THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512280134
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: Jeff Zeigler
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The year 1995 proved more than any other to date that the main motivating factor in professional sports is money - not the game.
It began with the end of the National Hockey League strike. Of course, the strike was settled; the NHL could not exist if it missed a complete season. But because of the strike, hockey fans were forced to watch a pseudo-season and pseudo-Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Before the Stanley Cup fiasco, Major League Baseball finally settled its labor strike in April, only after owners threatened to play the season with replacement players. Perhaps the threat of Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak coming to an end may have spared us ``replacement ball.''
This year, the NBA added teams in Toronto and Vancouver, even though existing franchises in Minnesota, Dallas, Los Angeles (the Clippers), and Philadelphia already can't compete with the rest of the league.
More money was pumped into the league while the product suffers. Gee, I'd like to spend $50 to sit courtside and watch the New Jersey Nets play the Vancouver Grizzlies.
This fall, the Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis, the Los Angeles Raiders moved back to Oakland, and Art Modell decided to move one of the most loved NFL franchises, the Cleveland Browns, to Baltimore. These moves were all made with money in mind, not the loyal fans. It's hard to believe that an NFL franchise could not survive in Los Angeles.
A friend of mind asked me, ``If you were an owner and you could get a sweeter deal in another city, wouldn't you move?''
Yes, my friends, that kind of statement proves that major league sports exist for one reason only - the money.
The decline in pro sports was illustrated clearly this past weekend at Giants Stadium. You've probably heard about it and may even have seen the ``lowlights.'' Giants fans, probably finishing off the frustrations of a crummy 5-11 season, bombarded anybody and everybody on the field with snowballs. The game was nearly forfeited for the first time in NFL history.
Now some fans would defend these actions, saying, ``I paid good money for these seats, I can do and say what I want.'' And therein lies the problem: Good money is paid for a product that hasn't improved one bit since players' salaries have skyrocketed and owners have added skyboxes.
The fans are frustrated. What they did in East Rutherford was despicable. But there's no doubt it was caused by high expectations of overpaid players and greedy owners.
It didn't always used to be that way at Giants Stadium. When the stadium first opened in the mid-1970s and for many years after, it had a family atmosphere. Fans held their season tickets for many, many years.
I remember going to a Giants game with a friend in 1976. The ticket price for first-level seats was $8.00. A hot dog was 75 cents. All the people around us knew each other and asked things like ``How's the family doing?''
The only things thrown were footballs out in the parking lot during tailgate parties. The biggest fan protest was ticket burning. And this was when the Giants stunk even worse than they do now.
The fans at Giants Stadium mirror fans in all major league cities - they are frustrated. As if we didn't already know. by CNB