Is the Washington Redskins’ 40-year grip on local fans ending?
Seriously, the Redskins are a half misstep away from no longer dominating the local sports scene. They’re only lucky the Wizards and Nationals are truly awful and the Capitals are, well, a hockey team. A great organization and lots of fun, but an ice sport in a Southern town only gains so much traction. College teams are interesting, but only own a few weeks on the calendar.
If another team could muster a serious title run, especially the Wiz because Washington is a basketball town most of all when combined with Maryland and Georgetown, then the Redskins would be the second team just like they were before Vince Lombardi’s arrival.
This latest ticket scandal exposed by The Washington Post may be the final straw for many fans that have been on the waiting list for years. Team employees sold large blocks of tickets to brokers (scalpers), enraging fans already weary of 10 years of price gouging since owner Dan Snyder’s arrival. This debacle has many fans saying enough is enough.
Snyder’s going nowhere — the team reportedly is worth $1.65 billion and wouldn’t find a book-value buyer in this economy even if the owner wanted to sell, which he doesn’t. This has been Snyder’s toy and it pays too well while he runs it into the ground.
Many longtime fans are deciding whether to continue. I’ve heard from many die-hards who gave up their tickets this season. They can’t suffer the losing combined with exhausting game-day conditions while paying top dollar anymore. That thousands of tickets are online for any game makes it silly to pay for an entire season, including preseason games that are glorified sandlot games.
The Redskins are losing fans faster than President Obama’s going gray. Training camp attendance was significantly down despite official counts. The two preseason games drew at best 50,000 fans each. Fantasy football, the Madden video game and the NFL Ticket are drawing Washingtonians to other franchises.
Unless the franchise makes a significant playoff run soon, which seems doubtful given they’re more likely to finish last in the NFC East than first this season, then the speed of departing faithful will only hasten.
Snyder must do one thing that he won’t — hire a real general manager and butt out of personnel decisions. Winning cures all and will regain fans. Otherwise, fans are tired of this tired act.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com or
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