Commanders News (Social Media)

skinsinparadise said:
But back to this team. It's not out of the woods yet as for this team reigniting itself as a local-national draw. I was listening to a guy on Sheehan's show last year who covers TV ratings and the NFL and he was talking about the Commanders are not really a TV ratings magnet yet where surveys show national audiences crave to see them -- like the Chiefs are among other teams.

Don't get me wrong, we are on the right track and big time so. Clearly the NFL now thinks that we are a draw. But it does feel some like what the Lions went through as to a metaphorsis where it wasn't instant national relevance. Hard Knocks helped them a lot. National games and showing up in those games over multiple years drove their relevance even further.

This team arguably has further to bring back from the dead to the Lions with the casual fan type. I don't think we can afford to slow burn this teams revival or to ignore its a problem and to do so feels very Bruce Allen-Ron Rivera to me. I love this new staff-ownership pushing the gas in a big way. And I do think this staff will come off great on Hard Knocks -- its a very likeable crew. But heck even if I went with the idea that some fans have that its a distraction -- in this case every team in the division has the exact same distraction so why should it hurt us more? It's the softest version of Hard Knocks for those who are worried about it from that context albiet personally I don't think cameras in a fluff piece is a distraction these days. Per your point, teams do it on their own anyway.


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Home Attendance and TV Ratings Highlight Challenges For Washington Commanders - Commies Football

Despite a magical 2024 season, the local TV ratings for the Washington Commanders were surprisingly poor. We look at what might be the cause.
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Home Attendance and TV Ratings Highlight Challenges For Washington Commanders​


ESPN has the 2024 season home attendance numbers for all the NFL franchises. The Commies came in an embarrassing 30th place out of 32 teams. The Commies averaged 63,428 people per game. Now, keep in mind that Northwest Field ranks 20th out of the 30 NFL stadiums in size with a capacity of 67,717. So, it is easier for The Commies to sell out games compared to the twenty-one franchises with larger stadiums.

Another factor to keep in mind was the number of times that Northwest Field got taken over by fans of the opposing team this year. This was seen in the home games against the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, and Pittsburgh Steelers. 2024 did show some improvement for the Commies in terms of selling tickets and having more fans at the games. But, ranking 20th out of 30 stadiums in average attendance is awful given the amazing season and the draw of a star rookie in Jayden Daniels. Also, the Commies still lack a consistent dominant home crowd that many other successful NFL franchises enjoy.

Then there are the important local TV ratings for the Commies’ games during the 2024 season. TV ratings are far more important in telling the health of a fanbase than attendance numbers for home games. On January 29, 2024, John Ourand from Puck News appeared on the Kevin Sheehan Podcast and reported that the local TV numbers for the Washington Commanders games in 2024 were surprisingly low. The Commies came in 21st place among the 32 NFL franchises in the local TV ratings. My jaw dropped open as I heard that. Keep in mind that the Washington, DC DMA is ranked 7th in the nation.

It is unfathomable that local TV ratings for the Commies would be this low. Nobody would have ever imagined that a team that had its best season in over thirty years, went to the NFC Championship game, and possessed an enchanting Top 5 quarterback in just his rookie year would have been as low as 21st out of 32 teams. These local TV ratings have to be crushing for Josh Harris and Co. and far more alarming than the low average attendance ranking.
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The low ratings are surprising to me too, but then again maybe not. It’s not just that Snyder destroyed the fanbase, but also the name change cost us a lot more of the remaining fans than you might think. They almost lost me and that’s really saying something; I bleed burgundy and gold, and I can count on one hand the number of Redskins games I’ve missed since I started watching in 1986, but I seriously contemplated finding a new hobby when the Redskins died. I’m not sure JD5 magic, a new stadium, Hard Knocks, or anything else will bring those lost fans back. The fact is Josh Harris bought a distressed asset. His best hope and ours is to rebuild the fanbase by winning, people love a winner. But many of those will be new fans, significant numbers of those we lost are not coming back.

Fortunately, we do have a lot going for us, an all-star QB, a great culture, etc. This team is fun to watch again. And apparently the league is doing everything it can to prop us up. Resurrecting this historic franchise is a great story, but as you said, it’s not done yet.
 
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Conn said:
You still think like the fan of a bad team. Elite franchises relish the spotlight and thrive in it. If we can’t do that, at least we’ll have an up close look at why we aren’t elite. This type of stuff comes with the territory and I really don’t think it’s much of a distraction anymore. These guys have behind the scenes cameras on them almost all the time now, team social media staff filming them all the time, etc. The exception being in meetings that involve sensitive gameplanning stuff…which will still be off limits. But almost every team has their own in-house production team doing content similar to Hard Knocks nowadays. The “Command Log” videos alone only exist because hundreds of hours of behind the scenes content was cut down to 30 minutes each episode of highlight worthy material. These guys are used to this stuff now and live their lives on camera more than ever before.
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You said a lot with your first sentence. There is still a distinct Snyder hangover that may not be flushed from some of the fan base for some time yet. We were teased for a minute with RG3 but still, it was a brutal and legitimately embarrassing era
 
Faithful Fan said:
The low ratings are surprising to me too, but then again maybe not. It’s not just that Snyder destroyed the fanbase, but also the name change cost us a lot more of the remaining fans than you might think. They almost lost me and that’s really saying something; I bleed burgundy and gold, and I can count on one hand the number of Redskins games I’ve missed since I started watching in 1986, but I seriously contemplated finding a new hobby when the Redskins died. I’m not sure JD5 magic, a new stadium, Hard Knocks, or anything else will bring those lost fans back. The fact is Josh Harris bought a distressed asset. His best hope and ours is to rebuild the fanbase by winning, people love a winner. But many of those will be new fans, significant numbers of those we lost are not coming back.

Fortunately, we do have a lot going for us, an all-star QB, a great culture, etc. This team is fun to watch again. And apparently the league is doing everything it can to prop us up. Resurrecting this historic franchise is a great story, but as you said, it’s not done yet.
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Agree, the name change is part of it. Defintely a hangover from the Dan era. Bad stadium. And also occasional teases of false hope that got dashed.

Also, we were run by people who had no clue about their fan base. I recall Keim saying that Bruce was angry at him for writing an article years back about them losing fans as to attendance with Bruce telling him its nonsense. I found Ron especially odd on the topic. He would acknolwedge the problem unlike Bruce. But like Bruce he was paint dry level boring as to trying to reignite fan interest. And would praise Dan pubicly more than anyone that I can recall -- where clearly he didn't get that Dan was a big part of the problem. Both Bruce and Ron of course incompetent, especially Ron.

Sheehan would say on his show nothing more off putting than a team run with arrogance yet were incompetent.

Clearly, that wore down many fans. I think having multiple successful years in a row would help. Dan's never had 2 good years in a row which is crazy (aside from arguably the Jay back to back barely winning seasons). But I gather it might take a few years to bring enough fans back.

They likely lost some fans permanently. But I gathering and hoping that Jayden can generate some new ones. And Hard Knocks is likely good vehicle to help in that mix among other things where they have some exposure. This is a team that is just getting started as to national exposure after years of being irrelevant. It's not out of the woods yet, it will take some time.
 
I agree, multiple years of success will allow some older fan base to release from their hesitance to accept the current good situation along with bringing back some who totally checked out. The other thing it is going to do is ignite a new fan base!
 
skinsinparadise said:
As for the rest of the NFL, the majority of the league remains unhappy with Wednesday’s result. One head coach, informed of the vote’s result as he left the practice field on Wednesday, summed it up this way: “Wow. This is a big loss … for the league.”
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My thoughts around the worst play in the history of the NFL:

The health and safety committee, commissioner, 2/3rds of the league, and most importantly, the competition committee want this gone. Competition committee is the one that enforces rules--get ready for the Tush Push it be flagged to hell--a bunch of semi-questionable false starts, offsides, and illegal formations.
 
skinsinparadise said:
They likely lost some fans permanently. But I gathering and hoping that Jayden can generate some new ones. And Hard Knocks is likely good vehicle to help in that mix among other things where they have some exposure. This is a team that is just getting started as to national exposure after years of being irrelevant. It's not out of the woods yet, it will take some time.
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Europe wasn't rebuilt in a day after WWII. I feel like that's the equivalent of the level of destruction Snyder levied on this fanbase. Also, we weren't supposed to be very good last year--Daniels took the league by storm and people showed out towards the end of the year. We sold out 6 of our 8 home games last year also--with a dump of a stadium and still washing tons (see what I did there?) of Snyder's filth off this team.

This time last year, I got my dad and I tickets for the Panther's game which was Darrell Green's #28 retirement game. Tickets were ~$60/ea for the front row of the upper deck. This year, cheapest tickets on Seat Geek are ~$95 ea. against the Seahawks. Eagles and Cowboys tickets start at $185 ea.
 
I’m in the minority here, but I think the stadium aspect is overblown. Having been to dozens of games at both stadiums, I would actually say the current stadium is a lot better than RFK was. We just love RFK because of the players, coaches, team… The winning. And the atmosphere that it created. That’s the only difference. If Snyder had run the team during the RFK years, it would be considered an all time dump of a stadium and likely demolished years ago. If FedEx had all those things going for it, we would practically be calling it hallowed ground right now. OK maybe not hallowed ground, but I’m guessing we wouldn’t be so worried about getting a new stadium in the very least.
To sum it up, not saying it wasn’t a factor at all, but I just don’t think the stadium played an important part in the erosion of the Fanbase. It was all Snyder, it was always all Snyder. As someone who wants to move on from the current name because of the stench of Snyder, I can certainly understand why people want to move on from the stadium because of that. And it’s awesome that we’re getting a modern new stadium. But in the end, the popularity of any stadium begins and ends with the product on the field. And thankfully with Snyder gone, we can look forward to the things other fan bases enjoy like winning or at least the hope of winning.
In the meantime, I am renewing my season tix for a third straight year, and looking forward to more exciting football, and good atmospheres at FedEx like we had this year. That hail Mary had to be the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in person! Something tells me by the time we move to the new stadium, we’re actually going to miss FedEx a little bit.
 
HTTR said:
I’m in the minority here, but I think the stadium aspect is overblown. Having been to dozens of games at both stadiums, I would actually say the current stadium is a lot better than RFK was. We just love RFK because of the players, coaches, team… The winning. And the atmosphere that it created. That’s the only difference. If Snyder had run the team during the RFK years, it would be considered an all time dump of a stadium and likely demolished years ago. If FedEx had all those things going for it, we would practically be calling it hallowed ground right now. OK maybe not hallowed ground, but I’m guessing we wouldn’t be so worried about getting a new stadium in the very least.
To sum it up, not saying it wasn’t a factor at all, but I just don’t think the stadium played an important part in the erosion of the Fanbase. It was all Snyder, it was always all Snyder. As someone who wants to move on from the current name because of the stench of Snyder, I can certainly understand why people want to move on from the stadium because of that. And it’s awesome that we’re getting a modern new stadium. But in the end, the popularity of any stadium begins and ends with the product on the field. And thankfully with Snyder gone, we can look forward to the things other fan bases enjoy like winning or at least the hope of winning.
In the meantime, I am renewing my season tix for a third straight year, and looking forward to more exciting football, and good atmospheres at FedEx like we had this year. That hail Mary had to be the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in person! Something tells me by the time we move to the new stadium, we’re actually going to miss FedEx a little bit.
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Nothing beats the actual experience of a thrilling win. Sadly I've not seen many of those at Fedex. I have seen more oddly on the road. I can imagine seeing the Hail Mary in person. My favorite last year live experience was the playoff game in Tampa. Saw the first game in Tampa. The home game versus Pitt. and the road game versus NO.

Agree, Snyder is 99.99% of it. But even the stadium is about Snyder. There are other stadiums from a similar age, yet they are not as bad because their respective owners invested in the stadium. One of the things that irritate me about some ex-players (Portis, Smoot, among others) who defend Dan like to say the dude was willing to spend to win. That's BS. In the first phase of his tenure, the Cerrato years, they spent in FA. That's the extent of Dan's big spending. Outside of that he was cheap. I didn't think much of it at the time but going back to the Shanny years, Shanny talked about how little this team offered to the players compared to other organizations he worked with right down to offering the team junk food as the post practice meals and other cheap moves he wasn't used to. Heard the stories about the P and J sandwiches as the flight meals to games. On and on and on.

I agree with your overall point, you can play in a dump and people will attend regardless if you are winning. But it all goes into the soup. Can you deal with an obnoxious owner, bad stadium, etc if you are winning? Yeah. Can you deal with an obnoxious owner, bad stadium and lose? Not so much. And it compounds the problem when you don't just lose but all the trappings add to the misery.

I've seen a lot of NFL stadiums in my travels over the years. I think for me what makes Fedex dead last is: lack of character, poor public transportation -- heck even the Uber operation there is a nightmare, it took me once 90 minutes to get out of there with an Uber, and lack of other things to do near the stadium which makes it unique in a bad way. Can I deal with it if the team is killing it? Sure. But if I am doing things like flying up a couple of years back to see the Browns eliminate us from playoff contention, putting me in a sour mood, then on top of that it takes me a lot of time to get out of the stadium adding to my sour mood, and there is nothing special about the stadium experience where I can fall back on something I enjoyed despite the loss -- its a lose, lose for me.

For example, going to Arizona. The stadium is nice, nothing killer, but nice to look at it, good food, nice to look at. I can walk to the stadium with plenty of parking nearby. If I don't want to deal with traffic, I got a zillion restaurants nearby and bars, to chill and watch another game. Heck in the Arizona parking lot they had screens where you can watch games. Now that was an experience that I won't forget that goes beyond just the game. I went to NO multiple times, one time it was that devastating overtime loss where they blew a lead. It sucked. But the whole experience didn't suck. The whole atmosphere around the stadium and in the stadium was a lot of fun and memorable.

And while I personally can watch a game in a dump of a stadium. I did see one game at RFK. And yeah the stadium was worse than Fedex but being in the City and the accessibility alone made it a better experience for me by a mile. Also, if I am trying to talk my wife or name that less into football person to come along to a game, the actual stadium experience is more relevant. I know for example my wife doesn't love going to Fedex. But she had a great time, in Arizona, Las Vegas, etc.
 
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Great post SIP. Only thing I might push back on is the accessibility. I don’t think it’s any different where they are now then the RFK location. I’m not a big public transportation guy, but the metro stops at both. Uber wasn’t even a thing in the RFK days so who knows. Traffic getting in and out sucked at both locations pretty much equally.

Edit to add… arizona’s stadium sounds like an awesome experience, I hope to go there someday soon!
 
HTTR said:
Great post SIP. Only thing I might push back on is the accessibility. I don’t think it’s any different where they are now then the RFK location. I’m not a big public transportation guy, but the metro stops at both. Uber wasn’t even a thing in the RFK days so who knows. Traffic getting in and out sucked at both locations pretty much equally.
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Thanks. Heck if I saw the Hail Mary in person, Fedex would always feel special to me based on that alone. I joke with my family that I seem to be good luck in road games for this team but bad luck for home games. I've flew up for some of the most miserable losses including the Monday Night massacre, the game versus the Browns where Ron didn't know they got eliminated from the playoffs, the other miserable game with Wentz against the Eagles that same year, have seen them lose to the Giants every time I've gone including when even Devito started, on and on.

The Metro is a good mile and change from Fedex, closer with RFK.

I get the thought of having memories at Fedex and nothing beats that. I got that nostalgia feelings about plenty. So I don't discount anyone having those associations to Fedex, it makes sense to me.

But taking from the perspective of a tourist, who has seen this team at home just about every year for about 20 years or so and on the road, too. The Fedex stadium experience IMO doesn't stack well to the typical NFL stadium experience. Among other reasons for me, I love going to a City and immersing myself in that City where the stadium is there or nearby where you get both the buzz of the city and feel the fandom, too. I used to live in DC eons ago and that City was alive with fandom back then. When I fly up to a game now, it's not that same vibe from years back. And the team did suck back when I was in DC in the mid 90s. I get its been years of atrophy as the main cause.

But I do think that bringing the team back to DC will likely add to the resurgence with local fans. And I think having a new modern stadium will add to it.
 
skinsinparadise said:
Thanks. Heck if I saw the Hail Mary in person, Fedex would always feel special to me based on that alone. I joke with my family that I seem to be good luck in road games for this team but bad luck for home games. I've flew up for some of the most miserable losses including the Monday Night massacre, the game versus the Browns where Ron didn't know they got eliminated from the playoffs, the other miserable game with Wentz against the Eagles that same year, have seen them lose to the Giants every time I've gone including when even Devito started, on and on.

The Metro is a good mile and change from Fedex, closer with RFK.

I get the thought of having memories at Fedex and nothing beats that. I got that nostalgia feelings about plenty. So I don't discount anyone having those associations to Fedex, it makes sense to me.

But taking from the perspective of a tourist, who has seen this team at home just about every year for about 20 years or so and on the road, too. The Fedex stadium experience IMO doesn't stack well to the typical NFL stadium experience. Among other reasons for me, I love going to a City and immersing myself in that City where the stadium is there or nearby where you get both the buzz of the city and feel the fandom, too. I used to live in DC eons ago and that City was alive with fandom back then. When I fly up to a game now, it's not that same vibe from years back. And the team did suck back when I was in DC in the mid 90s. I get its been years of atrophy as the main cause.

But I do think that bringing the team back to DC will likely add to the resurgence with local fans. And I think having a new modern stadium will add to it.
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Thats funny because I’m a big-time jinx when I go to road games. 2-9 lifetime, including last year‘s NFC championship game. 😞

Totally agree having bars, restaurants, etc. around makes for a much better experience. There’s certainly nothing in walking distance from FedEx but at home games I like to tailgate before and after anyway so it’s not such a big deal I guess. And they didn’t have that at RFK either, but it sounds like they will try to build it up this time. Just like with shopping centers and other things, people will flock to what’s new and exciting, so I have no doubt the stadium will bring a ton of fans in. Hoping to keep my season tickets until then and beyond, but I’m also worried that the cost will soar.

Definitely the elation and celebration at the end of the Hail Mary game is something I’ll never forget!! Very reminiscent of the glory days at RFK
 
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