Paper Bags: College Football Fans' New Protest Tool

A growing trend in college football sees fans using paper bags, often decorated with frowns or messages like "We Suck!", to protest their team's poor performance. This method, which originated with the 1980 New Orleans Saints, allows fans to express discontent without leaving their seats, especially when they have already paid for tickets. Several fan bases, including those at Maryland, TCU, Arkansas, and NC State, have adopted this tactic this season.

The paper bag protest serves as a visible indicator of a fan base's frustration, particularly as the financial demands on college football supporters continue to rise. Fans are investing more in tickets, parking, and concessions, and increasingly, in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) donations. This protest method is a low-cost, 10-cent way to communicate dissatisfaction, differentiating itself from more elaborate fan displays.

While some dismiss it as a minor expression, the paper bag has proven to be a more enduring phenomenon than previous trends like the "tarps off" movement. The visibility of these protests, often captured by television cameras, ensures that team dissatisfaction is communicated nationally. Teams like TCU, despite recent national championship appearances, are facing this fan discontent due to early-season struggles.

Fans are using these bags in games as early as September and continuing into October. The act of wearing a paper bag is a direct message to athletic departments and coaches that fan patience is wearing thin. It represents a collective sit-in of sorts, where fans attend games but use the bags to convey embarrassment over their team's performance.