Redskins Manage Another Sell-Out
Those of you most interested in the Post's Redskins ticketing exposé have no doubt already read the article and vented your bile, but it's probably worth taking a moment to explain to everyone else just why this is so irritating.
The short version: the team's much-vaunted waiting list for season tickets may be recognized as a sham, but to preserve the illusion, *someone* in the 'Skins sales office entered into quiet arrangements to unload hard-to-sell premium tickets in bundles with more sought-after lower bowl seats, bypassing the long line of fans who'd be happy to buy those seats. The counterparties to these deals? Your friends and mine: the men and women of the secondary ticket market, aka scalpers-with-websites, aka the goddamn scum of the earth.
Of course, there's something to be said for the idea of letting the market set the price for tickets. But that's never been the team's priority: forcing season ticket holders to use approved reselling venues isn't exactly an effort to help the market clear. And the Redskins organization is clearly feeling sheepish about this little scheme: they're tight-lipped with the Post, but refer to the incident as a mistake and say that the relevant parties in the ticket office have been disciplined. This seems to be motivated at least in part by last year's game against Pittsburgh, in which opposing fans were so numerous — and so loud — that the team had to use a silent snap count in its own stadium.
The waiting list may be a farce, but it's emblematic of the social contract between the Skins and this town. Despite the team's perennial crappiness, fans remain dedicated. Tickets are still a relatively scarce commodity, and, once you control for teams that are actually good at football, are among the priciest passes in the NFL. The Redskins have been called the most profitable franchise in sports — surely that ought to be enough to sustain the team, no matter how badly Six Flags is doing.
Instead, it appears that the Skins organization opted to greedily take advantage of the secondary market — seemingly just to preserve their aura of desirability, although who knows if some creep in the ticket office was pocketing kickbacks — and in the process helped to flood home games with opposing fans. I was at the Pittsburgh game, and make no mistake: it was bad. FedEx field was filled with fights, black-jersied mouthbreathers and those stupid f@&#ing towels. Redskins fans felt outnumbered in their own stadium, and now it looks like the team helped make it possible. That's no way to treat your fans customers.
Charles Gray contributed to this post.