Press Release: #REDSKINS ANNOUNCE MAJOR CHANGES TO FEDEXFIELD GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE FOR 2018 SEASON

[DiscoBob]

Quote

We’ve closely examined FedExField and have only just begun making a number of necessary changes to create a better overall fan experience on gamedays,

 

Code for - Ok, so we know the stadium has sucked for years. Going is akin to getting repeatedly kicked in the nuts...

[Renegade7]

I spent $130 to sit in 215, spent $6 on a single bottle of Gatorade.  It's just not worth it when they lose like that, it's such a disgusting feeling, I want to take a shower.  I go because I never know what happens and prefer seeing them in person and it being okay to yell at too if my lunges. 

 

I don't blame anyone not wanting to make that investment anymore.  I don't feel any different about the stadium experience, and that's probably because its the same inconsistent mediocre product on the field.  

 

You should hear how fans who went, too, are talking, their kids don't want to go anymore.

[samy316]

Days like today are EXACTLY why the stadium was half-full at best.  I don’t buy the 57,000 number that was put out officially.  25 years of mediocrity, and bad football, combined with stupid front office management and the WORST owner in sports will get you to this point.  If Redskins management isn’t disturbed by what they saw today, then there truly is no hope.

[skinfan2k]

I think people are finally realizing that watching a loss in person and spending $500 for 3 hours is simply not worth it.  You spend an entire day when you go to a game and then you have to go to work the next day.  When i don't go to Fedex, i can get all errands done, go to the gym, get a round of golf in all by 1pm.  I can use my computer while watching a game on tv and get online shopping done or any other research i do on a weekly basis. 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Our company had 4 tickets to the game.  We littteraly couldn’t give them away. Went unused.  

[Burgundy Yoda]

2 minutes ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

Our company had 4 tickets to the game.  We littteraly couldn’t give them away. Went unused.  

Seems like deep down must of us wanted to believe but we're starting to know better than to invest time and money into this team.

[Voice_of_Reason]

4 minutes ago, Burgundy Yoda said:

Seems like deep down must of us wanted to believe but we're starting to know better than to invest time and money into this team.

I, an avid fan with almost 20,000 posts on a Skins message board and former season ticket holder, actually tried to convince our office NOT to buy season tickets because it was going to be impossible to give them away.  I was hand waved, “if we but it they will come.”

 

I was right.  There’s no belief in this organization for Redskin fans to show up.  And not enough Colt fans to fill the stadium.  Next week, there wlll be a lot more people on the stadium.  Because the packers fans travel.

[CjSuAvE22]

Im sorry but this stadium was empty and there was a ton of skins fans outside right before the gates trying to get tickets.......why on earth were skins fans whom actually showed up to cheer the team on having such a hard time finding tickets to an empty stadium??? this game day experience was garbage/////

[hail2skins]

34 minutes ago, CjSuAvE22 said:

Im sorry but this stadium was empty and there was a ton of skins fans outside right before the gates trying to get tickets.......why on earth were skins fans whom actually showed up to cheer the team on having such a hard time finding tickets to an empty stadium??? this game day experience was garbage/////

If that's the case, maybe folks were banking on last-minute deals on Stubhub. For whatever reason, such deals did not appear to materialize, surprisingly given the low-profile opponent and what turned out to be an anemic turnout.

 

The stadium has always had some issues for the beginning, and the dreadful performance of the team over the past two decades have done damage. But in so far as the game experience goes, I really miss the simplicity of the Phil Hochberg as PA guy days. And when the band jammed regularly during the game. Now we have the same tired music played pre-game. I went to the Skins-Patriots game in Foxboro three seasons ago and while the dynastic Pats make the beer taste better and colder at Gillette, just simple things like playing classic rock and pop tunes that appeal to the FANS seems to go a long way. 

[skinfan2k]

The season ticket waiting list opened up this year because all the ticket brokers learned that they were losing money in most transactions.  I was buying $49 SRO tickets for under $20 each game.  Why would they continue to take those losses. 

[Skins8989]

Fans have simply had enough. But, it doesn't help that the team in DC won the cup. Oh, and they have a generational player. From what I've heard, Caps games are alot more fun than Skins games.

 

Regardless....I never thought I'd see the day where the Washington Redskins fail miserably to sellout a home opener. Take a bow Dan Snyder.

[Idaho fan]

1 hour ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

Our company had 4 tickets to the game.  We littteraly couldn’t give them away. Went unused.  

Wow.  That’s crazy.  

 

Ive never been to Fed Ex but have been to 7 road games.  I’ve been lucky and only 1 of those was a loss.  AZ, Seattle, Denver and San Francisco.  All were great game day experiences except maybe San Francisco’s.

 

last week in AZ was a blast (of course the win helps) but it’s a fun experience in general.  Sucks that our home fans seem to have the opposite experience. I’ve often dreamed of making a trip to Fed Ex but it often sounds like it would be a big mistake.

 

i did make a trip to watch the Caps play last year at home and that was an awesome experience.

[ixcuincle]

14 hours ago, hail2skins said:

Apparently Bruce predicted a sellout late last week.

 

Well, if FedEx's capacity is now 57K, I guess it was....because that was the announced attendance today. Give the Skins props for being honest.

 

I'd say the lower level sidelines were full, but the lower level endzones and corners had a ton of empties.  The club level was probably 50 pct full at most......I was in the club and there were a grand total of 10 people in the five rows directly behind me.  As for the upper level, once you got past the four sections closest to midfield, it was pretty light.

 

I guess I had heard that the Skins were trying to limit the number of seats sold to ticket brokers, and I was pretty surprised that prices on Stubhub were as high as they were prior to the game, particularly given a relatively low-profile opponent like the Colts.  But if the team was trying to drive up demand.....it didn't seem to work. 

 

Not much has changed from the in-stadium presentation.  And they seem to be trying to borrow stuff from other team. The team intro was OK, but the smoke and fire isn't anything I haven't seen before. They are sounding a horn/siren on opposing third downs. And they are trying to get the crowd to do the "Its another Redskins......first down!" thing. The first time Kessler called for it, the crowd was of course confused.

 

At halftime they did have two pee-wee games going on at opposite ends of the field, so that was cool.

 

Oh......the "WE HAIL" slogan......I'm kinda sick of it already. 

 

Oh well...…..onto playing Green Bay and their scrub QB Rodgers!

 

Agree on much of what you said, want to throw in that the West End Zone experience was packed from what I saw. Not a bad place to chill. Like you, surrounded by empty seats, a few people behind me, a few people in front of me. I like that First down thing. Get the crowd involved. ANOTHER REDSKINS...FIRST DOWN. That whole third down sequence was crazy. Lights just flashing all over the place. 

 

About We Hail...they are really pushing it hard at the stadium. WE HAIL SEASON TICKET HOLDERS. WE HAIL OUR FANS. WE HAIL GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE. It everywhere. Even on the scoreboards between action they would have random tailgate videos from earlier in the day, and then all the fans would start yellin WE HAIL. WE HAIL. WE HAIL. I'm not sick of it and I find it a rather hilarious slogan which I will continue to drop until I get tired of it. 

12 hours ago, skinfan2k said:

The season ticket waiting list opened up this year because all the ticket brokers learned that they were losing money in most transactions.  I was buying $49 SRO tickets for under $20 each game.  Why would they continue to take those losses. 

 

that's how you and me got in so cheap every game haha. Other than NFC East opponents or the season openers you really could get cheap seats. Now that section closed off, I saw it yesterday and there were ropes all over. Have to imagine they'll bring a tarp out eventually to cover them. RIP cheap seats. 

13 hours ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

Our company had 4 tickets to the game.  We littteraly couldn’t give them away. Went unused.  

 

You let me know if you get any other free tickets. I'll gladly take them off your hands  

[TMK9973]

For years teams subscribe to this belief that allowing tickets to be resold at low costs, reduce the number of tickets they will sell at higher costs.

Perhaps at some point that was true. But now with HD, Big screens, Stubhub, etc... Its not a choice between "Can I buy a $25 ticket and if not guess I'll have to buy the $105 ticket" its now "Can I buy the $25 ticket easily from my phone or should I just go to a bar to watch".  

We all know the NFL makes money via TV rights.  Thats the bulk.  A saw some where a family of 4 avg spend at the stadium is about $580.  So lets say $145 a person.  That is what the Redskins make.  

$8,265,000 a game when they get 57,000.  Or about  58m for rest of year.  I think you do drastic action.  You need to get butts in the seats. You need people to want to go to the game again, you need word of mouth of people saying "What you doing this weekend?" and the answer "Heading to the skins game".

You need people to go and say "went to game, had a great time". 

So here is what you do.    

1 - Announce STH that use their tickets directly - Get a 60% refund.  Thanks for being a season ticket holder.  Thanks for sticking with us. We charged you too much. Rest of year - use your tickets -60% refund.  (Resold on stub hub, sorry - no deal).  

2- single game tickets -40% off all seats rest of the year.

Figure out of that $145 a person the avg is $115 a ticket.  Other $30 is what they spend. So now - instead of a avg of $145 per person - its $87.50 a person.  BUT - I think you would get more butts in seats.  Probably more like 70,000.

 

So - instead of $8m a game, you are now making $6,125,000 a game.  7 games left. $42,875,000 rest of year.

So you lost 15m - but you earn massive good will.  You get fans back in the seats. You make going to the game something people start doing again, you rebuild a fan base.  ANd it cost you less then another star player.  

 

I know my numbers are high level -but it could work.   

 

[Skinarchy]

On 9/11/2018 at 5:20 PM, TK said:

The 9ers charge $8 for "Grape Drank" which is a fancy way of saying Kool Aid. 

Sorry but a correction is in order..

 

It's Grape "Dank" in San Fran.

 

Old school clown! Nice man

 

 

'But, honestly I don't deserve it, '

 

That was a badge of honor back in the day....I was a org. 300 btw...

It took some real sillyness and pranks to wear that clown. 

 

 Matter of fact, many mornings of coffee was "drank" reading the E.S. Antics of the day. 

I'm not worthy ?

 

 Some of those clowns made this board fun to read. Epic old school Extremeskins.

 

  Getting a little vanilla bud....but to be fair, I understand why it has to be.  I'm sure you agree

 

 So' Clown tag the  owner next time you go swing on his rocks...haha 

 

I'll try to do the clown proud!!!!

 

 So: 7:42 am pst..another coffee down and off to my corner seeking a full bottle of thunderbird and a new jacket!  

 

HTTR

[PigSkins]

On TV, I heard the crowd chant "We Hail!", and at first, the wife and I both thought we were hearing, "sieg heil". That chant needs to stop. Very bad optics.

[Wildbunny]

1 hour ago, PigSkins said:

On TV, I heard the crowd chant "We Hail!", and at first, the wife and I both thought we were hearing, "sieg heil". That chant needs to stop. Very bad optics.

 

Maybe that could help?

[NickyJ]

Unpopular opinion: "We Hail" is a dumb chant. We hail what? Taxis?

[Voice_of_Reason]

30 minutes ago, NickyJ said:

Unpopular opinion: "We Hail" is a dumb chant. We hail what? Taxis?

Useless without pics

 

 

[Renegade7]

When i saw this thread get bumped, i thought it was a new press release with same title at first and it hopes it was announced they'd be tearing it down.  Tell me that wouldn't be an improvement at this point.

[hail2skins]

7 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

When i saw this thread get bumped, i thought it was a new press release with same title at first and it hopes it was announced they'd be tearing it down.  Tell me that wouldn't be an improvement at this point.

Remember earlier in the year Cooley said that the location of the new stadium would be announced by year's end? Well, we're about a week away from 2019, so it doesn't look like that is going to happen. Of course maybe the recent stories about the spending bill and the RFK site had the Skins ready to announce something, but seems like that's on hold now too.

 

I'll get excited when they announce the site and when they intend to break ground and an anticipated date for opening the new place.  In the short term, I don't see much happening that's going to draw more people to FedEx the early part of next season, short of Dallas being the first home opponent (the 2019 non-divisional home games are Chicago, Detroit, New England, NY Jets, and a TBD NFC West opponent other than the Rams). I'd like to see them remove more seats from the upper deck and tarp over more of the club level. And they'll open up the East End Zone area below the jumbotron and tout that all preseason.