Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins

Erosion Of The Redskins Fanbase


samy316

Recommended Posts

As everyone knows, the erosion of this fanbase began long before this season started.  This has been brewing for a while, when you factor in the stadium (bottom 5), the front office (bottom 3, could be the worst currently), and the coaching staff (bottom tier at best).  It's not just that the stadium continues to be overrun with opposing fans at every home game that the front office should be worried about.  They should also be worried about the ratings, and whose watching this team week in and week out.  One disturbing trend that began to take place last year was that ratings for Redskins games locally were starting to nosedive.  It became so bad that games that aired locally involving other teams (Cowboys, Eagles Giants, etc), were actually outperforming Redskins games by a decent margin.

 

Now take a look at the ratings for the Redskins game according to Sports Media Watch.  The have the ratings of each game in their metropolitan areas:

 

— New Orleans: 51.6 (Saints-Rams)
— Milwaukee: 43.7 (Vikings-Packers)
— Kansas City: 39.6 (Chiefs-Raiders)
— Buffalo: 36.4 (Bills-Giants)
— Pittsburgh: 36.0 (Seahawks-Steelers)
— Minneapolis-St. Paul: 35.2 (Vikings-Packers)
— Denver: 33.1 (Bears-Broncos)
— Boston: 33.0 (Patriots-Dolphins)
— Philadelphia: 32.6 (Eagles-Falcons)
— Dallas-Ft. Worth: 30.7 (Dallas-Washington)
— Seattle: 30.0 (Seahawks-Steelers)
— Chicago: 26.6 (Bears-Broncos)
— Providence, R.I.: 26.3 (Patriots-Dolphins)
— Baltimore: 25.9 (Cardinals-Ravens)
— Nashville: 25.2 (Colts-Titans)
— Cincinnati: 23.0 (49ers-Bengals)
— Atlanta: 22.3 (Eagles-Falcons)
— New Orleans: 19.6 (Eagles-Falcons)
— Phoenix: 19.2 (Cardinals-Ravens)
— Washington, D.C.: 18.3 (Dallas-Washington)
— Los Angeles: 16.0 (Saints-Rams)
— Milwaukee: 15.4 (Eagles-Falcons)
— Bay Area: 15.0 (49ers-Bengals)
 

 

As you can see, the Washington DC area averaged only an 18 rating for the Cowboys-Redskins game, which is almost unthinkable.  This alarming trend continues to amplify the fact that the Redskins are in serious jeopardy of losing not just the current fanbase, but any future fanbase that you would need to sustain viability.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still watch because it's part of my weekend and Sunday cadence. But I watch while doing other things and jump around to Red Zone or the CBS game. I still think I'm a ways away from being home and around for a game and choosing to binge watch something, but I don't build my entire weekend around the games anymore. 

 

If they could measure the erosion on apathy, that would be even more telling than viewers. As I've mentioned in other threads today, the bad play and losses doesn't bother me at all. I had an AMAZING Sunday last weekend which coincided with the Skins blowing that 17-0 lead against the Eagles. The fact that they jumped up 17-0 and the fact that they then were outscored 32-3 before their final drive had no impact on my mood. That's never been the case before. Ever. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When Gibbs came back the fans were "all-in" for a few years.  I know I was...  The excitement was palpable and this website (then privately owned under a different domain, random shoutout to the old school extremeskins LOL) was poppin with positivity.  

 

Since he left it's been deteriorating slowly year by year.  Is Washington even a football town anymore?  I moved away when I was young, just before the 1991 season, and got to talk a lot of smack in 7th grade, so I can't appraise local sentiment, but I'd bet it's more of a hockey and baseball town now.  Skins used to OWN DC and Snyder is losing the town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Mr. Sinister said:

Dont think im gonna watch MNF. I watched maybe half of the games last year and half the year before that.

 

Eventually you want to spend the little bit of time you actually have, doing stuff you enjoy.

 

Leaving the stadium yesterday was first time part of me looked forward to getting my Sundays back.  Whatever in season impolsion is coming, i wanted them to hurry up and get it over with already, losing doesnt bother me nearly as much as feeling like they dont care.  Why should i care if they dont? Out of habit?

 

I warned about this in the Haskins thread i started, that we needed to think bigger then jus winning games but winning back our fanbase.  There seems to be no effort in either, and not sure what the tipping point or rock bittom will look like.  Im concerned there may be no going back if Haskins bust.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't stop watching, it's a habit. I may switch around to other games but my main concentration is on the Skins. That being said they are a pathetic excuse of a franchise and you wouldn't find me spending money on their brand until things start to look better. They've been excruciating to watch for some time now with not much hope in sight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My faith eroded quicker than some.  After Gibbs 2.0 left i gave up my

season tickets.  I still watch on tv.  But my feeling have gone from excitement, to anger, to apathy, to now actively rooting against the Skins.

 

Let me be clear- it’s not necessarily the losing that has done this to me- it’s how the organization is run.  Dan Synder wants to win on his terms despite the fact he is clueless.   Most normal people, after a period of time, would bring in somebody that could help them win.  Not Dan.  To him, the Redskins are a toy to be tinkered with until he gets it right.  Be damn the fans having to put  with his incompetence.

 

So now I sit back and revel in those box shots of him looking constipated after another beat down by a division rival.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

Eventually you want to spend the little bit of time you actually have, doing stuff you enjoy.

 

This. I went to some wedding vendor **** with the fiancé that I wasn’t even remotely interested in (she even said, hey this is on Sunday and I’m going it’s cool if you want to watch the game instead). 

 

I got got home and played Borderlands. Not investing in the skins until it’s a good investment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Springfield said:

I hate watch this team mostly. Just want them to get the score run up on them every week.  It’s hard to support such a poorly run franchise.

 

Watching Snyder fail brings me joy, at least.

 

I'm not in this camp. I don't have any reason to like the guy, but I also don't have anything against him. There are plenty of stories out there about why I should hate him, but I'd much prefer he just become a good owner since that's the most direct route between where we are and where the fans would like to be. Enjoying his failure almost feels like laughing at the dude who banged your wife when she inevitably cheats on him. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's insane how broken it is. We've been through some very lean times since 1991, but this feels like bottom (so far).

 

I mean, the 1990s - after the Petitbon sacrificial season - was about a reboot with Norval. And progress was made, until The Danny decide to nuke a team that was a botched snap away from the NFC title game. Cool, cool.

 

Then it was about our patience while the wee one learned not to play fantasy football or hire flashy college coaches.

 

Then, lo!, the great Joe Jackson Gibbs gave us a couple of post-season appearances.

 

Then, Threesus got his knee shredded, and now the steady frog-boiling experience of the Gruden years.

 

What is there to have confidence in? I've tried so hard for so long to be an optimist about this team. And look, I love Dwayne and some of the other players. But I feel totally broken down about the big picture.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont want to be 70-80 years old watching this by myself because no one i care about can take it anymore, talkin about this will be our year and the team still plays like they dont care.  I feel like thats gonna happen anyway, does that really make me a superfan?  Is that loyalty?

7 minutes ago, Llevron said:

 

This. I went to some wedding vendor **** with the fiancé that I wasn’t even remotely interested in (she even said, hey this is on Sunday and I’m going it’s cool if you want to watch the game instead). 

 

I got got home and played Borderlands. Not investing in the skins until it’s a good investment. 

 

 First off, congrats. Second, i dont blame you.

6 minutes ago, Stadium-Armory said:

I rarely watch the games live, any more. I prioritize almost anything else over watching them live, if the opportunity presents its self.  Golf, skiing, going to Costco.

 

I'll then watch it later on the DVR just so I can sound semi-educated in conversations about the team. 

 

That fact i would even consider this reasonable for my own situation shows that im cracking a little.  Someone give me a reason not to, im all ears.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a real shame that this franchise has sunken to such lows. For some strange reason, we're in year 6 of the Gruden experiment, and experiment that proved early on that it wasn't going to work. Not sure what logic or reasoning has led the powers-that-be to keep him on as HC. It's frustrating to watch him on the sidelines during games. Sure he can design plays, but that's as far as it goes; it's his ceiling. He would NEVER be hired as a HC in this league by any other team; not going to happen. His ineptitude, over 6 years, just continues to suck the life right out of this fanbase. We all have a strong disdain for the team president, and for obvious reasons.........but this franchise deserves a competent HC. When he's out-coached by Flores, who's actually trying to lose, then that'll tell you all you need to know; not that you didn't know it already.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm still watching the Skins on TV, and their weekly decrepitude still somewhat affects my mood the next day. However, I don't watch as closely, and I don't care as much. For me, this neatly overlaps with the Gruden era.

 

Overall, I'd describe Washington as a "latent football town." String a couple consecutive playoff seasons together, and maybe a lot of enthusiasm would return.

 

One thing to counter that idea is how much the DC area has changed since I moved here in 1993. A huge influx of new residents with no personal attachments to the region, and overall a more 'upscale' area that is less sports-inclined generally. In that way, DC probably now resembles San Francisco or Seattle more than it does Pittsburgh or Cleveland, where they really live and die that stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not just the losing, the losing is merely a by product of the real problem, that most everyone hates - the executives. 

 

I used to work for Wells Fargo until August of last year when my entire floor was laid off.  Several years leading up to said layoff were rather dreadful as budgets were cut, asked to do the impossible with less, and layoffs lurking around every corner.  Not as a result of anything me or anyone that I worked with on a daily basis did, but what the suits were doing.  

 

The Skins are basically like what it was for me working there.  Started out great, loved the company, the perks, the people I worked with.  Over time, primarily everything I liked about the company went to crap and everyone grew disdain for the suits making life hell on everyone else.  There were good people there, just like there are here, just not enough of them are empowered enough to make a real difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, spjunkies said:

This team is moving to St. Louis if they can't get the stadium situation straight in the next 2 years. And I don't care :)

I don’t think that would happen but I would love it to.  My enthusiasm would return with an expansion team and a new owner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...