Washington Redskins taking seats out of stadium yet again
The Washington Redskins’ plight isn’t going to be unusual for many NFL teams going forward, it’s just that the Redskins had one of the biggest stadiums in the league.
That stadium is getting smaller, as far as capacity goes. The Redskins have removed thousands of seats from FedEx Field, the third time in five years the team has removed a large number of seats, according to the Washington Post. The Post said seats were gone from the top eight rows of the upper deck during an open house for fans hoping to buy season tickets, and the team said it would reveal full details of the stadium reshaping plan later. Although the team says it has sold out every home game for the past 47 seasons, attendance in the 85,000-seat stadium never topped 81,000 last season, the Post said. The attendance average was 77,964 as the team went 4-12. The team is hoping downsizing will help the fan experience.
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Obviously, the product on the field makes a difference. Washington has been terrible the past couple years, and for most of Daniel Snyder’s time owning the team. The Redskins have won one playoff game since the 1999 season. Everyone knows that losing a ton of games won’t lead to better attendance or happier fans. But there’s more in play here.
The Post story details many issues fans have had with the stadium, including traffic, parking and concessions. Snyder has said he already wants to replace the stadium, which was built in 1997. Selling fewer tickets could help with some of the issues. But teams will have a challenge attracting fans as the in-home experience gets better and makes people question dropping a lot of money to go to the stadium.
“It’s just more fun to watch at home, without spending eight hours of your day,” Redskins fan Jen Riskus told the Post. “It used to be that everyone wanted to go with us to the game. Starting two or three years ago, we couldn’t get anyone to go with us. We couldn’t even give them away for free.”
Riskus’ family had six season tickets, but dropped two several years ago and another two this spring, the Post said.
Riskus’ comments aren’t going to be unusual going forward. NFL teams will be trying to figure out how to optimize the in-stadium experience like the Redskins are. It would help Washington a lot if it started winning games too. But for now, as far as the stadium goes anyway, the team hopes less is more.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
