Not long ago, more than 200,000 people were waiting to purchase season tickets at FedEx Field. Now, the team is waiting for them to come back.
In the interim, Washington has reduced the capacity of its home stadium three times in five years. According to Dan Steinberg and Scott Allen of the Washington Post, “thousands” have seats once again have been ripped out of the venue that once was the biggest in the league.
Via Steinberg and Allen, the team said in a statement that the changes are “part of an overall plan based on season ticket holder feedback,” and that details will be unveiled shortly. Steinberg and Allen estimate that another 6,000 seats have been removed. For 2014, capacity at FedEx Field was listed at 85,000.
With the blackout policy suspended for 2015 (and presumably gone forever), it’s no longer as important to shrink stadium size to intersect with demand. But if the demand has taken a permanent dip given the gap between the experience of watching the game at home and venturing to a venue that looks and feels a lot older than 18, it makes sense to shrink capacity, in advance of imploding the whole thing.