By Brianna Sheats
With the San Francisco 49ers recent winning season and having played in the Super Bowl this year, “fans” were everywhere.
This is one of the many instances that the 49ers have dealt with fake fans or a bandwagon.
Bandwagons have existed for years, according to Dictionary.com it is a party, cause, movement, etc., that by its mass appeal or strength readily attracts many followers.
It was only three years ago that Levi’s Stadium struggled with selling out games and having multiple empty seats. The 49ers were getting very little support.
According to TicketIQ, a ticket at Levi’s Stadium in 2016 was $223 on average, the cheapest since 2012.
In 2016, the 49ers record was 2-14, the second worst in the NFL behind the Cleveland Browns.
This season the “fans” filled up Levi’s Stadium as the 49ers went on to Super Bowl LIV but eventually fell short against the Kansas City Chiefs.
After San Francisco lost, only a handful of people showed up to their plane landing at the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport to welcome the team back.
One thing my dad always says is, “I’m a 49ers faithful.” After the 49ers won five Super Bowls in the ’80s and ’90s, the team has struggled putting out a team that could compete and have successful seasons.
Candlestick Park has been the home of the 49ers for years, but since the relocation to Santa Clara the sea of red has been absent at Levi’s Stadium.
In prior years, the 49ers bandwagon was present in 2011 when Jim Harbaugh, an exciting coach coming from Stanford University, rejuvenated a dry fanbase.
Two years later the team would make a Super Bowl run eventually losing to the Baltimore Ravens in 2013.
With big wins and heartbreaking losses, fans stuck by the team. With successful seasons comes “fans” that are “ride or die.”
The fanbase for the 49ers has always been dubbed the “49ers Faithful,” or “Niner Empire,” and in recent years people have been saying “Niner Nation.”
The Las Vegas Raiders, formerly from Oakland, calls their fanbase “Raider Nation,” even when the Raiders were in Los Angeles between
1982-94.
The Raiders either placed third or fourth in their division between the 2003-2015 seasons. During this time, Raiders fans seemed to switch up and decided to become 49ers fans. This may be how the name “Niner Nation,” came into the fanbase with fake fans representing the 49ers.
After having back-to-back winning seasons, controversy of former 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem made some fans frustrated and stopped supporting the team. Kaepernick also injured his left shoulder which caused drawbacks in the coming seasons.
Disagreements between 49ers owner Jed York and Harbaugh resulted in Harbaugh leaving the franchise to coach at the University of Michigan. The falling out of the coaching staff and players started another sequence of losing seasons.
The 49ers supporters disappeared once again. Now with the 49ers set for a promising future, the fans are back.
There is nothing wrong with switching up what team you are rooting for, but just don’t say you were a die-hard fan from the get-go and abandon the team when they start losing.
