ES: History shows Redskins have no home-field advantage at FedEx Field

[hail2skins]

Agree with the majority here for the most part about the team sucking being the major contributor behind the .500 record, but I wonder how much the suckiness has eroded the size and dedication of the season ticket-holding fan base over the years. I couldn't believe it in 2008 when we were 6-2 going into MNF against the Steelers and their fans invaded FedEx like they did. Granted, Steeler Nation has a big presence everywhere, probably bigger in DC since they're only a four-hour drive away, and tend to take over a lot of stadiums. However, a number of Redskins fans like to claiim that "we're the best in the league," and the fact that was allowed to happen makes that claim really ring hollow.

[greenspandan]

we haven't had a homefield advantage because we were not good enough to win games consistently.. we sucked. Really doesn't take in depth analysis. I bet our home record overall is better than our road record.

Read the thread.

[mi6]

What a shame!

That certainly wasn't the case when we played at RFK. Teams just didn't want to come and face us there.

Unfortunately, part of this is a direct product of the teams we have fielded.

[brandymac27]

What a shame!

That certainly wasn't the case when we played at RFK. Teams just didn't want to come and face us there.

The good ole days! Humphhhh.....

[Rodriggo]

RFK was a DUMP -- I personally hope we play in FedEx for the next 20 years.

You had me at HD Ribbon boards...haha! Who the **** cares?

I'm old school, honest to god, I could care less about comfort when I go to a sporting event.

Give me a concrete slab to sit on and clear view of the action and I'm happy.

To me simple is beautiful....tacky ostentation with the only purpose of making money in the face of 15 years of mediocre play, not so much.

But hey, that's all you seem to tout so good on you.

Suites, locker rooms, bigger bathrooms I'll never use, massive jumbotrons that distract from the action, big concourses....completely ******* worthless to me.

Me and my brother made the trip down for the Colts preseason game this year and he nailed it when he said it was like going to Vegas...a place solely designed to take your money.....I'll go one step further and say it had all the charm of a Shreveport riverboat casino.

It's soulless, they don't even ******* landscape! It's just a gash in the Maryland wilderness...it's a drag that it's where my team plays especially when it's one the most valuable sports franchises in the universe.

What about a beautifully designed building? What about ambiance? What about crowd noise? What about intentionally making it intimate and uncomfortable for opponents? What about having it actually be in D.C.?

You're right RFK could not have worked financially but I'd like to hope that this poor man's Meadowlands we're stuck with will die a quick death and a new bigger, more modern RFK finds me amongst it's faithful cheering on RG3's eight-peat.

[Popeman38]

You had me at HD Ribbon boards...haha! Who the **** cares?

I'm old school, honest to god, I could care less about comfort when I go to a sporting event.

Give me a concrete slab to sit on and clear view of the action and I'm happy.

To me simple is beautiful....tacky ostentation with the only purpose of making money in the face of 15 years of mediocre play, not so much.

But hey, that's all you seem to tout so good on you.

Suites, locker rooms, bigger bathrooms I'll never use, massive jumbotrons that distract from the action, big concourses....completely ******* worthless to me.

Me and my brother made the trip down for the Colts preseason game this year and he nailed it when he said it was like going to Vegas...a place solely designed to take your money.....I'll go one step further and say it had all the charm of a Shreveport riverboat casino.

It's soulless, they don't even ******* landscape! It's just a gash in the Maryland wilderness...it's a drag that it's where my team plays especially when it's one the most valuable sports franchises in the universe.

What about a beautifully designed building? What about ambiance? What about crowd noise? What about intentionally making it intimate and uncomfortable for opponents? What about having it actually be in D.C.?

You're right RFK could not have worked financially but I'd like to hope that this poor man's Meadowlands we're stuck with will die a quick death and a new bigger, more modern RFK finds me amongst it's faithful cheering on RG3's eight-peat.

So basically, you went to a preseason game and are using that to compare. All of the "wants" you mention are fantasy. Intimate? WTF does that mean at a stadium? Small? Uncomfortable for opponents? That is on the team being good, and the FAN being loud, not the building.

In cse you were wondering, an NFL team is a business. You HAVE to make money. You HAVE to improve the gameday experience with ribbon boards and jumbotrons. Why? Because for the cost of season tickets fans can put a 73" HD TV in their basement, buy leather recliners, and eat like a king at their house instead of sitting in the stadium.

But congrats on your rant about wanting a lesser stadium. It makes you stand out from the crowd. Less bathrooms? Really? For those of us with a wife and a kid attending games with us, it is nice to know taking your kid to the bathroom won't cost half of the 2nd quarter. But again, good on you for wanting a stone, a turkey leg, and a view.

[Rodriggo]

So basically, you went to a preseason game and are using that to compare. All of the "wants" you mention are fantasy. Intimate? WTF does that mean at a stadium? Small? Uncomfortable for opponents? That is on the team being good, and the FAN being loud, not the building.

I went and that was my experience.

What I want wouldn't be a lesser stadium and I don't think it's fantasy. Seattle built a new stadium that is modern, downtown, intimate and is the noisiest in the league. It's 30,000 seats less than FedEx, that's what I mean by "intimate."

In cse you were wondering, an NFL team is a business. You HAVE to make money. You HAVE to improve the gameday experience with ribbon boards and jumbotrons. Why? Because for the cost of season tickets fans can put a 73" HD TV in their basement, buy leather recliners, and eat like a king at their house instead of sitting in the stadium.

I wasn't wondering...that's why I agreed with you in my previous post, yeah, that's what I'm saying FedEx is ONLY about making money b/c architecturally it's neither aesthetically interesting or fan friendly in some cases (see "the tv caves" on the visitors side) combined with the poor fortune of the team it's a soul-less dump IMHO.

But congrats on your rant about wanting a lesser stadium. It makes you stand out from the crowd. Less bathrooms? Really? For those of us with a wife and a kid attending games with us, it is nice to know taking your kid to the bathroom won't cost half of the 2nd quarter. But again, good on you for wanting a stone, a turkey leg, and a view.

To me a stadium or ballpark is no place for women and children, part of the decadence of sport is having to cater to those audiences...but that's another topic I guess.

We are on very different wavelengths so let's just agree to disagree.

[Popeman38]

I went and that was my experience.

What I want wouldn't be a lesser stadium and I don't think it's fantasy. Seattle built a new stadium that is modern, downtown, intimate and is the noisiest in the league. It's 30,000 seats less than FedEx, that's what I mean by "intimate."

Might want to use CURRENT capacities to be taken seriously:

CenturyLink Field Capacity: 67,000

FedEx Field Capacity: 85,000 (and with the UL removal and addition of SRO, it is closer to 79,000)

That is an 18,000 (or even 12,000) seat difference

Seattle metro area: 3,500,026

DC metro area: 5,580,000

So a metro are with 2 million more residents has a stadium that is 18 (12) thousand seats larger? BFD. Again, where do you tailgate in Seattle? In alleys and parking lots spread out across the area. And if you don't find tailgating to be part of football, you don't understand football.

I wasn't wondering...that's why I agreed with you in my previous post, yeah, that's what I'm saying FedEx is ONLY about making money b/c architecturally it's neither aesthetically interesting or fan friendly in some cases (see "the tv caves" on the visitors side) combined with the poor fortune of the team it's a soul-less dump IMHO.

Name one stadium that isn't about making money. I'll wait. I have been to the holiest of holies, Lambeau Field. And guess what the primary purpose of the stadium is? Revenue generation. You pay for a tour of the stadium and atrium. You pay for admission to the Packers Museum. You pay $7.50 for a beer. You pay $5 for a soda. And Lambeau Field is a circle. And they are adding in 3,000 UL seats in the tunnel endzone to what? Generate more revenue. Become more profitable. This "rip on FedEx for being a soul less money maker" mantra gets old. EVERY stadium is designed, built and used for one purpose: make money.

Is FedEx in the ideal location? No. Blame DC government and Jack Kent Cooke for that. He built the stadium on land he bought, and financed the stadium privately. We have been in FedEx for 15 years now, and we have hosted only 1 playoff game. The team was garbage when they moved in. They were garbage in the last last 5 seasons they played in RFK. 1994, 1995, 1996, & 1997 SUCKED for Redskins fans.

To me a stadium or ballpark is no place for women and children, part of the decadence of sport is having to cater to those audiences...but that's another topic I guess.

We are on very different wavelengths so let's just agree to disagree.

This staement is the most idiotic statement I have ever heard in the stadium. A stasium is no place for women or children? What are we, Roman citizens going to watch gladiators? Or watch the emperor release lions to eat Christians? Pathetic. Comparing football players to gladiators is a metaphor.

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object. Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Anyone attending Sunday:

Be loud. (At the right times.). Be Proud. Let's start the RGIII era off in style and turn FedEx into a fortress. That's gona' take both team AND fans working as one.

We NEED to get our home-field back guys if we're ever to get back to where we so crave to be. Give the Bengals HELL on Sunday!

Hail.

[mike42]

I think crowd noise has a lot to do with it. Fed Ex isn't a threat to visiting teams. I don't see our opponents warring playing at Fed Ex.

i remember going to RFK during the **** years (mid 90s) and the crowd seemed louder in RFK compared to my future visits at Fed Ex. Now I go Fed Ex and see people wearing other teams jerseys, nobody seems to make noise around me. I don't have much fun like i did at RFK...maybe the stadium could trap the noise better? i dunno. Just please move back to Washington where they belong!

[newday]

What does the stadium being in DC, MD or VA have to do with crowd noise? The fans are from all over MetroDC. The airports, malls, office centers, hospitals are all spread across the Beltway, 270 and Dulles Toll Road. That's what makes up the 5+ million population, not the actual District.

As long as the stadium is Metro accessible, inside or close to the beltway it should be fine for most fans. And rabid, loud fans will show up.

There are proposals in front of the DC govt right now to see if integrating the land back with Maryland makes more sense than the being a territory without representation. Don't think it will happen, but just goes to show how the DC-identity runs beyond the small borders of DC.

[redskin01fan]

Hmmmm. he is how you fix that, Stop selling so many tickets to the other fans.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

I personally feel that home field advantage is an overrated phenomenon except in collegiate sports...

[RansomthePasserby]

I personally feel that home field advantage is an overrated phenomenon except in collegiate sports...

The stats show otherwise.

Home Field Advantage in the NFL

In the NFL, home field advantage (HFA) also increases from the regular season to the playoffs even though the league’s single-game playoff format provides no incentive to prolong a series. One big reason for the difference is due to the relative strength of opponents.

The NFL’s regular season HFA is 57%--the home team wins 57 out of 100 times. But in the playoffs it’s 68%. The biggest difference between regular season games and playoff games is the relative strength of opponents. Regular season games can feature mismatches, but playoff games feature only opponents who are relatively close in ability.

When teams are well-matched in ability, other factors such as HFA, which are normally small, appear more decisive. There are fewer cases of games that feature a strong visitor against a weak home team in the playoffs. The winning percentage of the home team would therefore naturally increase.

[dahibachi]

It hasn't been that great in FedEx, but i think a large part of that has to do with not winning games. Hard to get excited for games when your team is eliminated from the playoff race by early November each year. Now, with that said, I think this Sunday might be the most electric crowd FedEx has had... maybe ever. The Redskins are about to field perhaps the most exciting player in the NFL for the first time at home coming off of two electrifying performances and I expect the crowd to be raucous. I'd go far as to say If the Skins win the coin toss, I think they should kick to the Bengals because I truely believe the crowd will go crazy wanting the Skins defense to get the Bengals off the field so we can get our first live glimpse of RG3 in person.

[Zazzaro703]

Sean Taylor tribute game loss at home seriously has to be one of the worst losses of all time for any franchise at home. Home field advantage alone should carry home the win in a game like that. But it all circles back to one thing in this thread, the Redskins pretty much have sucked. Just look at the re-cap, what a nightmare. That all changes this year though. I've decided I'm just going to lump Redskins history from 1992-March 2012 into the *Needed to happen to land Robert Griffin III eventually* Category and forget about it. We are reborn this year.

[DeadExField]

The losing and the diverse city of travelers from all over the country are two huge contributors to the backbone (or lack thereof) of fickle fans

[RedskinsInFebruary]

I always love the opportunity to post the "lets move back to RFK comment ... . ... 173–102–3 record, including 11–1 in the playoffs......now thats a home field advantge!

Wow!

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Wow!

Wow indeed. A people still (laughably) say it's a myth we had home advantage at RFK. Or that there's any such thing as a home-field advantage in football come to that.

People are stupid for the sake of being stupid.

Hail.

[E33Green]

These "FedEx Field SUCKS!" threads are hilarious!

Unless Dan Synder dies unexpectedly and someone much richer than him buys the team, we are GUARANTEED to be playing at FedEx for the next 20+ years so I suggest everyone get used to it. No amount of complaining is going to improve things.

Things that will improve things at FedEx Field: get there early and contribute to the best tailgating atmosphere in the NFL. Scream your lungs out for our defense and STFU on offense. That's pretty much it.

Pretty funny that the biggest complainers are the casual fans that go to one game a year or maybe one game since FedEx has opened, not the STH's that are in week in and week out like I am. I agree 100% with Popeman; I have grown to love FedEx Field and everyone else will too if we start winning consistently.

You think the "wine and cheese" atmosphere is bad at FedEx? Well it would be 10 times worse if we move to a new stadium. The cost of PSL's would completely price out all but the uber rich.

[bulldog]

Perhaps the reason the Redskins haven't had much of a homefield advantage at Fedex has been the comparative lack of talent the team has put on the field over the years since the move from RFK.

The 1999 Redskins that went 10-6 didn't seem to have that much of an issue playing at home.

We don't know what the 2012 Redskins are going to do and the level of fan reaction that comes with the introduction of a new franchise qb, new starting rb, new wide receivers and a much younger roster than we have seen here in the past 20 years.

Having star players that galvanize a fan base definitely help.

Griffin does that.

He brings a lot of production and a lot of charisma to the team but NOT at the cost of team chemistry or alienation of fans with a big ego that needs to be stroked in the media.

That separates him from guys like Clinton Portis who simply wore the fan base and media here down with his antics over the years.

He was too flaky to really take seriously.

We needed a stone cold killer on offense. And that is what Griffin's talent promises to bring here.

[illone]

Hmmmm. he is how you fix that, Stop selling so many tickets to the other fans.

If the team was good at home, the Skins fans wouldn't SELL their tix away.

Kind of a catch 22, isn't it?

In order to have a good home field advantage, you need a good team first and foremost. It's not the ticket windows fault that the team sux.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

If the team was good at home, the Skins fans wouldn't SELL their tix away.

Kind of a catch 22, isn't it?

In order to have a good home field advantage, you need a good team first and foremost. It's not the ticket windows fault that the team sux.

No, it really isn't. Sell your tickets to fellow Redskins fans if for whatever reason you can't/ don't want to go. With a S/T ticket wait list as long as ours, there's no shortage of takers week-on-week.

Selling tickets to whatever chump from whatever team stumps up the money is both ridiculous and a contributing factor to why there's NO home-filed advantage here.

Hail.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

we've been a bad team for almost 20 years, of course we wont have a winning record at home.

[Skinsfan1311]

Sean Taylor tribute game loss at home seriously has to be one of the worst losses of all time for any franchise at home. Home field advantage alone should carry home the win in a game like that. But it all circles back to one thing in this thread, the Redskins pretty much have sucked. Just look at the re-cap, what a nightmare. That all changes this year though. I've decided I'm just going to lump Redskins history from 1992-March 2012 into the *Needed to happen to land Robert Griffin III eventually* Category and forget about it. We are reborn this year.

Homefield advantage, or disadvantage, had nothing to do with that loss.

Piss-poor coaching and horrific defense is what cost us that game.

Between Williams and that "10 man on the field" stunt that gave the Bills a huge 1st play that set the tone....the defense giving up a ****load of plays for that last drive.....and Joe Gibbs calling 2 timeouts in a row.....that's what cost us game.