Dan Snyder Doesn't Like His Fans

The Redskins front office is doing something monstrous, and Dan Snyder is to blame.

The Redskins organization is suing season ticket holders who cannot fulfill their contracts, and then selling those same seats to other people, sometimes second market ticket dealers.

I haven't seen this story outside of the Washington Post, but it needs to get out there. Mark Maske had a great article in Thursday's paper and Thomas Boswell had a terrific column in yesterday's edition.

Ok, so here is the technical stuff: Redskins tickets are the hottest commodity in Washington. The Redskins have sold out every one of their home games for decades, and claim to have a season ticket waiting list of over 160,000 names. Season tickets are passed down in families for generations. Corporate sponsors keep the same seats for years. When someone purchases season tickets with the Redskins they are required to sign a contract that commits them to buying the tickets for 10 seasons. Each year they are required to buy at least 2 seats to 10 games (8 regular season, 2 pre-season). The minium ticket price at Fedex Field is $45. So do all of that math...and at minimum each season ticket holder is on the hook for $1800 a year and $18,000 over the life of the contract.

But that just gets you upper deck seats on the corner, and who wants those? The price graduates up each time the seats get better. You don't mind the upper deck but want to be more towards the middle of the field? That'll be about $90 a game, per seat. (I making an educated guess here. I went to a Skins/Giants game six years ago and paid a guy with season tickets face value for seats in section 432. $69 each. My wife bought similar seats on StubHub three years ago. With fees and shipping, $95 each.) Want to move down a level? You can, for a price. Want to move down another level? Cha-ching. Want a club level box seat? $475 each. Want a sideline seat with all you can eat food and drink and a waitstaff to fetch it for you? $500, per seat, per game.

My point is this, these tickets cost a lot of money, and the Redskins still have no trouble selling them. Selling them all, that is.

But to the Redskins, if things turn south for you economically, and you can't afford your tickets an want out of you contract, it's time to sue. Why wouldn't the organization just let these fans out of their contract, and sell the tickets to one of the alleged 160,000 people waiting in the wings? According to Boswell, that is what at least 9 other NFL teams do, including the Redskins' neighbors on I-95, the Baltimore Ravens.

The Redskins take it one step further though. They not only sue their ex-season ticket holders, they resell the tickets, and sometimes don't even sell it to another fan, but to a ticket broker like StubHub or ASC tickets. Maske's article has a great breakdown of the premium seats for which ASC now has a contract. What the Redskins are doing is perfectly legal. They have every right to sue and enforce the contracts, but they shouldn't.

These actions are reprehensible, and they show that Dan Snyder doesn't know what it is like to be a sports fans. This shows that he is an owner who sees the people who fill his stadium as customers, not fans. The word "fan" is short for fanatic. There is a reason for that. Fans feel like they are invested in the team, even if they never go to a game. There is an intensity and passion that does not exist in other business/customer relationships, especially for the fans who buy season tickets. When you do something like this you will lose fans, and not only will they not like you anymore, they will hate you and your team with the same intensity and passion that had for them before.

Nobody grows up rooting for Coldwell Banker. Nobody has fond memories of waking up on Monday mornings and checking the real estate transactions in the newspaper with their grandfather to see if Coldwell outsold Remax this week. Well, maybe some people do. They grow up to be the owners and rest of us are just fans.

But that's my point, owners like Dan Snyder are great business people, but horrible sports fans.

Wouldn't it be great if the fans could fire Dan Snyder, sue him for ruining a contender, and then grant ownership to either Bob Craft, the Maras, or the Rooneys? Those three sure know how to run a franchise.