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I want my $40,000 back.


FedEx Nosebleed

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11 years ago next month, I heard from the Redskins ticket office that my name had come off the waiting list, after years in limbo.  Steve Spurrier had just resigned, and the next coach was still unclear. I quickly put down my deposit on seats, and was overjoyed a few weeks later when the team announced that Joe Gibbs -- THE JOE GIBBS! -- would be back as the head coach for my first season.  In the spring of 2004 I was even happier to find out that I'd gotten good 20 yard line upper deck seats right off the list -- no end zone purgatory.  We spent four years in that pair of seats.  I then bit on two years in the club, to get what I really wanted -- four 50 yard line upper deck seats, so that my wife and our then notional future kids could go to Redskins games together until we were old.

   

All told, I figure I've given the team about $40-45,000 in those 11 years, including tickets, parking, concessions, and merchandise.  But after this year I'm done.  I will not renew.  The "true cost of ownership" has been too damned high.  Too many lost Sundays fighting in and out of Fedex Field.  Too many lost games.  Too many curse words in the surrounding seats.  Too many spilled beers.  Too much unhappiness.  Too many transparent efforts by the ticket office to bleed me for every dollar, and to make it clear that they wanted to monetize my fandom in every way possible, without regard for my gameday experience.  While I think they've realized in the last couple of years that they need to improvie the gameday experience, it's lipstick on a pig. Dan Snyder isn't making game day better because he wants to, or because he thinks his formerly best in the NFL fans deserve it, but because it scares him stupid that maybe he killed his golden goose.

 

But for me, enough is enough.  I'm done.  Not another dollar.  I wish I could get those $40,000 back and buy a car, or put a down payment down on a condo in Florida.  But no, I gave them to the Redskins, and I'm now convinced I'm never going to be rewarded for it, either on the field or off the field.

 

/rant off.

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....

All told, I figure I've given the team about $40-45,000 in those 11 years, including tickets, parking, concessions, and merchandise. But after this year I'm

Wow, powerful stuff. Skins fans need to take charge.

Danny may eventually get the message and shift into circus management.

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Don't give them up just yet. Watch what happens in the offseason. If you see signs of Danny meddling again then you know it's gonna be another horrible season. Watch the draft picks and FA signings. If you see that then sell your tickets to the visiting team and hopefully turn FedEx into a home game for the visitors. That would send Dan a strong message, then pool together with other fans who done the same and use the media (billboards, newspaper, tv, Internet) to tell the Danny we are done collectively and stop destroying locker rooms and this team. Most importantly make sure you at least get your money back. That's a win for your pocket, sanity, and possibly the team. Time for fans to show the Danny we are done with the gimmicks and to build a real team or sell it to someone who will and get the hell away.

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Giving up my season tickets was saddening to me.  I had them for three or four years, 2007 through 2009/2010, but had to give them up when my wife and I started having kids, there wasn't room in the budget for them.  In retrospect, the kids are more expensive, but having them saved me from a lot of wasted Sundays.  Now I just go a 1-2 times a year to tailgate with ES folks.  I wish I saw my friends more, but I don't miss the wasted days much.

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I'm currently in the middle of a stadium boycott.  I wouldn't pay for an inferior product at the store nor one that offers me no enjoyment.  Factor in the lines, traffic, and less than friendly attendees, this becomes a no-brainer. 

 

I'm hoping for an 180, but something tells me it is going to get worse before it gets better.

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I've sold off my tix last year and have not gone to a single game at FedEx this year.  I'm done. Traffic, lousy games, bad food, and a HUGE time committment that just ends in heartbreak.

 

I TiVo the games now and watch them by skipping from play to play. No commercials, no halftime mumbo jumbo. Takes me about 45 mins to watch each game. I even go back and watch formations and reads on some plays so I can learn more about how the game is played.  Love it. 

 

The team still sux, but at least I'm in control of my wallet and my time while they lose.

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I feel you man, although I moved to Germany in July this year. I bought a subscription through NFL.com for 130 (Euro) I get to stay up in the middle of the night for some games to be tormented.

 

I have countless jerseys, literally. So many items autographed and thousands of dollars worth of socks, shirts, etc.

 

I, too, am done spending anything to include clicking on our site.

 

Unfortunately, I am clicking on this site still :wacko:

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About ten years ago I finally got a call that I could get season tickets.  Then I took a job in California.  I thought about still buying the tickets and flying back for half the games and selling the rest of the games I could not make.   I was ready to pull the trigger.  I told my girl friend and she said "you are nuts"!  So I thought about it some more and did not buy them.  I was worried that I would not be able to see their games on tv as much while being on the Left Coast.   But I went to the games when the Skins played the 49ers and I bought the Red Zone tv package from Comcast.  Now I am back on the East Coast and I can see all the games on tv and the pre-game and post game shows.

 

I spent a lot of money going to the games in the 80's and 90's at RFK and also went to their Super Bowls.

I wish more fans would realize that Snyder views his ownership of the Redskins as an entertainment property.

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I want to play contrarian here.  I feel the pain and disgust, but stop whining.  You made the choice and paid the investment.  Hopefully, you had good times with your friends tailgating and enjoyed the good times rare as they were.  The non stop fan "woe is me" is almost as tiresome as the inept line, quarterback, and defensive play (though surprisingly Haslett and the D did a very nice job yesterday despite being to the point where they were pulling people out of the stands to play corner)

 

I mean really Hall, Amerson, Porter, Biggers, and Clark all out at some point yesterday and they held the 49ers receivers to nothing effectively.  Their running game didn't do much either.  This failure all lay on RGIII and the line's back (though they really did open up some nice holes for Morris finally)

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Me and my friends gave up our seats RGIII's rookie year, bad timing on our part, but there were other things going on in our lives that influenced the decision.  However, we all had the same feeling.  Coming from RIC, we would leave my house at 7AM.  The best part of the day was the ride up with all the camaraderie, the tailgate for obvious reasons but when it came to the game and the experience in the stadium?  Not memorable, maybe not even enjoyable.  The ride home down 301 after yet another disheartening loss just made it too much to bear.  Pulling into the house around 8PM, another Sunday invested in the love and loyalty for a team that has not paid consistent dividends in an awfully long time.

 

Like many fans on this board, we stay loyal.  We gather to watch but not with the fervor we once did and we certainly don't plan a trip to a game like we used to before we had season tickets. 

 

I think the method MTH and some others posted about and others getting tickets on the secondary market to leave at halftime to get beverages and food and then use the ticket to get back in and then go back to their original seats is a stroke of genius.  At the cost of a beer or a Johnny Rocket's burger, you can head back to the car and drink beer with a born on date from this year and not get gouged at the concession stand. 

 

I only hope if and when its starts hitting ownership's pockets hard enough, a real change will be made to point this organization in the right direction.  It has been a rudderless ship for too long.  While I hopped on board and agreed Bruce Allen was a step in the right direction, he seems to be too busy controlling PR fires.  Please hire a true GM who is focused on the right things, like personnel evaluation.

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Without discussion but listening to the passion that BMitch spoke with last week, Mr. Am-Welshskin has said the season tickets are done.  In fact so done that he's sending them back to the organization with a letter stating that these are not to be redistributed, especially to the troops.  Troops give their all, troops are molded to fight to the last moment - and he should know, Mr. Am-Welshskin is a 21 year veteran and he is emphatic that our military members deserve better than the rubbish that is being served to us at FedEx Field. 

 

We will still probably attend a couple of games at FedEx field, but will now buy on the aftermarket - and still travel to an away game in the warm at sometime during the season.  But we have to vote with our wallets...  as the previous poster said - you would not buy any other product that was not performing well.

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I'm considering giving up my seats as well and I started going when Gibbs came back also. I definitely haven't paid 40k, maybe half that.

 

If I'd stuck to two tickets in the upper deck then yeah, it'd be about half that.  But the time in the club and shifting to four seats put a huge dent in the checkbook.

 

 

sell your tickets to the visiting team and hopefully turn FedEx into a home game for the visitors. 

 

If I thought I could get back even 50% of my investment on the secondary market I might consider renewing if the team does the right things in the off season, but I literally could not give my Titans tickets away this season and have donated others back to the team.  When $93 seats (inclusive of tax) are selling for $35 on stubhub (inclusive of their fees and comissions), it actually makes more financial sense to donate them back to the team for the tax write off.  And in doing that the team wins twice.  No thanks.

 

 

I cannot figure out why people buy season Club Level Tickets.

 

We signed a two year contract to get significantly upgraded general admission seats at the end of the two years.  We viewed it like paying a two year PSL against the seats we'd keep "forever."  Ha ha.

 

 

I want to play contrarian here.  I feel the pain and disgust, but stop whining.  You made the choice and paid the investment.  Hopefully, you had good times with your friends tailgating and enjoyed the good times rare as they were.  

 

Yeah, I'm sorry for the whine, but I felt like I had to get this off my chest as five years ago I'd have said it was impossible I'd ever give up my tickets.  I did make the choice, and I did pay the investment, and I did have some fun along the way.  I don't actually expect any money back.  The point of my rant is that I'm now done making the financial investment.  The bridge is burned.  I'll still consider myself a fan (for life), and I'll still watch the games from my living room, but I'm done paying for the product I've been fed for too long.  

My only regret is renewing for the current season, as I knew better at the time I did it.  I won't make the same mistake again.
 

While I hopped on board and agreed Bruce Allen was a step in the right direction, he seems to be too busy controlling PR fires.  Please hire a true GM who is focused on the right things, like personnel evaluation.

 

I agree with this completely.  Hire a person with demonstrated talent evaluation skills, and then let them do their job, without meddling from the owner's box.

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A different point of view.... I went to three games this year (Houston, Arizona, Dallas). We suck bad again this year and I spent quite a bit of money on those trips/games, but I do not consider it wasted one bit. The reason? I have never, and will never, believe the Redskins "owe" me anything for my investment other than actually showing up to play the game.

I understand when I buy tickets that I'm entering into an agreement where the team I root for might get trounced. I might spend a huge amount of money, fight traffic, long lines, etc and then the game might be over at the end of the first quarter. I accept that. So I try to plan ahead and make sure I enjoy the time surrounding the game (Friday and Saturday before, tailgate, etc). Even when I'm 99% certain we will lose I try to "lose myself" for a bit in the excitement pregame that we might not. It gets me by.

Now, I don't begrudge ANYONE who is walking away because they don't feel it's worth it anymore. If you think you're getting ripped off then I fully support your decision to bail and I dont think it makes you any less of a fan at all.

But I have a lot of really, really good memories from some really, really bad games. I personally will continue to attend because I am still getting a value out of the experience.

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Agreed, there are better teams in DC to support. The only way this horrible organization is going to change is by us fans not feeding it with our time and money. 

If this is the type of product we are going to get year in and out then turn the channel to CSN on weeknights at 7 pm and keep it there to watch some Wizards basketball, they are number #2 in the east, playing well, and have a young developing core. Any attention towards the Redskins should be relegated to checking the score on your NFL app every 15 minutes or so. I envy the older fans that can remember the competence, 95% of what I've known is 3-13 to 6-10 and a circus show in-between. 

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