Survey about FedEx Field

[Rocky21]

Sonny and Sam,

You hurt me to my soul with those go be an Arizona Cardinals fan bull****. C'mon man. Give some crap to a cowpies fan.

I appreciate the break down point for point on my gripes about the game day experience. You're a true fan. Obviously I'm not pissed enough to turn in my season tickets. It's just that I was here the first year Snyder owned the team before he added to the revenue stream in every imaginable way. Things have gotten more considerably more expensive every year and this year tickets got jacked waaaaaay up. We made the playoffs before Snyder starting "putting money back into the team" so I thnk you can win without $35 parking, loud commercials in the stadium, corporate hospitality tents on every inch of ground, people with lots of discretionary funds being put ahead of the hardcore fan base, etc.

HTTR!

[da#1skinsfan]

Someone please put that we need to get the crowd in it more. Especially you lower level losers. When its 3rd down with the game on the line and the D on the field there is NO EXCUSE to be sitting down unless youre in a wheelchair. Dont know how, but lets get it done.

[corsair_joe]

Someone please put that we need to get the crowd in it more. Especially you lower level losers. When its 3rd down with the game on the line and the D on the field there is NO EXCUSE to be sitting down unless youre in a wheelchair. Dont know how, but lets get it done.

:applause:

[Thanos]

I sit in the Club Level and usually get a grilled sausage and soda before the game, and then I'm in my seat from 15 mins before kickoff until the clock hits zero. I don't want Snyder to do anything that would encourage people to sit within the club concourse during the actual game; however, I do think Snyder should make the area more upscale (in terms of layout and food selection) to at least improve the pre- and post-game experience. People shell out a king's ransom to get those tickets, so they should be made to feel like kings when they arrive. For instance, offer an upscale pre-game buffet.

In response to other comments, I find it incredible that there are people actually willing to pay $100 for a parking pass on eBay. Parking is one area where I wish people would boycott Snyder and if able, take Metro and make that hike to the stadium. Paying $35 to park your car is just ridiculous.

As a club section season ticket holder , I agree 100%. I take the hike from the Morgan Blvd station and I'm all set.

[DieHardLady]

For those of us who are fairly local, I still just don't have that horrible of a time on gameday. We don't have parking passes and have never felt the need to pay for them, because getting to the stadium has never been a completely unmanageable nightmare and has improved EXPONENTIALLY since the stadium was first built. Over the years I've tried:

- Parking at Cheverly Metro, paying $5 for the shuttle bus to the stadium, and walking from whichever lot the busses park in (I forget at the moment) to our seats. We've tried this both well in advance, to avoid some of the crowding, or 30 minutes to kickoff when EVERYBODY'S trying to get there. Leaving is a bit harder, because most folks are all leaving at once so there's more crowding and trying to get on the busses used to be an absolute mess! If you hang around for awhile and check out the band playing on the lower level, or go by the tunnels and see the players come out or whatever you want to do to kill time, it's not bad because the initial crowd has already cleared out.

- Parking at Landover Metro (once they got rid of the Cheverly shuttle) and doing the same thing as above.

- Parking at Landover Mall ($20) once they opened the road to pedestrian traffic, walking down Brightseat road to the stadium. It's a longer walk than from the parking lots, obviously, but it's cheap, you can walk at your own pace (and therefore plan for time accordingly), and you don't have to wait in any lines before OR after the game. This plan has worked best for me, even when I was pregnant!

Obviously, I have to factor in the fact that I only live about 10-15 minutes from the metro or mall, so that's a clear advantage. But WORST CASE scenario, I can make it from my front door to my seats in about an hour. It seems that many people don't utilize the option of parking at the Metro stations or walking from the mall, for whatever reasons. It's not ONLY available to people who live nearby. Anybody can park at Metro or the mall, whether you're coming from out of town or down the street. It hasn't failed me yet! So it's another option to consider for those of you who don't have parking passes.

[SonnyandSam]

Sonny and Sam,

You hurt me to my soul with those go be an Arizona Cardinals fan bull****. C'mon man. Give some crap to a cowpies fan.

I appreciate the break down point for point on my gripes about the game day experience. You're a true fan. Obviously I'm not pissed enough to turn in my season tickets. It's just that I was here the first year Snyder owned the team before he added to the revenue stream in every imaginable way. Things have gotten more considerably more expensive every year and this year tickets got jacked waaaaaay up. We made the playoffs before Snyder starting "putting money back into the team" so I thnk you can win without $35 parking, loud commercials in the stadium, corporate hospitality tents on every inch of ground, people with lots of discretionary funds being put ahead of the hardcore fan base, etc.

HTTR!

OK...I apologize....that was mean. And I understand your complaint and others about the money. Believe me, I don't like paying all this money for tickets, either. And unless things change on the employment scene for me, I'm going to have to sell at least half my tickets this year. It IS expensive.

The point I try to make to many Skins fans who complain about the cost is that the cost of going to a Skins game is not much more than any other NFL team. Most ticket prices in the NFL are in the $60 to $80 range. Heck, the Bears are now charging $100 per game for parking!

Danny's ticket increase this year is big. But, Danny did not increase ticket and parking prices for 4 or 5 years. He hit us in one lump. Other teams have just increased ticket prices a little each year.

And most NFL teams have heavily subsidized stadiums built with tax payer money. And that is wrong. Billionaires should not get publicly funded stadiums at the expense of the taxpayer. Cooke went his own way and decided to build his own stadium. And unfortunately for us as fans, we have to help Danny pay for that debt service in higher prices and creative revenue streams. Danny may make a lot of money off of us but he has hundreds of millions of dollars of stadium costs that only a couple owners in the league have to afford. And their ticket prices are also among the highest in the league

It does cost us more to attend games than most if not all other NFL teams. But at least we have an owner committed to returning us to the glory years AND spends a good share of the money he makes off the fan back on the team. The Bidwell's of the league take their fans' money and put fertilzer on the field.

MAYBE...in 5-10 years....when Danny pays off all his stadium debt.....we might benefit from slower increases in ticket prices.....at least I hope so.

Hey...I feel your pain and share your frustration. I think we just need to see things from the other side sometimes to understand why Snyder does what he does.

[drowland]

As for B, Cooke supposedly built the stadium with extra bathrooms. I drink before the game...hit the head before going to my seats and can make it all the way thru without a potty stop until after the game. Maybe you need to talk to your doctor about the bladder problem? (Heh....I'm just making a joke!) I have been in the bathroom line once or twice and you are right....it is no fun. But again, what can Danny do about something that was Cooke's design error? Maybe Danny should convert some of those ladies rooms to men's rooms?

Yeah, but the stadium Cooke built was designed for 80,000 capacity. Snyder's added 10,000+ to that over the years. As others have eluded to, I think that's what has put a strain on things in the place.

[BURGUNDYnGOLD123]

all i know is that in the spurrier era the chicken tenders used to be real and now they are not. Theyre more like mcnuggets now actually. Mcnuggets that cost like 13 dollars.

[jimster]

And most NFL teams have heavily subsidized stadiums built with tax payer money. And that is wrong. Billionaires should not get publicly funded stadiums at the expense of the taxpayer. Cooke went his own way and decided to build his own stadium. And unfortunately for us as fans, we have to help Danny pay for that debt service in higher prices and creative revenue streams. Danny may make a lot of money off of us but he has hundreds of millions of dollars of stadium costs that only a couple owners in the league have to afford. And their ticket prices are also among the highest in the league

SonnyandSam seems to have the best grasp on this entire subject. - especially the above statement.

[jimster]

SonnyandSam,

You make great points... but have you ever been to a "road" game?

I've been to 3 Giants/Skins games at the Meadowlands and it's day and night.

At the Meadowlands you:

A. Can bring in all the food/waters/sodas you want.

B. Go to the bathroom at halftime and not miss the entire 3rd quarter

Those are my two biggest gripes. I hate the strip searches for an airplane bag of peanuts. I also hate having to plan my bathroom trips in the middle of the game so I don't have to stand in a line out the door.

A) As noted, publicly owned stadiums allow you to bring food in, although Arizona's stadium does not. - Only water.

Bathroom lines? Every stadium has bathroom lines. Fed Ex is way better than RFK in that department.

C) Do you seriously think they are searching for a bag of peanuts? - Maybe that's what they're searching you for at the airport too, huh? For peanuts and other assorted snacks.

[SonnyandSam]

Yeah, but the stadium Cooke built was designed for 80,000 capacity. Snyder's added 10,000+ to that over the years. As others have eluded to, I think that's what has put a strain on things in the place.

I disagree. Most of those seats were added at the club level. He did add the first three rows around the field (the Dream Seats) and then the obstructed view seats on one side last year.

Now that probably has put an additional strain on the parking situation but people had to park way out in the cash lots before the seats were added and take a bus into the stadium. No one is being turned away from parking at the Stadium. And before the seats were installed, lots of fans could not get into the green lots.

As for the bathroom issue, I think most of the complaints are from people in the upper level.....and NO seats have been added to the upper level.

The food lines are not all that bad....it's the food and the cost that is a real problem.

I have the Forward Pass card (its free to season ticket holders) and the longest line I ever saw was maybe 3 people in the Forward Pass line.

[Skinsfan5315]

Don't sell tickets to fans of other teams, or sell them at higher prices.

[terpfan]

all i know is that in the spurrier era the chicken tenders used to be real and now they are not. Theyre more like mcnuggets now actually. Mcnuggets that cost like 13 dollars.

LOL I dont know why but this post cracked me up. Probably just the timing.

Ive never been to Skins game in person (just a poor kid ) and God knows Id love to, but some of the posts in this thread are making me think my seat on the couch might not be so bad. (especially considering that this year I should be able to watch the games in HD! :cool: )

[worstSeat]

Biggest gripes are the video and audio. Get rid of the 3rd rate crap and go all-digital, Daniel!

Thought I remembered seeing that the lack of the digital jive is a wiring issue where the Cookes didn't know enough to get the better stuff installed. ?? It does occasionally seem Jack cut a few corners, but you can't complain when someone doesn't blackmail the community into pitching in. That's about as stand-up as you get in sports today.

[dockeryfan]

The food lines are not all that bad....it's the food and the cost that is a real problem.

With statements like that I question whether you actually go to games at all.

I actually could give a ****e about cost. It's quality that is lacking.

And that point about NY not being good businessmen allowing people to bring food into the stadium? Utter crap. They tried it in philly when they built the new stadium and people were up in arms. They called it hoagiegate, and the team reversed field. I've complained about not being able to bring in food since they started to no avail. Bringing a thermos of hot coffee is great on winter days. It's complacent fools like you that allow this crap to happen.

The fact that you think playing full volume commercials instead of team highlights doesn't affect the game day experience tells me just about all I need to know. Your statements only serve up apologies.

BTW how exactly do you know about the debt service on the stadium deal? How much money was paid down? Oh that's right, they don't open their books. ANd I'm pretty sure the naming rights made up the difference anyway. And the Tailgate club. And the dream seats.

I don't feel terrible about a ticket hike. I don't want commercials and want better food for starters.

[LoudMouth12thMan]

Have you ever eaten the food, in the past couple of years? It's pretty bad. The speed card, (Forward Pass), is already in place....

I'd have to agree about the quality of food, except of course if you are a tailgate club memeber than the food is exceptional. But as far as concession food i.e. chicken fingers, pretzels, etc...it's kinda aaaaaah! (not so good). Forward pass makes it quick, I recommend picking one up, so you can get your shiddy food more rapidly :laugh:

HTTR!

[SonnyandSam]

With statements like that I question whether you actually go to games at all.

I actually could give a ****e about cost. It's quality that is lacking.

And that point about NY not being good businessmen allowing people to bring food into the stadium? Utter crap. They tried it in philly when they built the new stadium and people were up in arms. They called it hoagiegate, and the team reversed field. I've complained about not being able to bring in food since they started to no avail. Bringing a thermos of hot coffee is great on winter days. It's complacent fools like you that allow this crap to happen.

The fact that you think playing full volume commercials instead of team highlights doesn't affect the game day experience tells me just about all I need to know. Your statements only serve up apologies.

BTW how exactly do you know about the debt service on the stadium deal? How much money was paid down? Oh that's right, they don't open their books. ANd I'm pretty sure the naming rights made up the difference anyway. And the Tailgate club. And the dream seats.

I don't feel terrible about a ticket hike. I don't want commercials and want better food for starters.

I have been a season ticket holder for 5 years now....and attended over 30 games....so I know what I am talking about.

My comment about the "food" was intended to refer to the food quality. Perhaps I was not clear. Based on your comment, we seem to agree on that.

Like I said, I have the Forward Pass and the longest the Forward Pass line that I have ever seen is about 3 people.

I have seen longer lines at the "specialty food" stands (and I am using that term very loosely)....like the sausage stand outside my section.

But as I posted, I spend very little time waiting for food because I tailgate before and after the game...lunch and dinner....it's much cheaper and much better food.....and I miss no part of the game while others prefer to wait in line for food and beer. I paid $80 per ticket to watch the Redskins, not eat and drink; But I guess everyone has their own priorities.

As for making excuses....that's not how I see it. I think fans need to understand the other side before ****in' all the time. So let me address your "foolish" points.

Bringing food into the stadium....Thank you...you made my point for me. It was not the Eagles who had any say on the food being brought into the stadium; rather it was the City which OWNS the stadium. The Eagles just pay rent to play their. So typically, a stupid government gave in and allows food and drink while their concession profits are lower because of that.

Commercials....I said in my post I did not like them but understand why they are there. I believe (without checking) that I made it clear that that was one of the few items that DOES AFFECT the game day experience. Please reread the explanation; I'm not going to repeat myself.

Complacent Fool....I make a choice to see my Redskins play football. I know the tradeoffs. If you don't like it, watch the Skins on TV at home.....Oh.... with a hell of a lot more commercials than you see at FedEx. So why are the commercials OK at home but not at the stadium? My my...double standard, huh.

By the way...has all your complaining convinced Danny to let you bring your food and drink into the stadium? Didn't think so.....but that's the difference between a businessman and a gutless government bureaucracy that is more worried about the Mayor getting re-elected than running a football team.

Debt Service.....Hey, I can't help it if you are so ill informed. Ever tried to use this internet software called "Google". Check it out! You can find all sorts of information, including how much Danny paid for the team and stadium from the Cooke estate; and how much he recently paid down his debt service and how he recently refinanced his debt. I believe it is now down to $225 million as I recall.

You're one of those people who want government to build and operate a real nice stadium with taxpayer money for billionnaires like Danny. I have a lot of respect for Cooke and now Snyder for having the guts to build and operate their own stadium for THEIR OWN TEAM. Why should NY or Philly taxpayers have to subsidize season ticket holders for those teams?

Danny was not afforded the luxury of a publicly funded stadium like virtually every other NFL team. That means he has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and expenses that other teams get the local taxpayer to subsidize.

Complain when you know the facts.

[elkabong82]

Someone probably already said this: More bathrooms, or more toilets in the bathrooms. Also, a bathroom attendant might be nice and could help deter the jack-asses who seem hell-bent on urinating everywhere except in the toilet.

Also, I know this has been mentioned before, but is worthy of repeat- a deciabl meter to show us fans how loud we are being, so we can ve even louder on opponent's crucial plays

Also, I totally agree that the food quality sucks. I have been to Petco Stadium in San Diego, and I thought their food was great, and they had a good variety. The Skins should find out the company that makes that food, or a top-rated food provider and use them, instead of the current company whom I'm sure the Skins have special discounts with. I think, or at least hope, the quality of everything will get better as the stadium is paid off more and more as Snyder will have more and more money freed up from less debt, also the Skins continuance of making the playoffs will help drive up revenues and improve the stadium too. However, for those of you who might not know, the best bet at FedEx field is the chicken fingers. They are pretty good and aren't too expensive. For those of you I see complaining about not being able to bring in a thermos of coffee, try using a flask instead, it's easier to sneak in.

[RedskinsDave]

MORE port-a-jons and add digital screens. I couldn't care less about the food. I read the questionaire as "what can we do to make you spend more inside the stadium?"

[MarkB452]

Originally Posted by Rocky21

How about escalators that actually work

It's not that they do not work. The problem is too many people use the only ones for the upper deck. Remember, Danny added the escalators to the upper deck at his expense. Cooke never included them for the upper deckers in his original stadium. Every few minutes the stadium staff turn the escalators off to avoid injuries from too many people pushing and forcing their way on.

I would like to see Danny add at least one more set of escalators. Frankly, Cooke should have included a set at each corner but took them out to save money.

>> There are 2 sets of escalators and 3 levels. Of those 6 escalators, I would say on average 1 of them is broken EVERY week. To make things worse, they won't let you even walk up the dang broken ones when nobody is there working on them. This creates a tremendous bottleneck (think of the beltway when the number of lanes goes from 3 lanes to 2). BTW, You are correct in that there are times when they momentarily stop people going up to allow the next platform to clear. Also, these escalators were cited as one of the reasons for the ticket increase in 2000 (my $50 seats went to $55), so it's not like Snyder gave these to us out of the goodness of his heart or his own pocket.

[MarkB452]

Someone probably already said this: More bathrooms, or more toilets in the bathrooms. Also, a bathroom attendant might be nice and could help deter the jack-asses who seem hell-bent on urinating everywhere except in the toilet.

>> This stadium originally sat 78,000(?). It now seats 91,000. How many new bathrooms have been added since 1996? IMHO, none, but I could be wrong.

[FightForOldDC]

besides being the worst designed stadium in the NFL, long lines, outrageous prices its pretty sweet........i'm not gonna lie, its all worth it when your playing the Cowboys in December and 94,000 fans erupt in pure joy and your hugging people you don't even know

[Tastes Like Chicken]

Thought I remembered seeing that the lack of the digital jive is a wiring issue where the Cookes didn't know enough to get the better stuff installed. ?? It does occasionally seem Jack cut a few corners, but you can't complain when someone doesn't blackmail the community into pitching in. That's about as stand-up as you get in sports today.

Yes, I know that JKC went with analog. But The Danny has the cheese to remedy that. Get 'er done, The Danny.

JKC cut many a corner. The stadium was patterned after Arrowhead with some modifications. There was never a plan in place to have enough parking. And The Danny allegedly proposed some seats that were nixed by the fire marshall, but they magically are there now, and on scaffolding no less. You couldn't pay me to sit in that section.

[worstSeat]

Yes, I know that JKC went with analog. But The Danny has the cheese to remedy that. Get 'er done, The Danny.

JKC cut many a corner....

I was hoping to write JKC's choice of analog off to naivety + cheapness. Who would have thought it would make that much difference to people in a few years? Personally, living in the cave makes the top 80% of the scoreboard moot, so perhaps they'll put that cash into cheaper hot dogs -- maybe even with chilli for the already low price of $6 they charge! The horror.

But yes, I'll second that 94k screaming when the Cowboys get smashed makes you forget about a lot of missing corners really quickly.

I was surprised to see the Post put up the letter to the editor another forums member wrote about building yet another stadium on top of the RFK site, not so much b/c of the letter's slams of The Big Jack than that the Post at least implicitly seems to think the idea of a new stadium's not so insane as to be immdiately discarded. I can't imagine it'd happen, but getting the amenities/squaring the corners might require some public dollars be spent.

[worstSeat]

MORE port-a-jons and add digital screens. I couldn't care less about the food. I read the questionaire as "what can we do to make you spend more inside the stadium?"

The answer, of course, is apparently "CRAB CAKES!!!"