Annoyances at Fedex Field

[sens11]

Normally my game day is a fairly good experience. I'll chalk last night up to just a bad night all around.

I travel three hours from the Philly area to catch games ar Fed Ex.

It started with an email from the Skins around 3:30 on my ride down that notified me that the Grey and Cooper lots were going to be closed because of snow. Should of know right then and there that the night was going to be an ugly one....I sat on Landover road from 6:30 and didn't park till almost 9....I ended up in an Orange Lot near Arena Drive after entering from Redskins Road. The lot was a disaster and the poor attendants had no idea where to send us.

The game didn't help matters at all...let's be honest...if the actual game was better, I would have forgotten about the lot disaster by now.

Thank God I left when it was 31-6! Got out of that mess and back home early this morning.

[Rocky21]

I'm glad you enjoyed Rocky's post. I liked it too.

All a member needs to do is simply click on the magic blue arrow within what should be a small segment of Rocky's quoted post, and Rocky's full post will magically appear in all its splendor.

In all its spendor.

[PorkSkins]

The biggest annoyance was on the field.

[tshile]

...

edit: didn't mean to offend you or anyone else. my misspelling of 'somewhat' (i said 'someone') is what i think led to that. i think you took that as me saying he wasn't that much better than snyder, which is not at all what I think. i'd be hard pressed to make a case for wanting snyder as an owner over anyone at this point

i know cooke was a great owner, especially compared to snyder. but he wasn't perfect. he built fedex field. it opened the year he died. everyone i know that went there hated it - before snyder did anything to it. he was impatient - but he had someone he trusted that could help 'control' him and guide him through it. snyder doesn't have this (his own fault of course).

hopefully that clears up what i was trying to say. i was not at all trying to **** on cooke, or the opinions of him. like mark pointed out - he has brought great things to this franchise. but people act like they never had anything they didn't like about cooke, and thats not true. the redskins had bad seasons under him, and made bad moves with him. although I'm not sure there was ever a stretch like what we're seeing now, where they could be considered not even competitive with the rest of the league.

again - cooke was a much better own than snyder, sorry if i led you to believe I thought anything different. i just think, like most people who die, opinions of him seem to be a little (a little, not a lot) exagerated, and people tend only remember/point out the good things.

[tshile]

Let me jump in here for a sec. I came from Philly. I left at 4:15 and per GPS, was 10 minutes away from Fedex field at 6:50pm. About an hour later, I jumped out of line at exit 17 to go to exit 15. I caught the last 3 plays of the first half. I asked a local fan in line if traffic was always bad. He told me yes. Please tell me he is wrong and the delay last night was because of the snow and the big audience for MNF.

no, thats typical for a monday or thursday prime time game.

you're on the beltway of the nation's capital. during the height of rush hour. trying to get to a stadium 80k+ people are trying to get to. plus everyone going home from work

there are a lot of people who work in DC...

sunday night games are a little better because of the lack of work people going home.

to give you an idea, i live about an hour away from the stadium. last year for the steelers game i left at 4. I got there at 7:50, in teh stadium just in time to see the first play after kickoff.

this year i left at 3. got there at about 5 (had to stop and pick up a friend)

even on sunday afternoon games, you want to plan on being int h eparkinglot at least 1 hour before kickoff. and on a primetime game probably 2-3 hours. everyone thinks they can try to show up 30 minutes before... the parking staff and roads just don't work out for that.

biggest complaint I hear is the traffic from people that only go to games every now and then. and i tell them all the same thing. leave EARLY! spend 2-3 hours in the parking lot eating/hanging out, or spend them on the road in traffic and risk missing the game. Your choice.

[mrredskinDgreen]

So, a few of my friends told me that Fedex Field is getting new HD jumbotrons for next season. Has this wish finally come true? Do any of you guys know anything about this?

[John Lydon]

I've never been to Fed Ex Field (too far for me) but I catch the Skins whenever they play anywhere near me (Cleveland, Cincinatti, or Detroit) and judging by what you all say on here, I can't help but wonder why Danny boy hasn't copied the Fords. Ford Field in Detroit is better than watching the game at home. While I think football should be played in the elements, the stadium is all about the fans. Which is why the Detroit Lions, through 1000 years of suck, still draw huge crowds to their games. I have always wanted to see a game at Fed Ex field but after seeing the posts on this board, I'll wait until the Skins come back to Detroit. The taunting I put up with for wearing a ST jersey into Ford Field sounds like a picnic compared to Fed Ex.

[MattFancy]

So, a few of my friends told me that Fedex Field is getting new HD jumbotrons for next season. Has this wish finally come true? Do any of you guys know anything about this?

We hear that every offseason and still nothing has changed.

[tshile]

yeah our screen is pathetic. as far as i know they haven't upgraded it since it was built. its a 13 year old screen, outside of repairs...

there are a lot of things to complain about with fedex field. but things have gotten a little better through this season. i think the survey they sent out did a lot of good.

[RFKFedEx]

the Detroit Lions, still draw huge crowds to their games.

Really? I've heard that nearly all Lions games are blacked out locally, while the stands usually look like its a preseason game when I see them on tv.

[Dallsux]

hopefully that clears up my intentions in my post a little bit... not trying to **** on cooke. just get sick of everyone acting like he was the most perfect owner ever, because he wasn't. he knew how to win, and he built some good teams. but the redskins had bad seasons like they're having now, fedexfield was built by cooke (and further destroyed by snyder), etc etc etc.

I hear ya. As a man, I feel Cooke was a horrible human being. He was terrible to his own kids (John should have ended up with the team) & easily offended by politicians, which is why FedEx is WHERE it is as well.

As an owner, his reputation is pretty undisputable. He has 3 Championships under his name, multiple playoff appearances, multiple winning seasons, legendary players & HOF teams. He has The Hogs.

Snyder inherited a mess that Jack left & made it worse. I don't think anyone here thinks Jack was a perfect owner, but in comparison to what we have now, he was pretty damn near. He had his faults, but he has his trophies as well. Can't deny them.

[MWCREDSKINS]

Ushers do check seat because last game I went to I was booted when I tried to go to an empty lower level seat but you're right about the smoking

After last game I have 3 big annoyances at Fedex Field.

1. People are smoking inside the the actual stadium (not just the snack/restroom area)

2. There are no Ushers checking seats or anything, this group of kids must have switched seats about 15 times throughout the game, at least one time moving to my seats when I went to get food.

3. Security/Help is lacking. There was at least 2 fights behind me and it took over 10+ minutes for security to show up there.

[tshile]

the ushers/security were overwhelmed monday night.

i'm assuming because of the fights, but i also wouldn't be surprised if there were some cutbacks because of the low turnouts this year (assumption - i have no proof of this).

there's normally an usher at the entrence to every section i've ever sat in. there were none monday night as far as i could tell. we hopped around teh stadium with ease, and were never questioned. we did that because of the fights and terrible fans we were trying to get away from.

[CooleyRox]

Let me jump in here for a sec. I came from Philly. I left at 4:15 and per GPS, was 10 minutes away from Fedex field at 6:50pm. About an hour later, I jumped out of line at exit 17 to go to exit 15. I caught the last 3 plays of the first half. I asked a local fan in line if traffic was always bad. He told me yes. Please tell me he is wrong and the delay last night was because of the snow and the big audience for MNF.

We got into traffic on northbound 95 from Fredericksburg before we even got to Woodbridge and were in that until Springfield. That put us at exit 17 around 6:30, which still left PLENTY of time to tailgate and get into the stadium before kickoff. Monday night was just a perfect storm of crap all the way around.

[pjfootballer]

My biggest annoyance is the team that is on the field sucks!

[ginsu101]

no, thats typical for a monday or thursday prime time game..

Thanks, I was hoping someone would say that. The next game I go to, hopefully won't be that bad.

We got into traffic on northbound 95 from Fredericksburg before we even got to Woodbridge and were in that until Springfield. That put us at exit 17 around 6:30, which still left PLENTY of time to tailgate and get into the stadium before kickoff. Monday night was just a perfect storm of crap all the way around.

You obviously had a better traffic experience than me.

[Karl W]

biggest complaint I hear is the traffic from people that only go to games every now and then. and i tell them all the same thing. leave EARLY! spend 2-3 hours in the parking lot eating/hanging out, or spend them on the road in traffic and risk missing the game. Your choice.

I hear this advice all the time, but this just doesn't work for people who have to work. I absolutely can't take off work early on Monday's.

I have come around to thinking that the metro (especially on Monday night's) is really the only way to go. Add in the snow factor messing up parking, and this disaster was unfortunately predictable.

[warrentonboy]

After last game I have 3 big annoyances at Fedex Field.

1. People are smoking inside the the actual stadium (not just the snack/restroom area)

2. There are no Ushers checking seats or anything, this group of kids must have switched seats about 15 times throughout the game, at least one time moving to my seats when I went to get food.

3. Security/Help is lacking. There was at least 2 fights behind me and it took over 10+ minutes for security to show up there.

Maybe Danny Boy needs to oversee things like that. All its gonna take is a loss in receipts for concessions when people have had enough and quit coming to the games.

[Forehead]

I can't help but wonder why Danny boy hasn't copied the Fords. Ford Field in Detroit is better than watching the game at home. While I think football should be played in the elements, the stadium is all about the fans. Which is why the Detroit Lions, through 1000 years of suck, still draw huge crowds to their games.

Really? I've heard that nearly all Lions games are blacked out locally, while the stands usually look like its a preseason game when I see them on tv.

I'm going to back up RFKFedEx on this one. I went to the Skins game in Detroit last year. It was blacked out locally. The upper deck had very few people in it. Not sure what games you've been watching there.

P.S., if the Fords cared about their fans, they'd retire that abomination of a fight song. Roaring down the field....

[tshile]

I hear this advice all the time, but this just doesn't work for people who have to work. I absolutely can't take off work early on Monday's.

I have come around to thinking that the metro (especially on Monday night's) is really the only way to go. Add in the snow factor messing up parking, and this disaster was unfortunately predictable.

oh you're absolutely right.

metro is the way to go. and unless you're tailgating, i would argue its smarter to take metro. The only issue with metro is the walk to the stadium (which isn't that bad, unless you're older, have health issues, or are crippled in some way) and the fact that at the end of the game you have to ride iwth everyone back (its not bad on the way).

I understand not everyone can leave work early on Monday. I take off at 12 on monday for MNF games. As long as you understand that traffic sucks, and you're better off taking metro or selling your tickets... sucks, but its the way it is.