"It's been getting worse;" Fans react to apparent increase in fighting at SoFi Stadium
An apparent increase in violence at NFL stadiums has many fans on edge, especially after a number of fights were captured on camera during the Monday Night Football game at SoFi Stadium.
While the Dallas Cowboys laid the beating on the Los Angeles Chargers in a hard fought game, resulting in a 20-17 win, fists were flying in the stands, leaving many fed up with the increase in brawling seen across the league.
"Everything was so chaotic," said Eric Macedo. "It was like one fight here, one fight here."
Macedo was leaving the game when he saw fans from both sides begin to argue. Seconds later, that argument had escalated into multiple fights that involved nearly a dozen people.
"As soon as one person jumped in, another person tried to stop the fight then they end up getting hit, and so that brings more people involved," Macedo recalled.
Sections above, Kevin Walsh was witnessing a different brawl in the 500 Level, where a Bolts fan was sucker punched after getting into a verbal exchange with two Cowboys fans.
"Clobbered him right in the side of the face," Walsh said. "Him and his partner stumbled two or three rows and it was honestly horrific for me to see."
These two incidents are among the many that have been caught on camera at SoFi Stadium this season, despite a recent poll from The Athletic that ranked it as the No. 2 safest amongst all 30 being used by NFL teams.
Related: Brawl Breaks Out At SoFi Stadium's First Game Allowing Fans
However, violent occasions have often been reported at the league's newest stadium.
Last year, jarring video showed one man being thrown over the railing of a pedestrian concourse onto the cement below. Just months before that, Daniel Luna, a visiting San Francisco 49ers fan, was placed into an induced coma after he was hit by another fan in the parking garage.
"It's been getting worse every, almost every game to be honest," Macedo, a season ticket holder with the Chargers, said.
Walsh says that the problem isn't confined within the walls of SoFi, but is rather a much larger issue for the National Football League itself. As a football content creator on social media, who has visited dozens of stadiums around the country, he says they're an increasing issue, referencing the tragedy that occurred at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachussetts last month, when a New England Patriots fan was killed after an apparent scuffle.
"There definitely has to be something to be done to make situations like that be more punishing," Walsh said. "You shouldn't take it that far ever."
Both men agree, security appeared to be lacking at least at Monday's game, and that drinking most likely has a large factor in the more frequent violence.
Related: Man thrown over side of bridge at SoFi Stadium speaks out
SoFi Stadium's website lists a policy that discloses any fan who engages in fighting or intimidating other people, they can be thrown out of the stadium or arrested. Inglewood Police Department, however, did not report any arrests coming from the brawls on Monday.
Upon request from KCAL News, SoFi Stadium had not yet issued a stadium regarding the incidents.
