to rebrand the Broncos... they rub it in and take no prisoners...they still haven't forgiven Trump for the 86 lawsuit (as was mentioned in this thread...messing in anti-Trump affairs, blocking his Bills bid)...nor did they Al Davis...Speros is, indirectly, the reason the Ravens exist today. Revenge, pure and simple.

the "uglification" of the Ravens visual appeal and marketability...

[GOTA]

Last year the Ravens won 14 regular season games which was their most ever. Did the atmosphere change during that time? It sure seemed the same on this board. You had some posting like they were the greatest team of all time and others who vanished until they lost in the playoffs and then came back to say I told you so. Where were all the bandwagon guys? It was the same old stuff.

There are casual fans who get interested when a team is good or its NCAA tournament time or the hockey playoffs. They don't watch game in and game out. Those are the fans sports leagues are always trying to attract. The hard core fans are going to be there anyway. The casual ones need the circumstances to be right before they get involved. In this 9,000 channel age it's going to be harder and harder to attract those fans since they have a lot more options for their entertainment. This what every team in every sport faces. It's not unique to Baltimore and it's going to continue. My 3 kids all watched NFL football for years. The oldest, 17, completely stopped. My middle who is 14 is one of those casual fans who only watches big games. My youngest at 10 watches his Giants every week. None of them watch any other sports at all. I don't even think they know the rules of baseball.

That's the future and it's something every league is going to have to deal with. It's the main reason why the NFL and Networks now embrace fantasy football and unofficially encourage legal betting. They know it's going to take more than just playing the games to keep the new generation of fans interested.

[ERey]

I will most likely not renew my tickets this coming year. I’ve had my PSLs since 2000. Life changes over the years. My son is in travel sports now and he plays on Sundays. I love watching the Ravens play at M&T, but I can’t miss my son’s games. I would like to keep my PSLs for future years, but the problem is it’s hard to even sell the tickets now for games I can’t attend. Right now I don’t see any other option but to dump them.

[wecoxepa]

Right now I don’t see any other option but to dump them.

That's fine by the NFL. The coronahoax is accelerating what they've wanted to be for at least a couple of decades...made for TV only..well, now it's made for streaming (as you watch travel soccer). Like Battlebots and American Gladiators, something like that. Whatever happened to "blackouts"? Your rating pt makes more in advertising/subscriptions than your PSL/ticket money which goes to the G&A (lease, etc) of having to play in front of people.

They are over a huge hump now, the viewers are accustomed to no fans, "home tarpaulins" and they fast-tracked the fake white noise tech. Next might be the 2k fake crowd imaging, but the "home tarpaulins" are doing the trick. Or they can do something digital to provide a home and hearth feel, like the NBA bubble. Unfortunately, the stadios are white elephants, just like the shopping mall, and will never be replaced on this scale in the future. I feel bad for Jerry Jones, he paid for his, the others, meh, just down the taxpayer/bureaucratic drain. Nobody sweats the Olympic stadiums after a week of use.

Look at MLB. They priced families out of the major league stadium for their rating point and planted their "family-friendly" minor league affiliates in the suburbs. Although i have no idea who watches baseball anymore, it's horrible. I digress. A "double dip" as they say...net the hard cash previously spent on MLB attendance for TV-less minor league affiliates. The million dollar question not asked is...uuh duuuh...why not make the major league stadium "family-friendly"?

[Shas]

Baltimore football fans have earned the right to have high expectations. Every professional football team we’ve had has won Championships! The Colts. The Stallions ( first and prob only American team to win a Grey Cup) , the Baltimore Stars ( USFL) and now the Ravens (2x).

It's the answer to a good bar trivia question. What city has won championships in the USFL, CFL and NFL?

As far as bandwagon goes ...eh...who cares. We can’t all be ride or die. I think our real fan base is one of the best in the league. Just look at this board. Some here defend this team no matter what! It’s Awesome! I don’t always agree but it’s Awesome to have fans like that. Bandwagon or Fair weather fans will come and go. But our base is loyal to a fault! Blee-Dat!

To me, bandwagon isn't quite the right label, since it really is more about fans jumping on when the team is making a Super Bowl run. They just tend to disappear quietly, without complaining, other times.

The issue for me is entitlement. When we didn't have a team, we were happy to just get one, and we didn't have expectations for winning.

Once the team succeeds however, expectations build and some fans acquire a sense of entitlement, crying, 'unacceptable' when lofty expectations aren't met.

These aren't fans who jump on and off the bandwagon. They are along for the whole ride, bitching about it 90% of the time.

I'm sure it's true in any city.

[wecoxepa]

It's the answer to a good bar trivia question. What city has won championships in the USFL, CFL and NFL?

What city has won championships in the USFL*, CFL** and NFL?

*The Stars never step foot in Baltimore or it's environs. Trained in Philadelphia, saw Baltimore through the bus windows in transit to/from DC Beltway.

**Although Speros should be on the "Ring of Honor" as the Ravens founding father, the Stallions had the formidable advantage of having no cap on American players. The Canadian teams were stuck with import limits.

[Laxdad24]

What city has won championships in the USFL*, CFL** and NFL?

*The Stars never step foot in Baltimore or it's environs. Trained in Philadelphia, saw Baltimore through the bus windows in transit to/from DC Beltway.

**Although Speros should be on the "Ring of Honor" as the Ravens founding father, the Stallions had the formidable advantage of having no cap on American players. The Canadian teams were stuck with import limits.

With this logic ...Maryland has 2 NFL teams. Since the WTFs play in Largo, MD.

And I doubt they went on 495 to get to BYrd Stadium in College Park.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ERey]

That's fine by the NFL. The coronahoax is accelerating what they've wanted to be for at least a couple of decades...made for TV only..well, now it's made for streaming (as you watch travel soccer). Like Battlebots and American Gladiators, something like that. Whatever happened to "blackouts"? Your rating pt makes more in advertising/subscriptions than your PSL/ticket money which goes to the G&A (lease, etc) of having to play in front of people.

They are over a huge hump now, the viewers are accustomed to no fans, "home tarpaulins" and they fast-tracked the fake white noise tech. Next might be the 2k fake crowd imaging, but the "home tarpaulins" are doing the trick. Or they can do something digital to provide a home and hearth feel, like the NBA bubble. Unfortunately, the stadios are white elephants, just like the shopping mall, and will never be replaced on this scale in the future. I feel bad for Jerry Jones, he paid for his, the others, meh, just down the taxpayer/bureaucratic drain. Nobody sweats the Olympic stadiums after a week of use.

Look at MLB. They priced families out of the major league stadium for their rating point and planted their "family-friendly" minor league affiliates in the suburbs. Although i have no idea who watches baseball anymore, it's horrible. I digress. A "double dip" as they say...net the hard cash previously spent on MLB attendance for TV-less minor league affiliates. The million dollar question not asked is...uuh duuuh...why not make the major league stadium "family-friendly"?

The Ravens just invested millions into the stadium. They aren't trying to chase fans away. On the contrary they are trying to attract fans. So is every other NFL team. smh lol

[stevez51]

When someone mentions bandwagon fans my thoughts go right to Pats n Seahawks. They come out of the woodwork when they are in town. If Jackson had continued on with another remarkable season you’d see more fans jumping on.

I’ve been a season ticket holder since the beginning. I was a Colts one in the 70’s. I saw Unitas play in the mid 60’s. I’ve always been a local sports fan and will always be.

I still have my Colts playoff ticket stub from the Raiders game. $14. for an upper end zone seat.