Erosion Of The Redskins Fanbase

[Dissident2]

10 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

 

^^^^talk radio hot take.

 

Youre a good soldier.

 

There's nothing "hot take" about what you're seeing in the stands. It's something that's been slowly building for the last 20 years, accelerating rapidly over the last 10. The ill-informed, blind "hot take" is chalking it up to "suburban, fussy fans" or saying this fan base is "the worst in the league" based solely on the numbers who come out to "support" the team on Sundays. That's the hot take, with absolutely no interest in understanding context or simple cause and effect. 

 

"Fussy." What a horribly chosen adjective. This fan base is utterly broken. That's based on the gut shots its taken over and over again by the "braintrust" (two incredibly ironic words used in conjunction with Allen/Snyder) that's gotten us to this point.  

 

People haven't checked out because they're "fussy" or "transient fans". It's because they're hopeless with a team that's rudderless, leaderless and directionless. It's like having a family member who's a hopeless drug addict ... eventually "supporting" them equates to ENABLING them. And sometimes you have to just cut them off for the sake of the greater good. That's what we're seeing here ... people realizing that the team as it's structured now, as it's been structured for the last 10 years, is utterly doomed to failure. 

[GoCommiesGo]

I had a get together over the weekend with a bunch of guys doing a bar crawl. Ten people most were Redskins fans, conversation turned to the team. We all used to go the games every Sunday and tailgate when we were in our 20s. Several of us used to travel to the other cities to the see them play.

 

One guy still has season tickets and goes occasionally or gives them away, he can't sell them anymore. One guy just watches in passing but really is a casual fan of the NFL now. Everyone else just keeps it on as background noise, this is where I'm at. 

 

The other interesting thing, is the people that have kids don't push the team. No one has bought their kids any Redskins related stuff in a few years, and no one is trying to steer them to the team. If their kids liked the Ravens they would be okay with that. I thought that was an interesting anecdotal story. I'm not sure where it ends up in the next few years but I can see the team losing a generation of fans to the Ravens pretty easily now. 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

4 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

It's like having a family member who's a hopeless drug addict ... eventually "supporting" them equates to ENABLING them.

In a nutshell.

 

I'll add to that, as someone who has both experienced a family drug addict and the last 20 years of Dan Snyder's Redskins, your hope that they will get it together wanes over time, to the point that you can't even get your hopes up when it 'appears' things are trending in the right direction. So it's quite difficult to get gung-ho about seeing steps in the right direction because you've seen them do the same in the past, only to tumble back down the stairs.

[hail2skins]

It'll be interesting to see what attendance is like early next season if the Skins look decent and the secondary market prices are low. And I'm not talking for the Cowboys, which is always a sellout, but for, say, the Bengals.

 

But I really hope the next stadium, whenever that is, is more "compact" than FedEx. I know I'm comparing apples to oranges here, but am out West this week and went to the Golden Knights vs Canucks game in Vegas last night. Fourth row in the upper bowl and still felt like a great view of the action. In a similar vantage point at FedEx, still feels too high up because of all the suite levels and a too-big club level pushed the upper level up too much. The stadium they are building for the Raiders out here looks like it's going to be very good for an in-person viewing experience.

[Peregrine]

11 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

 

^^^^talk radio hot take.

 

Youre a good soldier.

Hahahahahaha, I see we are going full teen girl squad here.   Cuuuuuute

[Mr. Sinister]

6 minutes ago, hail2skins said:

It'll be interesting to see what attendance is like early next season if the Skins look decent and the secondary market prices are low. And I'm not talking for the Cowboys, which is always a sellout, but for, say, the Bengals.

 

But I really hope the next stadium, whenever that is, is more "compact" than FedEx. I know I'm comparing apples to oranges here, but am out West this week and went to the Golden Knights vs Canucks game in Vegas last night. Fourth row in the upper bowl and still felt like a great view of the action. In a similar vantage point at FedEx, still feels too high up because of all the suite levels and a too-big club level pushed the upper level up too much. The stadium they are building for the Raiders out here looks like it's going to be very good for an in-person viewing experience.

 

In this day and age, fans will travel very well, and in a place like the DMV, and the Delmarva, they can literally drive here. I think a decision has to be made. You want a mega hub for Final Fours, boxing, other events, or do you want a great experience for your own fans

[Boss_Hogg]

Also don't be surprised if we forfeit a home game (or two) to London in 2020. 

 

I live in Florida and the Bucs, Jags, and Dolphins have the same problem as the Redskins. The stadium is always overrun with opposing teams fans and tix are always dirt cheap. 

 

Too bad they lifted the blackout rule, that would've really chapped the midget's ass. 

[hail2skins]

1 hour ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

In this day and age, fans will travel very well, and in a place like the DMV, and the Delmarva, they can literally drive here. I think a decision has to be made. You want a mega hub for Final Fours, boxing, other events, or do you want a great experience for your own fans

I think you can do both. As much as I prefer watching football and baseball at open-air stadiums, I'm resigned that a new Skins venue is going to have at least some sort of retractable roof element. But it can still be a great experience for the local fans if scaled appropriately. I don't think we need something on the scale of Jerryworld here.

[MarkB452]

1 hour ago, Boss_Hogg said:

Also don't be surprised if we forfeit a home game (or two) to London in 2020.  

 

I live in Florida and the Bucs, Jags, and Dolphins have the same problem as the Redskins. The stadium is always overrun with opposing teams fans and tix are always dirt cheap. 

 

Too bad they lifted the blackout rule, that would've really chapped the midget's ass. 

 

I hope we lose a game to London, especially against another one of the dregs of the NFL.  

[HouseBowlrz]

4 hours ago, MarkB452 said:

 

I hope we lose a game to London, especially against another one of the dregs of the NFL.  

 

My first reaction was that we do host Cincinnati next season but since the two teams already played out there in 2016, I doubt they'd send that game again.

 

Other out of division rotational home games: Baltimore, Rams, and Seattle.  Positional home opponent: NFC South.

[Theismann07]

Listening to Kevin Sheehan this morning. Caller made a suggestion that Snyder needs to be forced to get out of town and move the team and D.C. be granted an expansion team by the NFL. A sort of do over and start from scratch on the rebuild. 
 

Maybe this would be our only hope to get out from Dan Snyder’s reign. As long as we got to keep the name, colors, history, etc. Hmmm...interesting thought.

[Dissident2]

1 hour ago, Theismann07 said:

Listening to Kevin Sheehan this morning. Caller made a suggestion that Snyder needs to be forced to get out of town and move the team and D.C. be granted an expansion team by the NFL. A sort of do over and start from scratch on the rebuild. 
 

Maybe this would be our only hope to get out from Dan Snyder’s reign. As long as we got to keep the name, colors, history, etc. Hmmm...interesting thought.

 

That would obviously be the best case dream scenario, but it'll never happen. Dan loves the Redskins. The way a stalker loves his object of obsession, maybe, but he still "loves" the Redskins. I don't think he would ever want to own a team that's not the Redskins and not based in Washington. And who the hell would WANT him at this point? If I was a starving city looking for a team, I'd say, "Uh, yeah, thanks, but we're good to wait another 10 years. Or even 100."

[thebluefood]

On 12/16/2019 at 11:10 AM, Peregrine said:

Hahahahahaha, I see we are going full teen girl squad here.   Cuuuuuute

Dan Snyder at a recent front office meeting

[TD_washingtonredskins]

My ears perked up when Sheehan focused on the topic of replacing this organization with an expansion Redskins team (retaining the name, colors, history, etc.). 

 

What's cool about that is that I think I've engaged in that debate on this forum 3-4 times over the years and it seemed to be something that just today dawned on Sheehan (who's always been my favorite local radio guy). 

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

An expansion team is my biggest sports wish at the moment 

[hail2skins]

It's tough to say. This season will be worse record-wise than 1998, the year before Snyder took over. However, like that season, the team has been playing better the past month or so as the season has wound down. Combine that with a division leaderboard that isnt impressive and there is reason to believe that the Skins can at least compete for the division next year.

 

Of course the objective is sustained success, which is something we have yet to achieve under this ownership, so I fully understand the continued skepticism.

[stoshuaj]

11 hours ago, Theismann07 said:

Snyder needs to be forced to get out of town 

He’s an isolated, insulated billionaire with the shiniest toy in his personal sandbox.  
 

You/we are the booger eaters that long for his attention.  Mind if I ask how you realistically are going to “force” him to move the (edit) his team?

[Theismann07]

1 minute ago, stoshuaj said:

He’s an isolated, insulated billionaire with the shiniest toy in his personal sandbox.  
 

You/we are the booger eaters that long for his attention.  Mind if I ask how you realistically are going to “force” him to move the team?

It was a caller on the morning show with Sheehan that was talking about it. May have been something to the effect that the NFL would force Snyder to move and then give D.C. an expansion team. Wishful thinking. Kevin Sheehan said he’d thought of that scenario before too.

[Mr. Sinister]

11 hours ago, Theismann07 said:

Listening to Kevin Sheehan this morning. Caller made a suggestion that Snyder needs to be forced to get out of town and move the team and D.C. be granted an expansion team by the NFL. A sort of do over and start from scratch on the rebuild. 
 

Maybe this would be our only hope to get out from Dan Snyder’s reign. As long as we got to keep the name, colors, history, etc. Hmmm...interesting thought.

 

Gonna have to let the name go. That's the only way. Colors too. Total reboot. He'll take the whole thing with him. And let him. He's killed it, as far as I'm concerned (31 year old with no connection to anything but L's and chaos)

[stoshuaj]

5 minutes ago, Theismann07 said:

It was a caller on the morning show with Sheehan that was talking about it. May have been something to the effect that the NFL would force Snyder to move and then give D.C. an expansion team. Wishful thinking. Kevin Sheehan said he’d thought of that scenario before too.

Get in line behind the Browns/Jags/Bucs, who else?

 

We only think Skins are best at being worst, lol.

 

It would be interesting to see how the NFL could force a move but not sure it’s even plausible or why it would be considered here anyway.

[Theismann07]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

Gonna have to let the name go. That's the only way. Colors too. Total reboot. He'll take the whole thing with him. And let him. He's killed it, as far as I'm concerned (31 year old with no connection to anything but L's and chaos)

Sheehan said the NFL would have to do it like they did with the Browns and Cleveland. But, you’re right, he’s definitely trashed everything that has been associated with the organization and ruined it for a whole generation.

2 minutes ago, stoshuaj said:

Get in line behind the Browns/Jags/Bucs, who else?

 

We only think Skins are best at being worst, lol.

 

It would be interesting to see how the NFL could force a move but not sure it’s even plausible or why it would be considered here anyway.

Oh, yeah...I get it. I think it’s just wishful thinking from a fanbase that has been abused and taken advantage of by this ownership. We do have lots of practice unfortunately on being in that worst group lol.

[tshile]

1 hour ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

Gonna have to let the name go. That's the only way. Colors too. Total reboot. He'll take the whole thing with him. And let him. He's killed it, as far as I'm concerned (31 year old with no connection to anything but L's and chaos)

Same here. 
 

I mean I would rather keep everything. But getting rid of snyder is priority #1. Whatever we’re left with will, by default, be better. 

[Learned Hand]

3 hours ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

Gonna have to let the name go. That's the only way. Colors too. Total reboot. He'll take the whole thing with him. And let him. He's killed it, as far as I'm concerned (31 year old with no connection to anything but L's and chaos)

 

Its inevitable that the name will change at some point - I personally prefer a partnership with an NA tribe a la FSU or to go back to being the Braves. I could tolerate Warriors with color scheme. However, a total reboot would end it for me. I left the DMV 20 years ago with no plans or desire to return. The Skins are my team. The Skins are who tied to my childhood memories filled with family fun and events with a game being front and center. A completely new team in DC and I am likely done with NFL.  I wonder how many DMV expats like me would embrace a totally new team?

 

Of course those of us who lived through the glory years are getting long in the tooth, so at some point the only fans left will be those like you that only know SnyderMisery and won't really care as you alluded to.

 

I'm depressed just typing this out...

[Chelsea_Phil]

I am not sure if this is the thread that mentions all the things Dan Snyder has done to lose the fanbase, including suing the City Paper and that poor old lady season ticket holder, but I do recall it listed a bunch of things, but missed a very important one, at least to me.

 

Remember when Snyder cut down all of those beautiful tall trees in his property, so that he could get a better view of DC?  That really made me mad back then, and surprise-surprise, it still makes me mad now.  

 

I am one who is not as adamant about disliking Snyder, but that one really eats at me, and needless to say I had and still have a very negative impression of him to this day.

[MarkB452]

Let me refresh your memory:

 

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/13039846/the-cranky-redskins-fans-guide-to-dan-snyder

 

Here's the tree incident:

 

U

Unobstructed View: What Snyder wanted of the Potomac River from the back of his Montgomery County home. To accomplish this, he cut down trees protected by the National Park Service. The episode marked one of the rare times Snyder got crisis PR help. He retained Mike Sitrick, who helped with damage control for the Michael Jackson family after the pop star’s death and Paris Hilton after one of her arrests.

 

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