The waiting list for season tickets to Washington Redskins games used to be 100,000 diehards deep. Now they are selling tickets at FedEx Stadium for $4.
Call it karma. . . bad karma, to be precise.
This is what happens when your owner refuses to change a nickname deemed racist by a large faction of Native Americans. This is what happens when a first-year coach publicly trashes and then benches the player with the most potential and any semblance of star power. This is what happens when you have just one winning season since. . . well, for a long time.
This is a considerable departure for the Redskins, who have enjoyed a loyal and rabid fan base for some time. According to the website seatgeek.com, which resells tickets and also tracks the market, some tickets for Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams are $4. A java chip frappacino at Starbucks costs more.
On stubhub.com, there were more than 6,400 tickets for sale starting at $5.25. The Virginia High School playoff tickets are $10.
Some would say, “That’s what you deserve,” and they’d be pretty accurate. Not much has gone right lately for the Redskins. Worse, not much has been handled right by the team.
Owner Dan Snyder has been arrogant in his insistence on keeping the team’s name, although even some legislators are asking for change. Snyder grew up as a fan and claims personal ties to the name, even as many consider it hurtful and racist.
Coach Jay Gruden has been just as arrogant, with no room for arrogance. His first year as a head coach has been miserable; he has not impressed. He even treated Robert Griffin III as rudely as any coach ever has, blasting him in a post-game press conference for an extended period. Now word comes that Gruden “is done” with Griffin, who two years ago was the NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year.
He’s been impatient and mean-spirited in his handling of the one star player that fans have been excited to see play in the last decade.
Now it’s all unraveling for the team. The average ticket price last week was $31, the lowest since they were a running joke under Jim Zorn. The erstwhile “Dream Seats” behind the Redskins’ bench are selling for hundreds of dollars less than face value, at $91.
Never would have, could have, expected this from the Redskins. But then, they have not deserved much better.
