Redskins home attendance has declined with the team’s winning percentage in recent years, and as demand for tickets decreases, the Redskins are also decreasing the supply of seats.
The Washington Post reports that the Redskins are again reducing the size of FedEx Field, with the removal of 4,000 additional seats.
The team says the reduction of seats will make room for an upper level “party deck” and the renovation of the fifth-floor suite areas, which will give fans a better experience at the stadium.
But there will be fewer fans experiencing Redskins home games. In 2010 the capacity at FedEx Field was 91,000, in 2011 it was 83,000 and this season it will be 79,000.
There was a time when there was virtually no limit to the number of tickets the Redskins could sell, but that time is in the past. The Redskins have yet to make the playoffs in the four seasons since Joe Gibbs left, and they missed the playoffs in 10 of the 11 seasons since between the two Gibbs coaching tenures. That kind of losing frustrates even the most enthusiastic of fan bases.
Maybe Robert Griffin III is the man to change that.