Then… there’s SunLife Stadium in Miami. All of the news this week should be positive, despite some struggles by the team in the first half of the convincing win against the Patriots. Jeff Darlington reported that the stadium was the loudest he’s ever heard it in his time as a reporter. Stadium security and a small population of fans (both home AND away fans) seek to remove the very advantage the stadium has sought for so long – the homefield advantage. Fans were asked in numerous areas of the stadium (some confirmed, some alleged) to “sit down” and in some cases even told they were cheering too vigorously. They were told they would be removed from the stadium if they refused. These are not fans that were swearing, not fans who were standing the entire game even when it didn’t make sense, but ones standing on third down and simply getting loud – and for the home team. Yankee Stadium and others even have sections for fans to sit that have a zero alcohol tolerance policy and an even stricter stance on fan actions in that section. Do you know what those fans do on a good play? They stand up and cheer for the team, they chant for the players.
If the fans in the stadium are standing up, swearing, blocking children, being rude, visibly hammered, etc – this I can see. Fans that are sober, standing at the key points that EVERY other team wishes and urges fans to stand up for? No, they should not be asked to sit down at a home game in the scenarios that they were. I wish this was an isolated incident, but I know a number of die hard fans personally who have encountered this same issue at the stadium over the past few years. This is a scenario that the Dolphins, who have a low attendance rating by NFL standards already, need to correct. Situations like this will chase more fans away from the stadium on game day.
