Most people watch two fans get knocked out cold in a parking lot and wonder what on earth is wrong with everybody. Maxx Crosby watched the same videos and basically thought, yeah, that tracks.
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The Raiders edge rusher reacted on The Rush podcast to the viral 49ers-Raiders fan brawls at Levi’s Stadium, which ended with 11 arrests and 45 ejections after San Francisco’s 38-17 win.
“Everyone’s seen the videos going viral. We don’t have to comment too much on that, but I mean, the amount of brawls going on in the parking lot, the passion is real, to say the least. And I was not surprised at all once all those videos started going viral. I’m like, ‘Oh my god.’ But that’s how it was in Oakland, and that’s a real war,” Crosby said.
So why the calm? Because for Crosby, who was a rookie on the Raiders’ final Oakland team in 2019, this is not a shock; it is a throwback. He even laughed while saying it, though that was no endorsement of the violence.
His co-host, Brogan Roback, joked that this is exactly why the NFL moved the Raiders out of Oakland, and Crosby simply agreed.
In other words, he was not defending anyone. He was describing a game-day culture he clearly knows well.
In August 2011, a preseason game at Candlestick Park ended with two shootings in the parking lot and a fan beaten unconscious in a bathroom. Owner Jed York canceled the annual exhibition, and reporting at the time tied some of the violence between the fan bases to gangs.
Even then, 49ers running back Frank Gore put it plainly.
“It’s only a football game. It’s not that serious.”
That was Gore in 2011. Seven years later, the Raiders’ last regular-season trip to Levi’s brought 32 arrests, three of them for assault. In 2023, two people were stabbed at an In-N-Out after a 49ers preseason game against the Chargers, with fans in both teams’ jerseys involved.
Which brings us back to Sunday. Inside the stadium, a clip of two fans trading punches before tumbling down a section of seats pulled in over three million views.
The 49ers could see it from the field. Defensive lineman Keion White said afterward that players noticed.
“We were seeing people fight in the stands.”
Santa Clara police said four of the arrests were tied to fighting, that violence at large events will not be tolerated, and that some victims were unwilling to cooperate with investigators. The 49ers announced a zero-tolerance policy for violence at Levi’s Stadium, and police asked witnesses to come forward as the investigation continues.
The arrest count was a fraction of 2018’s, yet the videos still sparked outrage. That should worry everybody, not just Raiders fans.
Even 49ers tackle Trent Williams sensed something different in the building. He said the Raiders’ fans had clearly not moved on.
“Obviously, the fan engagement with this game is nuts, it’s through the roof. Since they’ve been in Vegas so long, we don’t really feel it. But obviously the fans haven’t forgotten.”
The teams have met only 16 times since 1970 and never in the playoffs, and the Raiders left Oakland after 2019. The Battle of the Bay crossed state lines, but the bad blood clearly never got the memo.
Las Vegas, now 4-5, hosts Seattle next. Crosby’s shrug says plenty about how normal this once felt. Passion is great, but when a parking-lot knockout does not shock a veteran, who is the rivalry really protecting?