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Redskins covered up thousands of removed seats at FedEx Field

By Paul Jackiewicz

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Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

It seems like the Washington Redskins have gotten in the habit of removing seats from FedEx Field during each of the past few offseasons.

This year was actually the third time in five seasons that the Redskins did in fact decide to shrink the seating capacity of a stadium that at one time was one of the largest in the NFL. At one point FedEx Field seated as many as 91,704 screaming fans from 2009-2010.

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Fast forward to 2015 and due to fact that quarterback Robert Griffin III has essentially been a bust and Redskins owner Dan Snyder still can’t build a consistent winner, numerous fans have given up on attending games.

“It’s just more fun to watch at home, without spending eight hours of your day,” Redskins fan Jen Riskus told The Washington Post.“It used to be that everyone wanted to go with us to the game. Starting two or three years ago, we couldn’t get anyone to go with us. We couldn’t even give them away for free.”

Here’s a take from another fan.

“I just got tired of the subpar product on the field and in concourses,” Brian Laliberty told The Post. “The only good thing about attending games was the tailgate beforehand with family and friends, and they gave up their tickets before me.”

After removing thousands of seats this offseason, FedEx Field looks a little different and it became even more evident during Tuesday night’s Chelsea-Barcelona soccer match.

Below are some photos that were taken during the match.

It sure looks like the Redskins have turned into the Jacksonville Jaguars when it comes to covering up empty seats in their home stadium.

Surprisedly enough though, Washington was near the top of the NFL in average attendance in 2014, which is around 68,776 for the league.  FedEx Field’s stadium capacity was just listed as 85,000 last season and now it will likely be in the 70,000 range for 2015 and beyond.

The good news is that it seems like smaller stadiums are becoming more of a trend.

“The move to smaller stadiums is a trend in the NFL,”  Marc Ganis, the president of Chicago-based consulting firm SportsCorp told The Post. “There’s a lot more competition sitting in your living room now, so people expect the view you’ll have in the stadium will be far better than what they expected when the Redskins’ stadium was first designed. . . .

“[A smaller stadium] has a corollary effect of providing the same facilities for a smaller number of people: bathrooms, concessions, parking. It has a benefit, for some people at least, of enhancing their day-of-game experience.”

The Redskins also aren’t alone when it comes to having a smaller stadium.  If you look around the NFL most stadiums have a capacity that’s in the 60,000-70,000 range.  It’s well known that NFL teams are having a hard time filling seats because of how much better the home experience of watching football games has gotten over the years.  Not the mention the ridiculous parking and concession prices that fans have to deal with at stadiums.

In light of more seats being removed from FedEx Field, Snyder and the Redskins have taken a more creative approach when it comes to attempting to lure in more season ticket holders.  They’re now offering exclusive breaking news to season ticket holders as well as other perks.

While there’s no doubt a winning team would help the Redskins fill the empty seats at FedEx field, there are other factors as to why so many seats have been removed over recent years.

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