hail2skins

Rightly or wrongly, aren't a good number of people in the Nats thread also calling for Matt's head?

Mark, think its just a fancy way of saying sidelines.....to my knowledge there are no restrictions to accessing the club concourse if you are sitting anywhere on the club level.

After Bang's post, I'm picturing Larry M describing going into a stall right after Pot Roast came out....dude, your humor is too sick! I don't mind Andy post game or on MMQB (think Galdi is a bit too bland on postgame) but that's about the only time I care to hear Pollin on 980.

They're actually doing a MMQB after a preseason game??

Earlier this summer they told me $2400 per seat for 327 (compared to their $4100 "going rate"), and if you bought parking and added taxes it was going to be almost $6K for two seats, which was about what they wanted me to pay to renew my contract back in '09 (I didn't). Wasn't interested enough to ask about any further discounts for multi-year contracts. You think they'd go as low as $2000 for multi-year clubs near the 50? I guess the Skins are saying the "going rate" for those is over $6000 per seat/season. Man, I remember talking to a dude before the Jacksonville game last year and he said he was paying somewhere close to $400 per game for the 50, and then I come home and read that the Skins were giving away club seats to upper level patrons

What the Skins will claim as far as the price goes is that normally the seats they are offering for $2K go for $4K, so they say they're giving them to you at around a 50 percent discount. But you can probably talk them into purple parking, and I also think they're willing to just do one-year contracts, vice the multi-year ones in the past. Did anyone check out Steinberg's blog post about how Ross Tucker was pestered before his second season (2002) by the Skins to purchase a luxury box? Good times! http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/07/22/the-redskins-once-tried-to-rent-a-luxury-box-to-a-second-year-offensive-lineman/

I agree that the stadium looks horrible right now. But, as S&S alludes to in his post below yours.....and I have no evidence on this.....but I think folks for the most part would probably prefer to sit in the "cave" than in most parts of the upper 400s, unless the view from the seat is extremely obstructed.

IIRC, a press guide from the early days of FedEx Field (JKC Stadium) listed the upper deck as having 33K seats. I think MarkB's assessment of no more than 15K seats remaining in the UL is accurate. Coupled with the seats removed from the club level, and yeah, at least 20K total are gone from the place. Maybe they should get rid of the top half of the overpriced club level as well.

I used to be a club seat holder thru 2008 and got a card from the Skins today enticing me to rejoin. The card mentioned complimentary access to the "Premium Kickoff Club" catered pregame buffet, as well as mentioned that the MGM National Harbor Club (which is in the space in the club level formally occupied by the cigar bar) will be a full-service restaurant (last year I think they only served nachos). By the time I got home, the office was closed and thus don't know how much they're starting club seats at these days.

The club level space that was formerly occupied by the cigar bar was sponsored by MGM last year.

You can look at it the other way, though, looking at some of the responses to the post which questioned why folks would buy STs......some seem almost defensive in nature, as in "maybe the guy does have a point." Now whether its appropriate for someone to interject that opinion into a thread primarily dedicated to upgrades, etc is another debate. I do feel like some season ticket-holding base is necessary; otherwise, the Washington area would likely cease to have an NFL team. I also can understand those that have some of the best seats in the house (200 level) would be reluctant to part with them. And nobody should be telling anyone else what to do with their own money. Finally, its a shame that we haven't seen a period of sustained success since we moved to FedEx......such a period might serve as a more accurate barometer for where prices should be. As it stands now, the Skins have been really bad, and that (combined with the increasingly better home-viewing experience and secondary market sites like Stubhub) has led us to where we are now, with tickets to games being had for very cheap. I just think it sucks for STHs (not only for the Skins, but for the rest of the league) to have to pay full freight for the preseason games. If you're in the lower level, you've already down $600 (for 2 seats and parking) before a meaningful game has been played. I was a club-seat holder for 10 years, and was able to lock in a decent price for the duration of the contract. When it came time to renew, the best the Skins could do was double the price I'd been paying. No thank you. And then to see that the team was giving away those seats last year......sheesh!

Perks and benefits like what? I had club seats through the Redskins for 10 years and while I agree that the sightlines are the best in the stadium and the concourse is nice, the only perk I received was the right to purchase my seats for other events. And club seats through the Redskins aren't cheap......other than the ones they gave away to people in the upper deck last year. Having to pay for those two preseason games kills the value of season tickets. They really need to make those games half-price at least. I do understand STHs who sit in the non-obstructed 200s would probably be reluctant to part with their seats, because those are some of the few choice seats in the place.

I remember asking STHs on this board a few years ago about the number of people in their section who are there game-after-game and it seemed like the ones who answered indicated they saw a lot of different folks from week-to-week. I'm sure there are still a fair number of folks who attend every game, but the camaderie of a large number of the same folks there every Sunday probably isn't what it was like in the past.

My sample size is limited, but from 1997-2000 I sat in the LL sidelines pretty regularly and rarely had to stand. After that I've pretty much been in the club level, but the few times I've been in the LL, its been stand the entire game. Not sure what other phenomena besides Dan's dream seats has contributed to this.

Game 6s so far in this playoffs where home team has a chance to send the series to a 7th game: April 30: Bulls 120 at Bucks 66 May 1: Hawks 111 at Nets 87 May 14: Cavs 94 at Bulls 73 Absolutely need the Wiz to win tomorrow and not lay down like the home team did in those games.

I bet they just leave the space as is unused. They could always open it back up for a big event (concert or playoff game) in what is FedEx's limited life now.

Think they are eliminating the club level SROs in order to mitigate crowding in the club level concourse, which folks were apparently complaining about. The upper level party decks should still exist.

Steinberg today had a good blog post recapping the fan forum. Also had a separate post indicating that Bruce said that the new stadium will be more intimate (read: lower capacity) than FedEx. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/04/16/fans-pepper-redskins-officials-with-comments-during-productive-forum/

Weird. How is that going to play? Bad enough that folks have to pay for these garbage games, but then they'll have to take a big chunk of the day off work to go......... But I do remember back in '99 going to a Ravens-Giants preseason game on a Friday at noon in Baltimore, and then driving down to FedEx to see the Skins play a preseason game.

Thanks for the rundown Tshile. Happy to hear the complaints about the dream seats.......I would think their presence has diminished the game experience for a lot of lower bowl fans.

Tshile, please give us a rundown of the discussion after the forum ends......thanks in advance!

Yeah RFKFedEx I remember you mentioning in the past that they handle the parking pretty well at the Meadowlands. Don't they also have public transportation pretty close by there as well? I noticed one of the items in Bruce's letter asked about suggestions for interactive experiences. The stadium had a good area when it first opened where people could kick field goals, put on sumo suits, and run an obstacle course. It was a lot of fun to even just watch people do the stuff, but it didn't last long after Snyder got here, although I'm not sure exactly where the area was and what is there now.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this. But just to clarify......I'm not talking about leaving one's house an hour before kickoff. I'm talking about pulling off of Central Avenue onto Morgan Blvd regularly at 11:45 and still having to circle around the lot to find a spot. I've always wound up eventually finding a place to park......I just think it seems more difficult than it needs to be.

DC Sports Bog published a recent letter today that mentioned this and also other things they are considering, including steps to perhaps improve the parking experience to better accomodate tailgaters and non-tailgaters. I've often thought the media blows the amount of time it takes to get to the stadium out of proportion, but I do find it ridiculous that someone who arrives in the parking areas an hour before game time has to spend too much additional time circling around because of people who take up multiple spots with their chairs/grills/games, etc. Also agree that getting rid of the club level party decks is a good idea, but the free club upgrades to folks in the upper deck last season didn't help the issue either. Oh, according to the letter, the fan forum is going to be on April 8th. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/03/14/redskins-promise-fedex-field-upgrades-in-contrite-letter-to-season-ticket-holders/

If they did the same thing next year that they did last year, you might be able to sit in the club level at no extra cost, as long as you show up early enough and run into the suits in the upper level handing out free club seats.