Attendance

[hail2skins]

As an aside, the 64.4K reported today is 3K over the reported attendance for the Cowboys game last season, in which I believe we were riding a four-game winning streak going into it.

 

Granted, as has been noted, there are probably a lot of Eagles fans who live in the DC area, and of course Philly is a short drive away. But there are also a ton of Cowboys fans in this area too.

 

Of course, both of their fanbases now regularly take over FedEx. But the numbers are interesting.

[Peregrine]

 

Attendance was good.  Most fans really enjoyed the game.  Good to see those reports about league leading and strong season ticket sales were totally true.

[JCB]

We stink again, but Philly fans are UGLY. There, I said it.

[Cooleyfan1993]

12 hours ago, Peregrine said:

 

Attendance was good.  Most fans really enjoyed the game.  Good to see those reports about league leading and strong season ticket sales were totally true.

I mean, the season ticket sales being strong could’ve very likely been true and then tons of people said “screw it” after the week 2 loss to the lions and sold their tickets. 
 

Although it’s 99% more likely that Jason Wrong was lying. 

[Idaho fan]

Those images remind me of road games like in AZ years ago when Redskins fans outnumbered AZ fans 2-1.    Road games are still fun and there seems to always be a good representation of Washington fans.  I have tickets to the Indy game this year.  Went to Vegas last year.  I won't attend a game in DC while Dan owns the team.

 

Sitting in Fed Ex with all those Eagles fans just doesn't sound appealing at all.  Mad respect for those who continue to go to home games though.

[hail2skins]

2 hours ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

I mean, the season ticket sales being strong could’ve very likely been true and then tons of people said “screw it” after the week 2 loss to the lions and sold their tickets. 
 

Although it’s 99% more likely that Jason Wrong was lying. 

That video largely showed the lower visitors side of the stadium. That area has for a while now been stuffed with opposing fans. I think the tickets in those sections are held not by individuals, but by larger government or corporate entities that make their tickets available to employees, and since a lot of people from around the country come to DC for jobs, they are the ones who snag those seats through work when their team comes to town.

 

I think where ticket sales were probably strongest in the offseason was the club level. Slashed prices and perks like free parking made it attractive.

 

On an aside, the Washington Times person who reported that he had been told that capacity had been lowered (62-63K) from last season (67K) asked what the deal was with the over 64K attendance reported yesterday. He was told that the team opened up standing room sections and suites for this game that they previously hadn't intended on doing. One wonders to whom.

 

[ClaytoAli]

[FootballZombie]

I'm not expecting good numbies today.

 

Interested to see where the numbers fall.

[hail2skins]

51800 today, back to last year's levels. I was there for the first time in 4 years. Corner sections of both lower and club levels had a lot of empties. Upper level deserted.

 

Arrive in parking lot around 1145 and dude is playing music that vulgar would be too kind to describe. People have zero class. Seems like they've taken a lot of seating out on the club concourse. Of course, you would expect the TVs to maybe be showing the Packers-Giants game, buy why show that when we can see the Commanders warmup. Lame. Food expensive as hell.

 

Game presentation about what I was used to from years past. Mark Kessler is still a douche. All in all, they don't seem to overwhelm you, which isn't a bad thing. And while HTTC was largely ignored and I hate it, I gotta admit I dig the Big Band-like tone they played it to.

[Commander PK]

From where I sat in 140 on the home side  the crowd was definitely pro Commanders.  There was a few Titans fans on the home side, but not many and they were with Commanders fans.  There were probably a couple thousand Titans fans on the visitors side.  Got vocal at times for their defense.  All in all, it was a decent fan experience.  
 

One thing that continues to baffle (and irritate) me.  I saw the following teams repped in the stadium today.  Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Ravens, Giants, Eagles, and of course the idiot trash talking Cowboys fan.  Why would you go to a game that your team isn’t even playing in?  I look at how the Cowboys and Eagles fans showed up in their away games today.  What has happened to a true home field advantage?  Are there like 5 to 10 teams that even have one anymore?  I don’t get the Eagles faithful either.  For most of their history they have sucked total ass, yet their fan base acts like they are world beaters or something.  It’s annoying as hell.  

[hail2skins]

1 hour ago, Commander PK said:

From where I sat in 140 on the home side  the crowd was definitely pro Commanders.  There was a few Titans fans on the home side, but not many and they were with Commanders fans.  There were probably a couple thousand Titans fans on the visitors side.  Got vocal at times for their defense.  All in all, it was a decent fan experience.  
 

One thing that continues to baffle (and irritate) me.  I saw the following teams repped in the stadium today.  Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Ravens, Giants, Eagles, and of course the idiot trash talking Cowboys fan.  Why would you go to a game that your team isn’t even playing in?  I look at how the Cowboys and Eagles fans showed up in their away games today.  What has happened to a true home field advantage?  Are there like 5 to 10 teams that even have one anymore?  I don’t get the Eagles faithful either.  For most of their history they have sucked total ass, yet their fan base acts like they are world beaters or something.  It’s annoying as hell.  

Again, I was there for the first time in four years and the amount of Titans fans in the lower bowl visitors side appeared to be the same as there usually were for just about any other visitors fanbase in recent years. Sad thing is that area used to be occupied by largely Redskins fans for probably the first 15 or so years of the stadium, and what's sadder is how the stadium has been diminished to a low 60K capacity, and we still had over 10K empties today.

 

Philadelphia is more fervent about sports in general than Washington, and while the Eagles were a bottom-feeder team in the late 60s and much of the 70s, nobody gives a rats ass about that timeframe now. The Eagles have arguably been one of the top teams in the league over the past 45 years, and to even compare the Philadelphia and Washington NFL franchises over the past 30 seasons is laughable.

[Dissident2]

I went for the first time in a long time, solely to take my youngest to his first "NFL" game. He has no real rooting interest in the team. Frankly, I don't either anymore. But I figured the Titans crowd would be less hostile and a better first experience. $50 tickets in the 400 section. 

 

My thoughts:

Stadium inside looks a little nicer than I remember. More Redskins/team-related stuff, more burgundy and gold, more nods to the past. And that's about where the positives end. 

 

Kids wanted a HOT soft pretzel before the game. So did I. We ordered three for the expected huge sum of duckets. Got them back to our seats, at about 12 pm (traffic was much less than I expected, so we were there early), and the pretzels were totally cold and stale. Like they'd been leftover from the day before. Again, this is NOON, when they should be totally fresh and hot. 

 

So we were excited at first to see these printed pieces of paper stuck to our seats that said, "You're a winner! Come by the sales booth to claim your prize." Then I saw these pieces of paper all over the stadium taped to seats, saw "sales booth" again in the verbiage and realized this was probably a load of crap. The kids of course wanted to see what the "prize" was, though, so we decided to walk down to the sales booth. I told them I fully expected this was a scam to try to sell us something and that if it was, we'd be walking away. We got to the line where a bunch of suckers were holding their piece of paper, expecting something cool. I stood by and listened in. Sure enough, just a pathetic attempt to get people to sign up for season tickets or some other exorbitantly priced thing. And the prize? A cheap pair of plastic sunglasses that looked like they came out of a vending machine. 

 

So the game was getting ready to start and we wanted to get back to our seats so my kid could see his first kickoff. As we get to the tunnel to walk into our section, I hear the anthem has just started, and this big security guard holds up his hands and says, dismissively, "First of all ... you have to wait right here." I said, "Oh, the anthem is playing, OK." 

 

So we stood there as the song, which literally just started, began. I wanted my kid to experience that instead of having to stand in a dark tunnel listening, but I didn't want to cause a scene at that point. Then I noticed the fireworks were starting. I thought maybe a flyover was next. I wanted my boy to see that. "We can't go in?" I said. The guy just shook his head back and forth. The response just pissed me off, and I said, "Come on man, this ain't North Korea." 

 

"No. This is the United States of America."

 

"Yeah, and that's why we should be free to simply walk 5 feet into the light so my son can see this after I paid all this money for tickets and food and everything else. This is his first game."

 

"Congratulations. If you go to guest services, they'll give him something to commemorate his first game."

 

I shut up after that, as there was no point and my kids were already embarrassed by their old man. Look, I'm as patriotic as the next guy. I would've walked in there with my hand on my heart so my kid could see the fireworks. I thought it was ridiculous. 

 

Anthem ended, big guy moved out of the way. 

 

It was a beautiful day for football. There were the usual drunks around, mostly grotesque women dancing around like slobs. And then there was what appeared to be an insane old woman who kept cheering, "First and ten, let's do it again. DC Commanders, DC Commanders." It was weird. But there was nothing dangerous or over the top, so that was good. 

 

I later went to another concession stand and ordered a medium drink. They said they only had the large commemorative cups (which cost a ton more, of course), but that if I got that, I could get a free refill at any stand throughout the stadium, so I did that. In the second half, I went to another stand to get that promised refill. The woman looked at me like I was nuts. "We don't give refills." "When I bought this, I was told that I could get a free refill anywhere." Same look. Then she asked her manager. He was a nice guy actually. He said, "Yeah, we don't give refills, but we've heard there were some people saying that about those cups, so just go ahead and give it to him." 

 

Lol. 

 

So the game itself ... pretty bad display of football, but the Dyami Brown catches were great for my kid to see, and he was thrilled. We were all excited at the end and when the ball was placed at the 2, I figured there was no way we don't punch it in and give a nice end to this story. 

 

What is wrong with me, lol. 

 

As soon as that pick happened, we bolted. Didn't even see the tackle. My youngest said, as we were walking the walk of shame as fast as we could, "Man, they SUCK! But that was still a fun game." 

 

I guess that's something.

 

 

[Zim489]

Main that was painful until that second to last sentence. Glad to see they liked the game as fun. I feel so sorry for them now lol. You ruined them lol

 

How empty was the stadium? Didnt see a single picture or crowd shot

[Csup]

I try not to judge people that still go to Washington home games but I'll never understand it.  It still sounds like a horrible experience.  If you want to take in a live game the Ravens are a much better option.

[Dissident2]

32 minutes ago, Zim489 said:

Main that was painful until that second to last sentence. Glad to see they liked the game as fun. I feel so sorry for them now lol. You ruined them lol

 

How empty was the stadium? Didnt see a single picture or crowd shot

 

It wasn't too embarrassing. Far from full, but better than I thought it might be. Plenty of Titans fans there, but not the same level as Eagles fans two weeks prior. Clear that we have no home field advantage whatsoever though. The crowd got "sorta kinda" loud a few times, but nowhere near enough to really disrupt the opponent. You could also hear Titans fans cheering when they were on defense. Also interesting that the "Hail to the Whatevers" song they played during TDs didn't have ANYONE that I could hear singing along or saying "Redskins" as many feared. I was kind of surprised at that, but it's probably because the song is much slower than the old version and, imo, is about as inspiring now as watching cement dry. No one cared about the song at all. Would be surprised if it lasts into next season. Sad. 

[Warhead36]

22 minutes ago, Csup said:

I try not to judge people that still go to Washington home games but I'll never understand it.

I respect their passion but yeah I haven't been to a game in a decade and don't intend on returning anytime soon.

[hail2skins]

57 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

Sure enough, just a pathetic attempt to get people to sign up for season tickets or some other exorbitantly priced thing. And the prize? A cheap pair of plastic sunglasses that looked like they came out of a vending machine. 

 

I later went to another concession stand and ordered a medium drink. They said they only had the large commemorative cups (which cost a ton more, of course), but that if I got that, I could get a free refill at any stand throughout the stadium, so I did that. In the second half, I went to another stand to get that promised refill. The woman looked at me like I was nuts. "We don't give refills." "When I bought this, I was told that I could get a free refill anywhere." Same look. Then she asked her manager. He was a nice guy actually. He said, "Yeah, we don't give refills, but we've heard there were some people saying that about those cups, so just go ahead and give it to him."

1) I hope they played the ZZ Top song "Cheap Sunglasses" while they were making the season ticket pitch.

 

2) Yeah, before the game we approached the seafood stand in the "food court" area they have near one of the club level end zone sections. I looked up at the board and thought they had an option for a regular soda for $8 and the commemorative "refill" cups for $12.50. I think "Gold" members get a discount, but we had gotten the tickets on Stubhub, so weren't eligible for that. So we want to order at the counter and the guy points us to a kiosk where we have to order, pay, print the receipt, hand it to him and then he gives us the food. Seems kind of pointless, but ok. When we were at the kiosk it looked to me like the only soda available was the 12.50 one, so I just got a bottle of Gatorade for $7. Also ordered a crab cake sandwich and fries. For $22 you would think that he'd get one of the crab cakes out of the front area and put it on the bun, but instead I got one that was prewrapped. When I opened it it was all smashed down. But there were a ton of fries, so there's that.

57 minutes ago, Zim489 said:

How empty was the stadium? Didnt see a single picture or crowd shot

Purbeast posted a mid-game shot in one of the threads. Lower level was mostly full, but there were noticeable empties in the corner sections. Same with the club level.  There are tons of empties in the upper deck and if you're going to a game to feel the energy of the crowd, I can't see how that can be appealing at all. The announced attendance was comparable to last year's figures, substantially lower than that of the JAX and PHL games.

[NoCalMike]

On 10/9/2022 at 6:44 PM, Commander PK said:

 

One thing that continues to baffle (and irritate) me.  I saw the following teams repped in the stadium today.  Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Ravens, Giants, Eagles, and of course the idiot trash talking Cowboys fan.  Why would you go to a game that your team isn’t even playing in?  

To be fair I went to the Texans @ 49ers game last year with my 49ers fan friend.  It was very late in the season, the Commanders were toast, I was able to watch the game on my phone in the morning anyway while we were driving to the stadium, and Levi Stadium is one of the nicest stadiums around right now. I mostly went just to see the stadium and I haven't been to a game in awhile, so why not.  I didn't wear Commanders (Washington Football Team/RSkins) gear though. I was more tempted to wear my Rickey Henderson A's jersey to get some reaction from all the 49ers (and SF Giants fans) but decided against it because I didn't want to make things awkward for my buddies.

[kleese]

The “stadium takeover” thing is league-wide FYI. It’s a new phenomenon that I would have never guessed or saw coming 20+ years ago. Anyone see the Philly-Arizona game? At the end, it legit looked like 80% Eagles green celebrating. Same thing happens in almost all of the “destination” cities and/or cities where the home team is really bad. Happens in Dallas all the time. And in LA this Sunday it looked like about 70% Cowboys fans. 
 

Places like Philly, Buffalo, Detroit, KC, that aren’t as attractive in terms of a weekend vacation spot and/or have a very localized hardcore fanbase have seemed to hold off on this trend. But I’d say at least half the teams in the league experience it almost weekly. Like if the Steelers play at the Titans; it’s probably a 50/50 split despite how good Tenn has been. 
 

On Oct. 23rd, FedEx will be pretty full. It will likely be 75% Packers fans. 

[ananoman]

51 minutes ago, kleese said:

The “stadium takeover” thing is league-wide FYI. It’s a new phenomenon that I would have never guessed or saw coming 20+ years ago. Anyone see the Philly-Arizona game? At the end, it legit looked like 80% Eagles green celebrating. Same thing happens in almost all of the “destination” cities and/or cities where the home team is really bad. Happens in Dallas all the time. And in LA this Sunday it looked like about 70% Cowboys fans. 
 

Places like Philly, Buffalo, Detroit, KC, that aren’t as attractive in terms of a weekend vacation spot and/or have a very localized hardcore fanbase have seemed to hold off on this trend. But I’d say at least half the teams in the league experience it almost weekly. Like if the Steelers play at the Titans; it’s probably a 50/50 split despite how good Tenn has been. 
 

On Oct. 23rd, FedEx will be pretty full. It will likely be 75% Packers fans. 

And this is why no matter how low this team sinks, there will continue to be at least some fans in the stands- they will just be rooting for whomever Washington is playing that weekend.  And those fans will get their money's worth because  at this point, the Commanders are becoming fodder for apposing teams to just rack up another W and make it a happy afternoon for their fans,  kinda like how the Washington Generals were for the Harlem Globetrotters.  

 

Come to think of it.  This team should be named the Generals.  It would be very appropriate.

Edited October 11, 2022 by ananoman

[hail2skins]

I think people are loose with their definition of opposing fan takeovers.  At FedEx, the sections where you'll regularly see the biggest concentration of opposing fans are the lower bowl ones (100 level) on the visitors side. I think that those seats are mostly held by larger entities (government or corporate). When the stadium opened, a lot of employees of those entities were still Redskins fans, and thus you still had a healthy concentration of Skins fans in those seats. However, as time has worn on, the team has been less successful, and those people have been less interested in attending, you probably have employees from out of town who are scooping up those tickets for the chance of the once per season (or less frequent) chance to see their team play here. But other than those sections, for most games, many are mostly occupied with Washington fans. 

 

There are probably a few fanbases who travel well and can take over stadiums. Philly, Dallas, and Pittsburgh do it league wide. In addition, I can see the Ravens doing it here because of the proximity. But looking at the next home game......I attended when the Packers came here in 2018. The crowd makeup was nowhere close to even 50 percent Packers fans, let alone 75 percent.

 

 

 

[kleese]

41 minutes ago, hail2skins said:

I think people are loose with their definition of opposing fan takeovers.  At FedEx, the sections where you'll regularly see the biggest concentration of opposing fans are the lower bowl ones (100 level) on the visitors side. I think that those seats are mostly held by larger entities (government or corporate). When the stadium opened, a lot of employees of those entities were still Redskins fans, and thus you still had a healthy concentration of Skins fans in those seats. However, as time has worn on, the team has been less successful, and those people have been less interested in attending, you probably have employees from out of town who are scooping up those tickets for the chance of the once per season (or less frequent) chance to see their team play here. But other than those sections, for most games, many are mostly occupied with Washington fans. 

 

There are probably a few fanbases who travel well and can take over stadiums. Philly, Dallas, and Pittsburgh do it league wide. In addition, I can see the Ravens doing it here because of the proximity. But looking at the next home game......I attended when the Packers came here in 2018. The crowd makeup was nowhere close to even 50 percent Packers fans, let alone 75 percent.

 

 

 

Fair enough. You’d definitely know better than I would. I’m judging very much from afar. I can tell you when GB plays in Dallas it is probably 50/50; figured it would be even more dramatic in Landover. 

[Dissident2]

All of that may be true, but I have rarely ... if EVER ... heard the opposing team's fans cause the home team to adopt a silent count like I've seen from a lot of FedEx games over the last couple years. Almost every game they play now, you can hear the chants of "Defense" when we're on offense, and they're loud! I don't see that with any of the other games I'm watching, although I obviously don't watch everything. 

[Commander PK]

5 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

All of that may be true, but I have rarely ... if EVER ... heard the opposing team's fans cause the home team to adopt a silent count like I've seen from a lot of FedEx games over the last couple years. Almost every game they play now, you can hear the chants of "Defense" when we're on offense, and they're loud! I don't see that with any of the other games I'm watching, although I obviously don't watch everything. 

A lot of times they are emboldened because they are all sitting together.  A couple fans inside of a pack of Commanders fans would not do this…most of the time.  Visiting fans are able to purchase large numbers of seats together which enables them to behave like it’s a home game.  
 

Watching some of the Rams home games the last few years…they are in a much similar boat.  If you are playing one of these teams that has a large national following you can always count on a huge visitor count in the stands.  The Rams have been a good team with an exciting offense, and they still have to contend with huge numbers of opposing fans in the stands.  This NFL reality for us is exacerbated by our consistent losing.  
 

Back in the day also, if you went to another team’s house and acted like an asshole you very well might be carried out by the people that brought you.  People are far less willing to go there these days, and that’s a good thing, but it doesn’t help the home field advantage at all.   

[ntotoro]

Doc made a comment that the fans have gotten soft. 25 years of taking it to the chin will do that to you.