Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is slated to earn at least $1 million from season ticket holders this summer — interest money fans won’t get back if the football season is canceled this fall. One of the most profitable teams in football, the Redskins are among the majority of teams requiring fans to stick to their payment schedules this spring if they want to keep their tickets. And it plans to keep the interest earned on those millions of dollars now pouring in.
“You’re trapped,” said Doug Winkler, who spends nearly $12,000 per season on Redskins season tickets. “If you don’t [pay] they can sell your seats and if there’s not going to be football this year, there will be next year and I don’t want to risk losing them.”
The team wouldn’t disclose how many general admission season ticket holders it has vs. premium seat holders, but spokesman Tony Wyllie did not dispute that Snyder could earn more than $1 million in interest.
Another season ticket holder said Snyder has a history of “exploiting the Redskins’ strong fan base” and “can get away” with such moves because of team’s long waiting list.
“It’s hard to give up my tickets over something like this when I know that Dan Snyder will be gone one day and it may take years to get season tickets again,” said Brandon Davis, a long-time fan from Charlottesville, Va. “I am really just riding out the storm on this one.”
| We’re in the money: Top 5 richest teams | ||||
| Total | Annual | Average | Revenue | |
| Team | value | revenue | gen. ticket | per fan |
| # 1 Dallas Cowboys | $1.8b | $420m | $160 | $42 |
| #2 Washington Redskins | $1.6b | $353m | $85 | $37 |
| #3 New England Patriots | $1.4b | $318m | $118 | $36 |
| #4 New York Giants | $1.2b | $241m | $90 | $9* |
| #5 Houston Texans | $1.2b | $272m | $68 | $21 |
| *return cut by two-team market | ||||
| Source: Forbes 2010 team valuations | ||||
The average price for a general admission seat is $85, according to Forbes, although the team says that’s really $64 because Forbes doesn’t include FedEx Field’s $29 partial-view seats. According to the Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index, the average cost for a premium seat is about $255, although sideline seats can run about $500 per game, according to a 2008 invoice.
The team would not disclose how many general admission season ticket holders it has vs. premium seat holders. However using FedEx’s 91,704 seats and estimating an average $150 per ticket, Geier Financial Group President Joe Geier said Snyder could be getting nearly $137 million in season ticket payments, which were due for most tickets holders last month.
That could translate to $1.4 million via a 1 percent interest earning over six months if the money is put in Treasury bonds, he said. Using Forbes’ 2009 estimation of FedEx annual gate receipts, which doesn’t include all premium seat types, interest would be just under $900,000.
While the Redskins’ policy is similar to many teams, the neighboring Baltimore Ravens have guaranteed fans their money back with 1 percent interest.
But Wyllie said Redskins season ticket holders who paid in full by February were given free tickets to their choice of the Kenny Chesney concert in June, the FC Barcelona-Manchester United soccer match in July or the Maryland-Notre Dame football game in November.
“We’re giving fans far more value than we would by sending a check for a few dollars of interest,” he said.
He also noted fans can defer full payment until May and can get their money refunded — without interest — if any games are canceled. Otherwise the money goes toward next year.
Geier, whose company manages assets for high net worth clients, including many athletes, noted that in “today’s interest rate environment, owners are not going to profit as much” as they would have a few years ago.
But to the average fan?
“Is that a lot of money? Yeah that’s a lot of money,” he said.
Alex Pappas contributed to this report.
