Tag: fedex field

There’s a silver lining in not having fans at Washington games in 2020

Fans will not be in attendance at FedEx Field this season, but Washington could use that to their advantage on a truly neutral field.

Remember that scene in the Dark Knight Rises when Bane gives Batman the epic speech about darkness before their big fight?

“Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it.” 

That’s how a lot of Washington fans should feel now that the team has announced that no spectators will be allowed at home games this year, and many other franchises are expected to follow suit. While it is a major bummer for those fans who routinely did show up to FedEx Field week in and week out to sport their burgundy & gold yelling loudly for their favorite team — of which there were many — the announcement of no fans in Washington may help the WFT more than any other team in the NFL. It may sound like a joke, but there is some truth in the fact that they are used to a lack of fan support, so the change won’t be anything new.

On the contrary, a lack of fans could actually go quite far in helping Washington, simply by neutralizing the playing field. Over the past couple of years, a growing trend has emerged as opposing teams’ fanbases flock to D.C. in hoards to support their team as they play Washington, which usually created a tough playing environment for the home team, who rarely had the majority of fan support in the stadium. Now, with a true neutral site, we may start to see some benefits from that.

We are not by any means trying to say that it’s good news that fans will not be allowed at Washington games, but simply point out a silver lining. As 2020 rolls on and we all continue to try and adapt to the circumstances around us, it’s important to try and find the small victories that can carry us through into the future. A fanless NFL experience will be unlike anything we’ve ever see before, but if everyone comes together (metaphorically, of course) we may be able to make it work going forward.

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LOOK: End zones at FedEx Field will feature new team name in 2020 season

With a new team name and no logo to go by, the end zones at Fed Ex Field will look a bit different this upcoming season.

It may take some getting used to the new name in D.C. — The Washington Football Team — but something that may help that temporary transition is an eventual shift to new merchandise and signage around FedEx Field once the season starts.

While new jerseys were released on Thursday, the Washington team website also put out an image of what the new football endzone will look like without the former team name painted across the field.

Photo via Redskins.com

That endzone paint may only stay for one season, but it will definitely look good when in use. The midfield logo will also stand as the NFL shield, rather than Washington’s former logo as well.

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Former Panthers coach Ron Rivera reverses course on ‘Redskins’ name change

Former Panthers coach Ron Rivera is right in the middle of the latest controversy.

Fans who want pro athletes to shutup and dribble or stick to sports are going to have a tough time in 2020. Like it or not, athlete activism is going to be more prevalent this year than ever before and some profound changes will be taking place.

Former Panthers coach Ron Rivera is right in the middle of the latest controversy. Once again, the NFL team that plays in Washington is under pressure to change their name. This time it seems like something might actually happen, as advertisers and even minority owners are pushing owner Dan Snyder to do something.

Now their head coach, Rivera says it would be awesome to see the name changed before the season begins. Here’s what he told the Washington Post over the weekend.

“We came up with a couple of names — two of them I really like . . . If we get it done in time for the season, it would be awesome.”

That’s a pretty abrupt change from Rivera, who just one week ago told a Chicago radio station he thought changing the name is a discussion for another time.

The team released a “Redskins” heavy statement over the holiday saying they are reviewing the matter.

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Report: FedEx requests Washington football team change its nickname

FedEx has asked Dan Snyder to change the nickname of the Washington football team.

The pressure is ramping up on Washington team owner Dan Snyder to change the nickname of his football team. Snyder hasn’t shown any indication he will budge, — calling the nickname a “badge of honor” — but there now are a lot of dollars that could evaporate from his business model.

And now, the team sponsor of the stadium the Washington team plays in wants the nickname to change, too:

A FedEx spokesperson releasing this statement, per WJLA :

We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.

FedEx holds the naming rights to the home stadium, a deal that pays Washington around $8 million per year and runs through 2025, according to reports. FedEx President and CEO Frederick Smith owns a minority stake in the Redskins.

This comes on the heels of major companies looking to pull their dollars and association with the team. The team name is widely held to be a racist slur against Native Americans.

NFL Insider Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire reported:

Per Adweek’s Mary Emily O’Hara, 87 different shareholders and investment firms, whose financial involvement totals more than $620 billion in assets, have asked Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to end their business relationships with the Washington Redskins due to the racist nature of the team’s nickname.

While team owner Dan Snyder has said that he will never change the team’s name, citing franchise tradition, he has been pressured for years by different groups to do so. Now, the pressure is financial in a way it hasn’t been before.

Letters from the investors to the three major brands include representation from First Peoples Worldwide, Oneida Nation Trust Enrollment Committee, Trillium Asset Management, LLC Boston Common Asset Management, LLC Boston Trust Walden Mercy Investment Services and First Affirmative Financial Network. About 80 other firms and trusts have added their names.

Snyder hopes to build a new stadium on the site of RFK Stadium, where the team used to play. Those plans received a jolt, per the Washington Post:

There is no scenario in which Daniel Snyder will be able to build a new Washington Redskins stadium on the federally owned RFK Stadium site unless he changes the team’s name.

That was the unequivocal message from Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the District’s nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives; D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio; and U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, in separate telephone interviews with The Washington Post on Wednesday.

“I call on Dan Snyder once again to face that reality, since he does still desperately want to be in the nation’s capital,” Norton said. “He has got a problem he can’t get around — and he particularly can’t get around it today, after the George Floyd killing.”

 

 

 

Brian Kelly gives update on all things Notre Dame football

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly joined Rich Eisen on Wednesday and updated the world on everything going on in regards to Notre Dame football.

Brian Kelly has been coaching football for over 30 years and hasn’t experienced anything quite like what he’s dealing with as a coach right now.  Kelly joined “The Rich Eisen Show” on Wednesday and updated the world on pretty much everything in regards to Notre Dame football in 2020.

Why is he optimistic that Notre Dame will have a football season in 2020?

“Because I think our university wants to have one,” Kelly said.  He wouldn’t speak for university administration but also offered “if there are students on our campus, we’re playing football!”

On playing Navy on August 29th in Dublin, Ireland:

“Navy is gonna be a game, whether it’s played in Ireland or Bethesda.  I think we’re going to play. I don’t have definitive, 100%, but obviously things are trending that way, we’re moving in that direction, we want to play in the fall…at the end of the day those decisions are going to be made by our president and board of trustees, not the football coach at Notre Dame, so let’s get that straight.

So FedEx Field just outside of Washington, DC I assume he means?  That’s fine, although playing in Annapolis would be a lot cooler.

On how Notre Dame plans to handle social distancing with the football team:

“As we’re planning on no salad bars and spacing in the locker room and the weight room and some of these really important issues so you can in fact avoid a hot spot or the potential of what the worst case scenario could be, you start and then you have to shut down“

On what the players most want to know:

“The players just want to know dates and times. They want to be in the position where they can put on the calendar.  The problem is we can’t give them that because everything is staged in terms of the states and universities. They want to wait as long as they can because they want to get better testing, they want to get better tracing, they want to get where are we going to quarantine and and those things take more time.”

On uniqueness of getting players back on campus:

“It gets to the point where I know it’s frustrating for them, but they know that we’re doing all the planning necessary, because here’s where it’s a little different than year’s past.”

“We have to over-communicate with the parents. If it’s my kid I’m not putting him on a plane to South Bend.  I better know exactly what’s in place for my son when he gets there that he’s not going to get sick.”

You can watch the entire interview, complete with a Brian Kelly head-shot from probably 2011, below.

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Redskins to lay new grass turf at FedEx Field before 2020 NFL season

A series of concerts will take place at FedEx Field this summer, which leads the Redskins to lay a new grass turf before the season.

There have been a lot of talks about a new stadium being built for the Washington Redskins sometime in the near future, but it appears that a new playing field will be set before anything else happens.

The quality of the playing field in Washington has been up for debate for years among fans, and a string of concerts at the stadium this summer could leave conditions a bit worse for the wear when the NFL season rolls around. Luckily, it appears that the Redskins will be laying down a new turf before the season begins, according to NBC Sports Washington. 

There have been a number of concerts and events announced to take place at FexEx Field this summer, including appearances from Justin Bieber, BTS, Rammstein, and Monster Jam. For any surface, all of that foot traffic is bound to make it a little worse for the wear, especially when you do it on a playing field that is already subject to profound scrutiny by a fanbase.

The question still remains how the team will navigate their preseason schedule throughout all of this activity, much of which will take place in August. If the turf isn’t ready for preseason play due to the concert series, the team needs to take the right precautions and do something about it.

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Plan for new Redskins stadium in Maryland may hinge on ability to gamble on games

Dan Snyder is pushing legislators to allow sports betting in a new Redskins stadium in Maryland, or else he might move the team to Washington.

A report out of Washington has surfaced on Wednesday morning that Redskins team owner Daniel Snyder has been lobbying for legislative leaders to allow sports gambling at a new Redskins stadium in the state of Maryland in the future, according to the Washington Post.

Snyder reportedly met with several decision-makers and pushed for a gambling license at a stadium he wants to build for the Redskins, should sports gambling be legalized in Maryland. So far, sports gambling has only been made legal in 13 states.

According to Ovetta Wiggins’ and Eric Cox’s report, Snyder conditioned his intent on building a stadium in Maryland — and keeping the Redskins in the area — on being able to offer sports betting in the stadium, and some believed that his intent was to rebuild at the FedEx Field location.

In his search for a new home for the Redskins, Snyder has had talks with officials in the District, Maryland and Virginia about potential locations — though the team prefers a Washington stadium. The team’s lease keeps it playing at FedEx Field in Landover through 2027.

It has also been reported that Snyder hopes to build a domed stadium that could include hotels, offices and training facilities, and the sports betting ability would play into this plan.

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