12.15.19 — The DW Sunday Column: Not the final straw — just another example why it makes no sense to be an Arizona Cardinals season ticket holder
I should have followed my instincts. I should have gone with my gut.
When the Arizona Cardinals won the 2008 National Football Conference championship in Glendale, Arizona at the stadium now known as State Farm Stadium, I was there. I watched as grown men cried in the stands, because the unbelievable became a reality for a Cardinals fan who rarely had anything to cheer about. I didn’t cry, but man what a relief it was to finally watch an Arizona team not choke away the big one.
As a season ticket holder, since the days of Sun Devil Stadium, I did not want to leave the stadium after it was over. I wanted to get close to the confetti that was on the field, long after the players were gone and most of the crowd went away.
Right at that moment, right there, looking down at the 45-yard line, Cardinals side, the mess of confetti on the field, I remember thinking, like it was yesterday….
“This is it. I should cancel my season tickets. It just can’t, it really can’t get any better than this. I mean it’s the freak-in Cardinals. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is my walk off.”
Yep, it was. It sure was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
I did not go with my gut. I did not walk off. I re-newed my season tickets year after year. Watched as prices went up and up. Paid and paid. And yes, there were some great games…some good years…
But as the years have gone by, it has been more and more difficult to go to the games. Yes, for sure because it is a large financial and time investment. But here is the thing:
Many games, a lot of games, way too many games are like the game this past week where the Pittsburgh Steelers came to Glendale and played the Cardinals in a home game. Huh, a home game?
Yep, when you survey the crowd and the crowd noise on TV, it is obvious that there are more Steeler fans than Cardinals fans. This is not unusual. A game against the Seahawks is probably 40–60 (40%=Cardinals fans vs. 60% Seahawks games). Some games, especially in November and December, it maybe goes to 3-–70. The Rams 50–50, especially now that they are in LA…it wasn’t as bad when they were in St. Louis. The 49ers can be 30–70…the Steelers were probably 15–85.
In the past, games that I have attended have been about this ratio: Packers 20–80. Lions 40–60. Cowboys 25–75. Giants 30–70. Patriots 25–75. Vikings 20–80.
It stinks. It really stinks to walk the concourse in your own stadium and hear chants and name calling from fans from the visiting team…and be outnumbered. It stinks to have an obnoxious 49ers fan behind you for an entire game. It stinks to have a Seahawks fan insist to stand up all game and say “this is the way we do it in our house.” (hey, this is not your house!). It stinks to go thru the parking lot and have the same experience as walking the concourse.
It stinks going to the bathroom and having a bunch of opposing fans chanting about their team…and oh, it is the dang bathroom, so it stinks in many more ways than one.
The argument can be made the I am part of the problem lately. I sell my tickets. The past few years I have sold them more than I have gone. This year the ratio hit an all-time low: zero games, sold all of them. Many of the sales were to friends who I knew would root for the Cardinals. But lately, it was just a sale. I am pretty sure my seats are black and gold with Steelers fans as I write this.
I have to ask, though, what came first? Option A: I sold my tickets so there were more visiting fans going to games to make a miserable experience for others, Or, Option B: I stopped going to games that I know will be full of the opponent’s crowd, so I sold my tickets.
Eventually I have found myself going to games against the Buccaneers, Falcons and Panthers ….teams that don’t have much of a road following. Teams that would move the ratio to about 10–90 or better.
This is stupid. Why buy season tickets to sell them? Why buy season tickets to watch Tampa Bay or Atlanta?
Watching the games on TV sure is nice. The less I go to the games, the less I want to go to the games. Which leads to this proclamation:
“I am out.”
Yep, I will not be a season ticket holder next year.
There are so many issues in this world, and this is not one of them. But it just no longer makes sense to be a Cardinals season ticket holder…and be a Cardinals fan.
