Is there a waiting list left?

[FedEx Nosebleed]

A post in one of the dropping-my-tickets threads suggested that the team hasn't hit rock bottom yet, as anyone who gives up their seats this off season will simply be replaced by mythical interest on "the waiting list."  

 

I'm skeptical, but prepared to be shown that I'm wrong.  To the extent any such people still exist, you have to think that some number of them probably visit this site, as continuing to wait on this team demonstrates a genuinely commendable level of fandom.

 

Very curious to see how these results shake out, so if you have any RECENT experience on the waiting list, please vote. 

 

 

[MattFancy]

I signed up for the waiting list in April 2012. Was offered GA tickets in April 2014. I thought the waiting list was like 5+ years long?

[3200fps]

I feel the waiting list is pure marketing and not real.

[hiswadeness]

I was on it for about a year or 2. That was 3 years ago. I just won't use my hard earned $ to buy a garbage product.

[Birdlives]

There hasn't been a waiting list for a long time. It's a complete myth.

[E33Green]

I had a conversation with a friend of mine that used to work in the ticket office a few years ago and still keeps in touch with his former colleagues.

 

You can call the ticket office today and purchase 2015 upper level season tickets and they will not give you any "wait list" BS. You won't be able to get row A on the 50 yard line but I bet there are some decent pairs available.

 

You can also call and purchase club level season tickets for 2015. The club seats are extremely overpriced and the team has struggled to sell them ever since the stadium opened, hence the ridiculous "2 club season tickets for the price of 1"deals they have been know to offer and the club level relocation passes they were able to offer to upper level seat holders this year.

 

You cannot call and immediately purchase lower level season tickets for 2015 unless you join the "Touchdown Club": http://files.redskins.com/tickets/touchdownclub/

 

There is still a pretty high demand for lower level season tickets to the Redskins. It is tough to move to the lower bowl without spending years in upper level or signing a 2 year club contract with a guaranteed move to the lower level on your 3rd year (for example).

 

No idea about suites, but I imagine if you called the Skins and told them you had $300k to spend on a luxury box for 2015, they would have something for you.

[BootzJackson]

They were selling upper level tickets at the stadium ticket office yesterday, this whole wait list is a joke. 

[paloosa]

The waiting list has gone a long time ago even before JKC died. They were at RFK during those years so when they moved into a bigger newer stadium they had more room which they never filled because who wants to buy tickets for the season when they are not winning, they haven't been winning, they don't llok like they will be winning anytime soon and they are over priced. If there was a waiting list then why do you see more seat filled by other teams fans than yours. Take for example Sunday's game when Dallas scored and or took the ball away you heard more cheers than boos cominmg from the stands and you also saw them in the endzone lower levels. So until this team consistently win you will see more opposing team fans in the stand than home team fans.

[FedEx Nosebleed]

It seems like the two of you who have been waiting 2+ and 5+ years ( ), respectively, should call the ticket office directly and ask to buy seats.  For whatever reason lots of folks appear to have gotten seats ahead of you.

[xavmit]

 

You cannot call and immediately purchase lower level season tickets for 2015 unless you join the "Touchdown Club": http://files.redskins.com/tickets/touchdownclub/

 

What about the Tailgate Club/AAA Fanzone packages?  This has been a way to get into the lower level as well.

[pjfootballer]

I signed up over 10 years ago and never got a call. I've moved twice since then, but my email address has remained. Convinced my mom to sign up 6 years ago and after 1 year, they called her.

[RFKFedEx]

My waiting list extends to the Wednesdays before home games when the team dumps their midfield lowers at or below STH's cost.

[chaos]

I'm baffled some on here have waited for so long. I signed up five years ago and they wouldn't leave me alone after a few months.

 

It's either an incredibly brilliant marketing plan to keep the illusion of a waiting list, or it's the result of horrible business administration...

 

I'm going with the latter.

[DaGoonie55]

I signed up in 1998.  Never was contacted.

 

I live on the west coast now, so it's inconsequential, but still.

 

Interesting that some have gotten calls after <1 year.

[balki1867]

I changed email addresses last summer (August 2013) and signed up for the waiting list only because it was the only way I could find to add my email address to get regular emails from the Redskins (team news, etc).  They called me in November and offered me GA tickets for 2014, throwing in the last two 2013 home games for free.

 

If you are on the "waiting list" and have not been contacted by the ticket office, it's almost definitely an error on their part.  You are not waiting for anything.  If you doubt me, call the ticket office and ask them for your waiting list number.

[RFKFedEx]

imo, anybody whose given this org an email address over the past 15 years is on the waiting list, whether they know it or not.

 

Regardless of the reason for why the email address may have been submitted to the team. i.e. buying merch, beach towel give-aways, fake draft day invitations, etc. the address automatically becomes one of the "200,000" names, supposedly waiting.

[Mark The Homer]

The waiting list has gone a long time ago even before JKC died....

 

This is incorrect. 

 

I put my name on the list in 1988.  I was number 15,000 something.  I did not move down much over the next eight years, but the waiting list grew astronomically after talk began about building a new stadium.  I think the list was said to be around 80,000.  And, if each fan buys two seats, that's 160,000 seats to be filled. 

 

RFK had about 55,000 seats, almost all GA.

 

FedExField was built in '96-97 and had about 80,000 seats on opening day, but about 20,000 were premium seats.  Hence, only about 2,500 people moved up on the waiting list in 1997 (assuming each bought two seats), and (as I remember) the first 2,000 had to be PG county residents per an agreement with the county.  So very few fans outside of PG were offered GA seats in 1997.

 

The waiting list was very long at this time.  My name did not come up.  However, I could buy Clubs.  So I bought Clubs.

 

But the list began to drop right away with the 1997 season. 

 

In 1999*, I was offered GAs because my number came up.  I could buy up to four GAs in the upper deck.  I bought two and declined on the other two.  The two I bought were because a friend was willing to buy them. 

 

In 2000* I had a last chance offer for my last two and and I bought them because I was able to successfully sell my club contract after three years and two years remaining. 

 

This is the year Snyder took over.  He took over at the end of July and immediately began installing seats everywhere he could.  He filled aisles, narrowed the player tunnels, etc.  This is one of the very first things he did (he also did away with the word "Redskinettes" as it applied to our cheerleaders).  Hence, I was able to buy seats in row 1 of the upper deck, which was a brand new installed seat. 

 

At the time, the Club was filled with fans who were under contract so no seats were left to sell in the Club.  But Snyder wanted to sell Clubs.  So Snyder blocked off eight (8) club entrance tunnels in the 300 level, paved them over with concrete, and installed seats so that he could sell more Club seats (the team keeps 100% of premium seat revenue).  This caused the Club to become over-crowded and un-club-like, with long lines at concessions and bathrooms.  He also installed the so called dream seats at the field level, re-creating the problem of fans' view of the field being blocked by those standing on the sidelines (JKC purposely built row 1 extra high to solve this problem, but Snyder recreated the problem).  He first installed two rows, but added another row the following year, which was basically at ground level.  Again, these dream seat fans were permitted in the Club pre-game, contributing the the problem of overcrowding in the Club. 

 

Meanwhile, the team began hemorraging waiting list fans due to lack luster play and falling demand. 

 

In 2001, the first of the club seat contracts began to expire, fans balked at the higher prices, and for the first time, Snyder was faced with unsold seats in the club.  This problem grew in 2003 and 2006 when the last of the premium contracts of 1997 expired.  Hence, Snyder began having empty seats in the Club with nobody to sit in them. 

 

In 2004, we got Gibbs and Snyder kicked out the walls of the 200 level on the visiting side.  The infamous OV seats were born.  More seats, but longer lines at concession stand and urinals.  In short, the stadium was not designed to handle the number of fans in the lower level visiting side, just as it was not designed to handle the number of fans in the Club. 

 

At this point the stadium had over 91,000 seats.  

 

It was at about this time that Snyder began taking seats from fans in the lower level.  Most of you remember the Wash Post seats which were taken from the fans as punishment because a Wash Post employee tried to sell them at above cost.  Other seats were taken from fans who paid their invoice late, even if it was a day late (fans paying a little late in the upper deck did not have their seats confiscated).  These seats which were taken were then dubbed "Touchdown Club Seats", that is, more premium seats.  They were removed from the GA listf and added to the premium seat list.  This, of course, reduced the number of GAs, which cleverly helped him slow the hemmoraging of waiting list numbers.

 

At this point, a "war" of sorts began between the Washington Post and the Washington Redskins.  Unfavorable articles began to flow from the paper which contributed to the negative outlook many had of the team.  For those of us arriving early, no more free Sunday papers on game day. 

 

After the disappointing 2004 season, the waiting list numbers began dropping significantly. 

 

This continued for the next five years.  The team did everything they could to promote the waiting list, offering the list to fans who already had seats, and giving away things like a free 2-liter bottle of pepsi just to sign up.   But the waiting list continued to drop.

 

Seeing the problem of a zero waiting list and trying to solve it in advance, Snyder eventually took out a large portion of the upper deck, and the stadium seat numbers fell to about 82,000 or so (not sure of the exact number) which is what we have at this time.  Meanwhile, the waiting list number continued to drop. 

 

Since then, the play has been horrendous, and the most hard-core fans I know are giving up on season tickets.  Repeat:  The most die hard fans I've ever known have given up on what had once been only a dream. 

 

This is unprecedented.

 

I suspect the waiting list will be down to something very close to zero by the end of the coming spring. 

 

 

*edit

[pjfootballer]

I think the capacity is somewhere around 79K now. I could be wrong. I don't think it's over 80K.

[hail2skins]

 

The waiting list was very long at this time.  My name did not come up.  However, I could buy Clubs.  So I bought Clubs.

MTH, I've heard the club level was pretty spartan as far as amenities go when the stadium opened.......no tile and carpet, no fancy chairs, no climate control, etc, just a normal concrete concourse. Is that true? If so, when did they make the upgrades in the club to make it look nice?

[RFKFedEx]

Well documented MTH!

[RFKFedEx]

MTH, I've heard the club level was pretty spartan as far as amenities go when the stadium opened.......no tile and carpet, no fancy chairs, no climate control, etc, just a normal concrete concourse. Is that true? If so, when did they make the upgrades in the club to make it look nice?

This was due only to JKC's hurried construction plan. Stadiums generally take about 22 months to build, but Landover went up in 18. The jolly old man wanted to enjoy his cathedral before he left us, but he fell about 6 months shy. The stadium project was halted roughly a month shy of completion in order for the 1997 regular season to beging, the second week of September. The 300 level seating opened with the rest of the stadium, but the enclosed club concourse wasn't finished until 1998. Imagine the 300 level looking the same as the upper and lower level concourses today. Bare bones, outdoors. That was 1997. Ticket prices weren't reduced or comped as far as I know. STH's were pissed. Not much has changed on that front after 17 years.

[pjfootballer]

Yeah, we're all still waiting for a good team.

[Bantu]

I'm amazed there are still people who will spend actual currency on this garbage. Not a very smart purchase would be putting it lightly.

[Mark The Homer]

I think the capacity is somewhere around 79K now. I could be wrong. I don't think it's over 80K.

 

It's possible.  I haven't seen a capacity number since they took out the upper level.  We could figure it out ourselves if somebody wanted to go to the trouble of counting those missing seats. 

 

MTH, I've heard the club level was pretty spartan as far as amenities go when the stadium opened.......no tile and carpet, no fancy chairs, no climate control, etc, just a normal concrete concourse. Is that true? If so, when did they make the upgrades in the club to make it look nice?

 

Yes, as RFKFedEx says above, the club concourse was open air bare bones concrete.  No heat, no AC, no carpet, no lounges, no tile.  What they did have finished were the four corners.  For example, the cigar bar was finished and was very nice.  But as a club owner, I didn't know better.  I thought that was the way the club was supposed to be.  Nobody promised lounges and carpeting, etc.  When they finished it the following year, it was simply a bonus the way I saw it. 

 

Another big change I forgot to mention above was what was known as the press level.  This was the section above 200 but below 300 on the home side.  This belonged to the press.  But Snyder didn't like his box above the club so he kicked out the press and moved them over to the corner.  He then renovated the press level and turned the area into "owner suites."  He also kicked down a wall that was on the 50 yard line so he could position is seat exactly centered on the 50.  The TV crew was allowed in a small box next to Snyder's, but for the most part, the press were all jammed in the corner.  I remember Sonny complaining on the air about his inability to see plays unfold in the new location.  Snyder then sold more boxes to those who were willing to pay. 

[RFKFedEx]

I'll bet if Snyder had the choice, he'd prefer one story of suites upstairs above the club today level instead of two. And then he could have a full suite concourse in the lower level, ringing the entire field, including the space above the 200 level on the visiting side. No cave or OVs would have been installed in 2004 had those suites been built in 1997, as the original renderings called for. Dozens of suites were removed to make way the loge levels in both endzones. The demand obviously wasn't there, thus the suites were overbuilt by JKC.

 

The owner's club level on the home side is definitely the best part of the stadium for a plush gameday experience, imo. That's about the only thing Dan has done right with that building. I've been lucky to spend one game in there on a radio booth pass.  It was open bar, all you can drink, and the service was actually good. Nothing was overcrowded. The other occasion was on daft day when I snuck in, trying to look like I belonged. I ended up talking with Larry Michael for about 20 mins, and then I played pool.