Respect For Life | Leads To Loyalty

Trojan Fans have been like many successful fan bases. They are fiercely loyal. They respect their team and program against all foes and media pundits. They desire loyalty back from the program and today this is being challenged with the renovation plans being shown for their beloved Los Angeles Coliseum. The general Los Angeles area is a major challenge for fans trying to commit to their teams live week in and week out during the season. One could argue that the spring season is becoming a must be there event as well.

From the traffic headaches to the cost of parking supporting the Trojans is a job. But for those loyal and to all who love this program it is never considered a burden. But this year and in the light of a much needed renovation of the Coliseum there is a divide as wide as any we have seen for close to six decades (my time with the Trojans). I was born in to the USC Life. My father was a diehard fan of the Trojans. His brother served our country in the Air Force but ultimately broke family rank and went UCLA when he exited the military life. Free country. We had some fun over the years. The games were more than just a game. It was family versus family and we had a great time. Unless you lost and then it took a year to shake that dirt off your back. For the Trojans we had two of these per year. UCLA and Notre Dame. Pick one and there are many stories.

When I think about Respect For Life I believe the constant give and take that the program shows its loyal fans is important but just look at the NFL Raiders for a moment. Best fans on the planet regardless of sport. They just are. They are loyal. They show up. They follow their team on the road. They will follow them when they arrive in Las Vegas. If you had to pick a city to move the Raiders to and continue to attract the faithful Las Vegas was a great choice. The fans are pissed but they never give up on their heroes nor this franchise they so cherish. This is the true meaning of Loyalty. Respect for Life means respect for ever. The Raider Brand has this.

The Trojans fans are not the best at showing up. Right now there are many receiving the bad news that their beloved seats that they have owned and managed for decades (in some cases) are going to be moved. To top it off they don’t even know where they will move but the cost is going up considerably. Just the way it is according to progress. The program managers look at the statistics and in a sad way their reduction in size to 77,000 seats is justified. The fans who do follow and commit their loyalty are simply not big enough in numbers to warrant more seats. This number may be hard to achieve at 77K.

But even with all of this on both sides there is still a better way. By coming together they can achieve a much better design and model. They can preserve many of the seat sight lines and hopefully lower the field and bring both end zones in to play. Move the fans closer to the field. Whether or not they choose to keep the big monstrosity on the south side of the field is anyones guess but given they are apparently sold-out I’d say its done. Move on.

We have one of our best teams aligning for 2017. The kids and staff are not the problem so lets show them our deepest support and whether local or away lets travel and support.

Fight On

#Raiders #Respect #Respectforlife #USCLoyalty