The Las Vegas Raiders have a long history of amazing sports fandom that stretches across the world of professional football. Whether it is because of the long-storied history of the franchise or the image of tough, hard-nosed football reflected best by the infamous black hole, the fan base is big and notorious.
Recently, the Heed the Call podcast went about ‘drafting’ the best fan bases across the NFL. Three hosts snake-drafted three rounds of teams. Co-host Marc Sessler picked the Raiders fan base with the 11th overall pick. Sessler didn’t ding the group for its intimidating reputation, but that was his big point of emphasis,
“The Raiders have moved, like, 26 times, all around California. Now that you throw them to Vegas, it’s like nothing changes. Everyone shows up. Now, are they annoying out in the public arena? Correct. We understand that, and you don’t really want to mess with a bunch of Raiders fans. In general, out in the public, it’s not a good idea for you or the people around you, children, and pets. But I will say the Raiders are hard. You don’t have a Raiders fan who just suddenly moved to Tampa and became a Bucs fan. They never change.”
Las Vegas Raiders Named 11th Best NFL Fan Base
Fans of teams would not be begrudged to abandon their team once they move, but to Sessler’s point, the Black Hole has hung steady, despite the erratic nature of where the team plays. Furthermore, the Raiders’ winning record, or lack thereof, has not deterred the die-hard fans. This points out the large truth of sports fandom: no one likes a fair-weather fan.
Sessler finishes his defense of his pick by pointing to the state of professional sports in the Raiders city of origin.
“So I think that’s a good mark of a fan base, whether you like them or you don’t like them. Yeah, I think it’s more for me — The goodness I see in that fanbase is the city of Oakland, the bleaguered Oakland sports fan in general, and just we can never have anything they but they hold on to what was taken from them. I have a lot of respect for them as sports fans.”