Washington Commanders president Jason Wright said before the team was sold last year that the franchise would see a massive boost in business once the team was sold. In July, a group led by Josh Harris purchased the Commanders from Daniel Snyder for just over $6 billion.
“When there’s an ownership change, we’ll be able to absorb the momentum of that,” Wright said. “They know that. I’m not saying anything that Dan and Tanya don’t know.”
When the deal was finalized in July, there were parties throughout the DMV. Heck, even Harris bought beers for several fans at one event.
Harris spoke of his goals for the Commanders in 2023: Fan experience and improving FedEx Field were among his top priorities. Mission accomplished. Harris and his ownership group immediately invested $40 million in improvements to FedEx Field.
The business did improve. Washington announced a Week 1 sellout. More sellouts followed, but unfortunately for the Commanders, they won only one home game in 2023. So, while they sold out FedEx Field, several games were taken over by opposing fans.
In a new story from Ben Fischer and David Broughton of the Sports Business Journal, Washington led all NFL teams in attendance growth from the 2022 season to the 2023 NFL season.
The Commanders led all NFL teams in attendance growth with a 10% gain in their average crowd size to 63,951, according to an SBJ analysis of published box scores for the 2023 season.
That’s good news for Harris. It also led to an increase in ticket prices, something that didn’t go over well with some.
There is plenty of optimism surrounding the Commanders, despite just completing a 4-13 season. Harris fired head coach Ron Rivera on Monday and immediately went to work reshaping the organization, beginning with a search for the next head of football operations.