Redskins suffer league’s worst attendance drop by a wide margin

This is hardly a surprise, but the Redskins suffered the league’s worst attendance drop in 2018. It’s easy to see why that happened.

One of the major off-field issues for the Redskins franchise over the course of the 2018 season was ticket sales and attendance at games. It’s an issue that got attention from players, including D.J. Swearinger and Josh Norman, who called out fans over their lack of attendance this year, and of course, the fans themselves.

Most recently, the departure of Brian Lafemina and other front office executives on the business side has drawn the ire of fans. These executives were well less than a year into their tenures in Washington, but they were brought in with a specific goal in mind. And that was to improve game-day experiences for fans and fix the ticket sale problem the organization had on their hands. However, they were let go before they could fully get a chance to implement their plan.

With the season now over, the NFL attendance numbers are in, and they aren’t too favorable for the ‘Skins. In fact, they are laughable. The team saw their attendance drop by 19 percent in 2018, good for worst in the NFL. And the second-worst team, the Bucs, only saw a drop of nine percent.

That’s embarrassing, and the team needs to put forth a better effort to improve fan experience moving forward. Otherwise, their numbers will continue to drop.

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That said, it is worth noting that Lafemina and company’s strategic moves could have caused some of the drop in ticket sales, as point out by NBC Sports Washington’s J.P. Finlay.

"Lafemina’s business plan involved getting rid of the infamous season ticket waitlist and cutting off ticket brokers. It’s unknown if those practices helped inflate previous attendance figures, but the precipitous drop in crowd size this year suggests a correlation."

This is true, but there are underlying long-term issues that Lafemina was brought in to deal with. These moves could have been a part of trying to fix that. He wasn’t given a chance to try anything for more than one season. And as the old adage goes, things often have to get worse before they get better, but we never even got to see whether or not Lafemina’s strategy would have panned out.

Also, it’s worth noting that the Redskins fan base has been alienated by players and upper management this season. Their demands are being ignored, and there seems to be a lack of understanding on Dan Snyder’s side regarding what the fans want, and need. It also doesn’t help that the team’s product was poor at times — especially after Alex Smith suffered his season-ending injury. That is definitely the larger issue here, and that is absolutely why attendance dropped.

In order to improve upon attendance moving forward, the Redskins have to do something they haven’t done recently. Listen to the fans. They have to improve game-day experience and try to create a winning culture and solid on-field product. If they can’t do that, their attendance numbers could continue to sag, and whatever remaining homefield advantage there is at FedEx Field will cease to exist.

This is a storyline to watch this offseason. If the Redskins can’t win back their fan base, their business side will certainly be in turmoil.