NFL players make and made multi millions while

The Redskins are now honest about their attendance. And it’s not pretty.

Plenty of tickets still available: The announced attendance of 57,013 at Sunday’s Redskins home opener was the lowest since the team moved to FedEx Field in 1997. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
By Liz Clarke and Tyler Blint-Welsh
September 16

The Washington Redskins couldn’t deliver a victory in their home opener at FedEx Field on Sunday. They couldn’t even manage a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts, hardly a defensive force, scoring all their points in a 21-9 defeat on the right leg of place kicker Dustin Hopkins.

And the biggest cheers came before kickoff — showered not on a Redskin but on Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who sported a customized No. 8 Redskins jersey for his role in the coin-toss ceremony.

It hardly took the chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” to illustrate what has become increasingly apparent over the 19 years of Daniel Snyder’s ownership: The Redskins’ hegemony in the Washington sports market is a shadow of what it once was.

The Redskins, who have made the playoffs just twice in the past decade, must now compete for fans’ dollars, time and loyalty with the Capitals, Nationals, Wizards and D.C. United, which this season opened a new stadium near Nationals Park. And on Sunday, many simply stayed away.

[Boswell: With a shot at 2-0 on the line, Redskins’ loss was a miserable blown opportunity]

The announced attendance of 57,013 was the lowest for a Redskins home opener in the 21-year history of FedEx Field — down more than 21,000 from the 78,658 who attended the Redskins’ 2017 home opener against the NFC East rival Philadelphia Eagles.

It also broke what the Redskins have claimed is a 50-year streak of home-game sellouts.

Swaths of empty seats attested to the story, along with the large section of 300-level end zone seats that was covered with advertising signage and, at the opposite end zone, the removal of seats to create an open-air plaza for fans to mingle, order drinks and keep tabs on other NFL games via 30 HD TV screens.

“A lot of fans have lost that ‘hope springs eternal,’ ” said Dave Kerrigan, a Redskins fan for nearly 30 years who had seats in the front row, musing about the sparse turnout. “The hurricane might’ve had a little bit to do with it; people were on the fence because it looked like it was going to be a big washout weekend a week ago. I’d like to think it was more that — than a loss of support for the team.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/the-redskins-are-now-honest-about-their-...