C.Taylor Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Getting in and out of any stadium is a pain in the ass. So, what goes on in the stadium during the game is the bigger part of it, in my opinion. FedEx just has the same feel as the 70's multi-purpose cookie-cutter stadiums -- minus the bad astroturf. We have different opinions. My biggest concern of what goes on in the stadium during a game is what goes on on the field. That determines my "feel" of the stadium. On the other hand, whatever "feel" I get inside a stadium could be completely negated by the "feel" of going nowhere once I leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky21 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I almost pissed myself when I read that Snyder said "you’ve got to continually make sure that the fan experience is at the highest level." Whoo Hoo. That's a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grhqofb5 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Personally, I love FedEx. Been going there since it opened, know exactly where to tailgate, how to get in/out, what time to arrive/leave. The place has no character because the team has generally stunk. But on those few occassions when there's been some success (i.e. the Wild Card game against the Lions in early 2000) that place was awesome, and had plenty of character. By contrast, I attended a Ravens game about 2 years ago, expecting to be impressed by the scene because of all the rave review about the stadium and all. Fact of the matter was that the tailgating sucked (try tailgating next to a loading dock), the parking sucked, it was dirty as ****, the stadium was annoying and filled with dumb ravens fans. Guess its not so much the venue, but the people. Granted, I was with my friends, but I hate the ravens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martytheman Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 that's only part of it -- Nats park is much better designed, a better atmosphere -- even when the Nats were losing 100 games -- than FedEx has ever had. When FedEx was opened, it was called a "concrete slab" it hasn't changed. Nevermind the fact that nats park was designed and built in the late 2000's, and publicly financed.. for God's sake it's only 4 years old! by comparison Fedex was built in 1997, meaning it was designed in the early 90's with mostly JKC's own money in a rush to get finished before he ended up croaking (he knew he didn't have forever) Everyone wants to ***** about how old the stadium is and how "hard" it is to get out of there.. then pony up the money pay for another one (prob 1 billion in tax dollars, higher concessions, etc) in a magical location with 4,000 exits from the stadium. Until that happens, deal with it. *eta not to mention the reason the atmosphere "sucks" is because of the moronic fans themselves. The same geniuses who boo Rex Cannon at TC of all places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Really want to improve the Gameday Experience? New Stadium, In DC. Right by Nats Park. FedEx was a colossal mistake and a dump. terrible idea. not only will it put a strain on the franchise and the DC tax payers to buy out the remainder of the lease to PG county, it'll put a huge strain on ticket sales and the season ticket holders who will have to pay even higher prices to keep their seats and likely have to buy ridiculous PSL's since that seems to be the trend. the financial concerns aside, the problem with Fedex Field is not it's location, or the quality of the construction. how about instead of just building a new stadium willy-nilly we actually do things to make it better like: - build a competitive organization that produces competitive home games that are worth watching and attending. obviously we're trying to do that now - redesign the parking lots so that either: a: people go OVER the exits/entrances to individual lots instead of through them. currently traffic has to come to a complete stop so people can cross the many intersections on their way to the cards building ramps over them so either cars or people can go over the other will fix this. b: the walkway for people to get to their lots/cars goes through the middle of the lots instead of the edges, so they can walk down the middle and cars can leave the lots from the sides without having to stop to let people go. - rip out the ridiculously scammy obstructed view seats. it's just a terrible mark on the franchise for anyone who knows of their existence. - get rid of the dream seats that force lower level GA ticket holders (in the 100's) who pay good money to attend games to stand for the entire game if they wish to see the action because of the people in the dream seats who cannot see the action unless they stand and block everyone else. - restructure the contracts with the food services so that either: a: the quality of the food increases to match the price b: the price of the food decreases to match the quality. - how about we update the bathroom areas so they aren't so dingy and gross - how about we build more water fountains and do more to advertise their location - how about we do a better job with security to prevent the obnoxious drunks and the fights (they are actually working on this now, doing a good job but still have a ways to go) - how about we replace the people who run the video board. lets see more out of town scores and replays, lets see more fantasy updates, and lets see more replays OF THE GAME WE WENT TO SEE. as it currently stands they're doing better on the first two, but they suck at showing us replays of the game we're paying big money and spending lots of time going to see. they do two things that irritate the **** out of me: a: they only show replays when it doesn't make the redskins look bad. currently this means not many replays because the team has sucked and looks bad more often than good. b: they show replay angles that seem to indicate that the team was robbed. this is why you watch replays at home and go 'yeah that was definitely a fumble', and when the refs come out of their review and rule it a fumble we all boo and you think we're all retarded. it's because the only replays the stadium crew shows us are ones that show it wasn't a fumble and we don't know any better. - figure out some way to allow tailgating to be better for those of us who choose to do it (in terms of space) while not making it inconvenient for the rest of the people (who don't tailgate) to park. they've tried some things like moving the tailgaters to the back and limiting spots, but I still feel like something better needs to be done. thats just off the top of my head. there's a lot more i'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo#44 Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Fedex was built in 1997, meaning it was designed...in a rush to get finished... This is exactly the point -- it's a poorly designed stadium! Everyone wants to ***** about how old the stadium is and how "hard" it is to get out of there.. then pony up the money pay for another one (prob 1 billion in tax dollars, higher concessions, etc) in a magical location with 4,000 exits from the stadium.Until that happens, deal with it. I'll do that, right after I buy an interest in the team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmbitiOn Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Would love a new stadium honestly.. but doubt it will happen any time soon. I think a lot of you are right though.. if our team is winning i know FedEx would be a much better place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFK Lives Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Ribbon boards are a nice add, plus, it will pay for itself because he can charge the advertisers more than those flip signs that seemed to have one or two get stuck every week. Sound system should be addressed if it has not already. Had a few games where it did not work in our section, complained, they fixed it but then it was too dang loud. Can't win for trying. Love the tailgate, we have been adding things every year to our tailgate but one thing that keeps getting removed is the number of Port-O-Johns in the Green Lot, I can only speak on the Green Lot. But, okay, so you have the piss patrol monitoring the fence and lot but you have about 12 portable toilets for the whole lot? Plus, the less you have, the more full they become just add a wonderful aroma to your after game tailgate if you are near them. How about some sort of permanent facility out in the lots? I dunno, just spitballing. Maybe I just need to buy a gas can and use it in the car, adult diapers? Not sure the people next to me would like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No_Pressure Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I think it took the Zorn years and Bruce Allen to finally persuade Snyder that yes, he actually had to do things and spend money to make sure people didn't spend Sundays sitting at home. Redskins ticket sales were fairly strong through the Gibbs years, and somehow had been alright through Spurrier and Norv, but I remember the fairly empty stadiums in Zorn year 2 especially. I remember the booing, the opposing fan takeovers. The environment at fedex hadn't been great for a while and the product on the field hadn't been great either, but people seemed to finally have enough with spending hundreds on tickets to a sub-par stadium to watch a sub-par team. With the new scoreboard, changes in quality with a number of things such as the food/drink, general cleanliness, safety/security, seating, tailgating (which he was ruining for years before coming to his senses), Snyder has taken a lot of steps towards bringing fans back into the fold, and I can't help but think that Bruce Allen had a lot to do with it. I suspect that with RGIII, a livable stadium experience, and perhaps a good defense and some success in the division this year, our attendance will be pretty good this year...and I mean actual Redskins fan attendance not a 70/30 Redskins to (INSERT NFC EAST TEAM HERE) ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martytheman Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I think it took the Zorn years and Bruce Allen to finally persuade Snyder that yes, he actually had to do things and spend money to make sure people didn't spend Sundays sitting at home. Redskins ticket sales were fairly strong through the Gibbs years, and somehow had been alright through Spurrier and Norv, but I remember the fairly empty stadiums in Zorn year 2 especially. I remember the booing, the opposing fan takeovers. The environment at fedex hadn't been great for a while and the product on the field hadn't been great either, but people seemed to finally have enough with spending hundreds on tickets to a sub-par stadium to watch a sub-par team.With the new scoreboard, changes in quality with a number of things such as the food/drink, general cleanliness, safety/security, seating, tailgating (which he was ruining for years before coming to his senses), Snyder has taken a lot of steps towards bringing fans back into the fold, and I can't help but think that Bruce Allen had a lot to do with it. I suspect that with RGIII, a livable stadium experience, and perhaps a good defense and some success in the division this year, our attendance will be pretty good this year...and I mean actual Redskins fan attendance not a 70/30 Redskins to (INSERT NFC EAST TEAM HERE) ratio. I hope the place sells out and actually makes it an advantage for the hometeam instead of for the visiting team with their hordes of fans following them here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonnyandSam Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/dan-snyder-on-the-fan-experience/2012/08/06/7d5f2984-e01b-11e1-a19c-fcfa365396c8_blog.htmlReally want to improve the Gameday Experience? New Stadium, In DC. Right by Nats Park. FedEx was a colossal mistake and a dump. And who's going to pay for your palace? Clearly you are not a season ticket holder. A new stadium means seat licenses which means all us regular folk won't be able to afford to go. Let's remember that Jack Kent Cooke built that stadium with no taxpayer money and minimal taxpayer money to make infrastructure improvements to the roads and sewer surrounding FedEx Field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Getting in and out of any stadium is a pain in the ass. I beg to differ. Mullet & Trailer Stadium is a BREEZE to get in and out of. Come to think about it, the ENTIRE fan experience there trumps anything I've ever witnessed at FedEx Field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonnyandSam Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 want to improve the experience? Allow vendors to set up in parts around the lot so people can try different stuff. I'm not saying making it free for them to set up. But maybe do a solid for the community and have 20% of each sale go to a Skins related charity. So they have licenses to be there. Email your suggestion to the Redskins. They are always looking for ideas to improve the game day experience. I know they took action on some of my suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonnyandSam Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Ribbon boards are a nice add, plus, it will pay for itself because he can charge the advertisers more than those flip signs that seemed to have one or two get stuck every week. Sound system should be addressed if it has not already. Had a few games where it did not work in our section, complained, they fixed it but then it was too dang loud. Can't win for trying.Love the tailgate, we have been adding things every year to our tailgate but one thing that keeps getting removed is the number of Port-O-Johns in the Green Lot, I can only speak on the Green Lot. But, okay, so you have the piss patrol monitoring the fence and lot but you have about 12 portable toilets for the whole lot? Plus, the less you have, the more full they become just add a wonderful aroma to your after game tailgate if you are near them. How about some sort of permanent facility out in the lots? I dunno, just spitballing. Maybe I just need to buy a gas can and use it in the car, adult diapers? Not sure the people next to me would like that. Email the Redskins with specific locations that are short on porta potties. Tell them how many people typically stand in line; add some details. I complained by email twice in the past and the next week, there were more porta potties. Gotta let them know where the problems are so they can address them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipwhich Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I beg to differ. Mullet & Trailer Stadium is a BREEZE to get in and out of. Come to think about it, the ENTIRE fan experience there trumps anything I've ever witnessed at FedEx Field. I have been to the Ravens stadium many times. I am not sure what "experience" you prefer. I hate it there. You like the ray ray dance? Getting in and out of there is a result of being a great location. There aren't great locations in DC Try getting in and out of a Nats game that you drive to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC9 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I'm the same way. Free tickets aren't worth the hassle of getting there and back, having to pay crap tons of money for any food/drink you get there, and then barely being able to see anything at the game from the upper deck while you're surrounded by thousands of drunk fools. You guys realize that EVERY venue has the same prices for food and drink right? It's not just FedEX Field. EDIT: And as I said, my brother and I have had tickets in row 29 of the 400 level... if you aren't a ticket holder, I'll narrow it down for you... that is the VERY top of the stadium. I don't miss a thing. The line of site is fantastic. And I am not just jockeying the stadium. The problems with traffic and food costs are not unique to FedEX Field. Give me another one, dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martytheman Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 You guys realize that EVERY venue has the same prices for food and drink right? It's not just FedEX Field. Not nats park! it's the best of everything in the universe all rolled into one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS Redskins Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I love FedEx. I am there to see the Skins, period. There is not a bad seat in the house, outside of teh obstructed view... It was never easy getting to RFK either... plus RFK was a dump but I loved every inch of it. I did go to Indianapolis for the Skins Pre-Season game last year - wow, what a stadium. Beautiful. If the Skins do build a new stadium, I hope they go with a retractable dome. It was nice as hell in there... I can imagine all the burgundy and gold everywhere, big Skins symbol in the middle of the field... a view of the Wash. Monument out of the window... Snyder will then get his superbowl wish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC9 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I have been to the Ravens stadium many times. I am not sure what "experience" you prefer. I hate it there. You like the ray ray dance?Getting in and out of there is a result of being a great location. There aren't great locations in DC Try getting in and out of a Nats game that you drive to. Not only that, but the open endzones in that stadium (Army Navy Game 2001 or 2002, can't remember) made the wind chill below zero. Your boy was not happy....lol. ---------- Post added August-7th-2012 at 12:05 PM ---------- Not nats park! it's the best of everything in the universe all rolled into one! Oh yeah... parking at Fort McNair for a day game and then trying to get on to 395 during 5 o clock traffic. Paying $12 bucks for a taco and a lemonade. I've only been there once, but are the ramps the only way to get up to the upper deck? It took five minutes just to get up the ramps. And there are only two ways to get down (the two ramps). I was excited to go there this year because of everything that the radio says about the ballpark, but if you are in the upper deck in right field... you can't see anything going on in right field at all. That experience was right up there my last anthrax shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Flanders Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I have been to the Ravens stadium many times. I am not sure what "experience" you prefer. I hate it there. You like the ray ray dance?Getting in and out of there is a result of being a great location. There aren't great locations in DC Try getting in and out of a Nats game that you drive to. I don't even know what the hell the ray ray dance is (wait, you don't mean Ray Lewis' BS he does do you?). I've been to 4-5 Ratbirds games, and well over 40 at FedEx - I want to like FedEx more, I really do. I have friends and family that are Skins fans that refuse to go to FedEx. It's mainly a traffic issue I admit, but that's huge. And I'm not buying the bad traffic in DC stuff, born and raised here I understand that. It's getting OUT of that Stadium and onto a highway that's brutal. The only things I like about FedEx are Tailgating and watching my skins. HAIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 And I'm not buying the bad traffic in DC stuff, born and raised here I understand that. It's getting OUT of that Stadium and onto a highway that's brutal. this is normally caused by not knowing what you're doing. i have no trouble getting out from the green lot. if the extent of the planning you put into leaving is to jump onto 495 at the closest possible point then you're going to deal with terrible traffic. be smarter, plan a bit better. you already know that way is bad, why would you ever go that way again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC9 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 It's getting OUT of that Stadium and onto a highway that's brutal. Ah, that's all that's bothering you? Well if you come to the Extremeskins tailgate for the Bengals game (that'll be my first time showing up to one! Since I'm moving away for a couple of years again : ( I'll walk you thru the secret passageway that some of us use. Seriously, you'll be on the beltway in 10-15 minutes tops. I'll be the fine looking whiteboy with the bushy hair and the Mitchell and Ness hoodie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stophovr6 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 What are ribbon boards? Are those just to display advertisements? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I leave the Gray Lot. Usually takes about 15-20 minutes to get to the beltway, then traffic moves pretty good on the beltway. We go back to Waldorf. We stay there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boston Skins Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I won't say that the traffic leaving the stadium is terrible. I dunno if it's where I park in the green lot or what but leaving the field is never a huge problem for me. It's the traffic on the highway heading south that's an issue, and the Redskins really have no control over that. I've been to concert venues that leave 1-2 lanes open for INCOMING traffic instead of opening all outbound like FedEx does. It could be a lot worse. As far as the other gameday experience items, I think there are some good suggestions here. The food and beer prices are what they are, set by the Redskins and Aramark together. If you don't like the price of a beer, don't drink it. You're never going to see a price for beer at an NFL game for less than $8. Just not gonna happen. Another thing that's not going to happen is a stadium in DC in the forseeable future. As most of us are season ticket holders, we should be looking to Snyder to continue to make improvements to a field that was basically just thrown together. If the team becomes a consistent winner from year to year, these concerns will become a footnote. I can guarantee you that all of these people saying they'll never go to a game at FedEx Field would absolutely KILL to go to a NFC Championship game there. Just think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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