Violence erupted outside Levi’s Stadium on Sunday while the San Francisco 49ers hosted the Las Vegas Raiders. The clashes resulted in 11 arrests and 45 ejections, turning a record-setting game day into a scene of widespread disorder across the parking lots and venue grounds.
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“The Santa Clara Police Department said Monday that 45 fans were ejected from Sunday’s Las Vegas Raiders-San Francisco 49ers game at Levi’s Stadium and that there were 11 arrests during and after the contest,” Matt Barrows of The Athletic reported.
The 11 arrests included seven people being arrested for being intoxicated in public, while four were arrested for fighting in a public place, out of whom one was also suspected of possessing narcotics, according to the police records.
“Incidents of violence at large-scale events in Santa Clara will not be tolerated, Santa Clara police said in a statement, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “The Department strictly enforces the law and holds individuals accountable for criminal conduct. We will seek to arrest the individuals responsible for the fan-on-fan violence at the event.”
Reports suggest the police arrested nine men and two women, with their ages ranging from 28 to 51 years old, at the stadium between 10:57 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. While the public intoxication arrests were conducted throughout the game, which started at 1:25 p.m., the four people arrested for violence were arrested in the evening.
While there was a brawl inside the stadium as well during the game, the worst of the fights happened in the parking lot. There were two social media posts that went viral. One was a video of a brawl in Red Lot 1, which showed two people being left unconscious during a brawl, while the second video showed violence between two men inside the stadium during the game.
“The Santa Clara Police Department is aware of several incidents of fan-on-fan violence that occurred during and after Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium,” police said. “Some of these incidents were caught on camera and posted to individual social media accounts. Public safety staff and security staff responded to all known incidents of fan-on-fan violence.”
Lieutenant Eric Lagergren, who is the spokesperson for the Santa Clara Police Department, spoke on the matter to the San Francisco Chronicle. Lagergren stated that the incidents that were caught on camera and occurred today are “part of an active and ongoing investigation,” and “more details can be released as they become available.”
Police said that they tried to communicate with some of the victims involved in the fights, but they were not “willing to cooperate with police investigations.” The 49ers also released a statement, acknowledging the horrific incident.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for violence at Levi’s Stadium. The Santa Clara Police Department, our security, and guest services teams responded to several incidents throughout Sunday’s game. We are grateful to all personnel for the swift response and dedication to maintaining a safe environment for all fans,” the 49ers stated.
Levi’s Stadium had one of the largest visiting crowds in the game since the stadium opened in 2014, which makes the altitude of the incident more significant, considering it was meant to be a record-breaking game in attendance, but ended up being highlighted for the brawls.
The massive turnout created dense parking lot crowds and placed severe strain on stadium security and local law enforcement trying to monitor tailgating areas.
But this isn’t the first time the two teams have witnessed brawls of greater extent in the past. The deep-rooted “Battle of the Bay” rivalry has generated intense fan friction for decades, driven by geographic proximity and overlapping fan bases across Northern California.
49ers-Raiders game always gets fans heated, with the biggest arrest count being at Levi’s Stadium
What we saw at Levi’s Stadium was unfortunate, with videos circulating all over social media. But don’t mistake it for the only horror incident that has happened at the stadium.
On November 1, 2018, the two teams played each other at Levi’s Stadium, but a horrific turn of events took place as 32 people got arrested that day, mostly for public intoxication. This number is the most ever for an NFL game at the stadium.
A point to note is that the stadium’s vice president of operations and general manager at the time, Jim Mercurio, said that the stadium had cameras that could “see the back number of every seat in the stadium,” explaining how the stadium was well protected by cameras.
But the incident stories don’t end here. Both teams were scheduled to face each other in the 2011 preseason, but the game was suspended after a fight saw two men being shot while another was unconscious at Candlestick Park.
In 2023, two men were stabbed in a brawl that occurred after the 49ers game, with fans who wore the two teams’ jerseys being involved, at a Santa Clara In-N-Out restaurant.
The two teams surely have a heated rivalry, but the intensity shown by the fans makes it difficult to handle, with unfortunate incidents taking place. Santa Clara police are continuing to review social media clips to identify suspects, while stadium officials face growing pressure to re-evaluate tailgate security protocols for high-risk matchups.