In this morning’s Washington Examiner, columnist Rick Snider commented on the inevitable return of the Washington Redskins back to the nation’s Capital.
For those of you not versed in Redskins history (and knowing I’m not exactly the Redskins guru in the DeafDC ranks), the Redskins played for most of its football existence inside the four quadrants of D.C. When previous owner Jack Kent Cooke wanted to build a new stadium next to the former stadium, RFK, he encountered politics with the city because the land that RFK is built on is federal land leased by the city.
Of course, Cooke feuded with the previous mayor of D.C., Sharon Pratt Kelly. Kelly’s inability to come to an amiable agreement with Cook probably led to her failure to be re-elected as mayor. Go figure.
Now, ten years later, Snider’s column states that the value of the land where the current stadium, FedEx Field, is built on, is worth the risk of an investment into building a new football-only stadium in the city.
And this is in the middle of a phase of new sports attractions into the city. The Washington Nationals’ new ballpark is expected to open in 15 months. Even the city’s local soccer team, DC United, is requesting a new soccer-only stadium for the three-time MLS champions. All of this is sure to bring star appeal back to the city, but at what expense?
I mean, c’mon, FedEx Field isn’t that half bad. I especially like the Club Level seating with “the world’s largest outdoor restaurant, serving over 30,000 patrons per game,” and its burgundy and gold (however faded) seats provide immediate pigskin gratification (oh man, am I starting to sound like a Redskins fan here). But, when it comes to raising the price of nosebleed seats and serving $8 hot dogs and $10 beers, the Redskins franchise will lose its appeal of a family friendly environment. Only people interested in making a quick profit of reselling season tickets or hard-core, die-hard Redskin fans will purchase the already ridiculous high-priced tickets.
So, it’s either a stay in Landover, where the current stadium is located…and continue to appreciate the fans who make FedEx Field the biggest and loudest in the country during the fall months…or, as current money-grubbing owner Daniel Snyder wants to, make the Redskins overpriced, uncompetitive, and let my beloved New York Giants make the playoffs while my fellow colleagues wallow in misery every December.
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Sorry for the off topic, anybody notices the U.S. Senator John McCain AD on this DeafDC website? I wonder if DeafDC Webmaster/Administrators approved the McCain message? I bet they are not authorized to control the ADs by Google…
That’s neat, and that’s the way Google ads work. We don’t “approve” the Google ads that show up on our site but we can restrict specific ads if they are not appropriate for DeafDC.
And let’s try to stay on topic here. I definitely have something to say about the Redskins stadium, coming up next…
I would love to see the Redskins return to the district. I agree with Snider (the author of the article), it is an abomination that there is no metro stop at FedEx Field. If you want to take the metro, you have to get off at a stop along the green line and transfer to a metrobus then continue your journey to the stadium, clogging up the already crowded roads. At RFK, you can simply get off the metro and walk to the stadium.
I am surprised the article suggests that Snyder (the Redskins owner) sees money in the RFK location. Other than jacking up season ticket and food prices, how will he make up for the losses from parking tickets lost to metro riders? Maybe increased sponsorship?
Or, perhaps it is likely that Snyder, a lifetime Redskins fan, doesn’t like the idea of the hated Cowboys having a better stadium than the Redskins. I have to admit, looking through the new Cowboy stadium website, it’s beautiful:
http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/
And Chris, every NFL-owner wants to make money off of their investment. Snyder just does a better job than the rest of them.
Look what Abe Pollin did. The Wizards (formerly known as the Bullets) played at Cap Center - on the other side of the Beltway from Fex Ex. Abe built the current Verizon Center (formerly known as MCI Center!) with most of his own money. Moving back to DC was one of the best things! The area around there is bustling now.
There’s a wide range of ticket prices for Wiz games so they haven’t been priced out of the market yet. Season tickets in the bottom bowl are pricey - I know because I am part of a group that has them. (And yes, I saw Gil make his incredible last second shots against Milwaukee and Utah!) Anyway, I love parking at Metro and taking it to the games. It is just so much easier!
If the ‘Skins got a new stadium do you think it would be domed? That way they could host a Super Bowl…
Typical of Dan Snyder — he does not know how to manage football team. They’ll always be winner during off-season and loser during the regular season.
Current Stadium in Landover is practically a new stadium — it’d be waste of lot of money and materials if they were to abandon that stadium and build other one in already crowded DC city.
Traffic during games is normal for every city, every stadium. Solution to this: Arrive early and have tailgate party with bratwursts/BBQ ribs, couple of beers, and you’ll have more fun.
To be honest, I’m not much of a sports fan. The only professional football stadium I have ever been in is Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. If anyone has any commentary to make about this one, I’m happy to hear it - I’m in no position to evaluate it. Nor do I have any particular loyalty to the team, so if you wanna bash them, be my guest.
But what I do remember is the great tailgate parties that my ex-husband’s cousin would throw out in the parking lot beforehand…I agree with “Fan” above - those can often be more fun than the game itself! The food was a helluva lot cheaper and damn good too (Kansas City is known for its barbecue, after all!)
One thing that still sticks out in my memory…one of the best Margaritas I ever had came out of one of those dinky little bars up in the top rafters of the stadium, served in a plastic arrowhead-decorated cup. Might not have been real fancy, but man…was that one heck of a good use of tequila!
everything is based on real estate value, if its not making money its better to sell and build new for more people to come… Yes sometimes the location is the issue moving the team around trying to get people from that area to come to the games. I think moving the team near the metro would be great!
You guys gotta see the Detroit Lions field. “Ford Field” still being owned by the Ford clan family ever since the team was built. The new one; it was built like 2-3 years ago. Its right on the “pathway” to the Detroit Tigers, You can clearly see it if you are driving on I-75 during the day or at night if there are home games going on at the Detroit Tigers field AKA Comerica Park (Hard to see if they are not playing night games) Its too bad they had a bad luck not winning the series. And as for the Detroit Red Wings “The Joe Louis” its just appx 10-15 miles down, I’m a beloved Red Wings ticket holder since i have graduated from RIT. So one thing that is great is during the play offs in the spring, everyone is either at the baseball game or at the Red Wings play offs and when the games are over everyone gathers to the bars in between the staduims. “Downtown on Woodward Ave” I think thats great because everyone gets together cheers for the city of “Detroit” either if its for the Red Wings, the Tigers or the lowly Lions. Thats why i’m still keeping my front row, 2nd level middle ice tickets!!!
However I think everyone wants to make money on Real Estate rather then losing the value of it. Everyone wants to make profits not losing money. With today’s money market- Its bad and will get worst somehow… if people dont spend their money on value on the tickets or the VIP package.