00:00But I posted something about the commanders making the announcement that they have 15 new items under $10 at the
00:06concession stand for season ticket holders.
00:09There's 10 items under $5, things like nachos and popcorn and fries and chips and cookies and pretzels and hot
00:17dogs and sodas and Gatorade and everything.
00:20Then they have an additional five items under $10.
00:24So it's chicken tenders and fries and souvenir sodas, a smash burger and chips, a burger and chips for sub
00:3010 bucks is pretty damn good.
00:31Yep.
00:32Italian sausage and aside, Ben's bowl of chili.
00:36Like there's some really good things here.
00:37Six bucks, seven bucks, eight bucks, nine bucks, all under $10.
00:40And so I thought this is a pretty cool deal.
00:42Last year they did this thing where they said season ticket holders could get up to 50% off.
00:46It ended up being more things than not were like 25, 30% off.
00:50People were bothered by that.
00:51So they're going even further this time.
00:53Yep.
00:53But they're saying, here's 10 items under $5.
00:56There's five items under $10.
00:57You and I have long said there's not enough perks for being season ticket holders.
01:01They just don't exist.
01:03They've gotten rid of so many things over the years that made it worthwhile to be a season ticket holder.
01:08And as someone who pays for those tickets, because my wife is a season ticket holder within the family and
01:12has been for years,
01:13I'm always kind of wondering, well, wait a second.
01:15People can get access to any game they want generally at the same or cheaper prices than we pay.
01:21Why do we do this?
01:22So I think it's a great idea to reward season ticket holders with a perk like this.
01:26But the blowback on, well, why is it only for the season ticket holders and this should be for everyone,
01:32was louder than I would have anticipated.
01:34Yeah.
01:35Frankly, I think in the intro you said it really well.
01:39This is what I anticipate.
01:40Anytime someone's like, here's a discount fare on buses for senior citizen war widows.
01:47Why is it for everyone?
01:48Okay, sorry, never mind.
01:49I'll just, I'll go back into my hole.
01:51So yeah, that's, that's going to be a thing.
01:53But the larger point is the one that you mentioned that I've been hammering for years.
01:58They've tried different gimmicks and that's all they were is gimmicks, right?
02:02Where it's like, you can get a sit down with you and 500 people.
02:05This is a ticket holder with Bruce Allen.
02:06Well, they quit that when people started telling them how much he was terrible or whatever, you know,
02:09use these commander points or use these then red skin points or skins points on a bag of lace potato
02:16chips.
02:16It's always been bullcrap.
02:18You need it to, you need to incentivize because if you're a season ticket holder,
02:21the person sitting next to you at most of these games when they've been terrible and they've been terrible more
02:25often than not for decades
02:28was someone that paid eight bucks on StubHub.
02:31Why in the world would anyone do anything different?
02:34Now you don't get the same seats every time, but the value has never, and I mean this,
02:38never been there since they've been in that stadium.
02:40Yeah, what is the point of being a season ticket holder?
02:43It's not enough.
02:44So they're trying to make it more worth your while, which is great.
02:48They should.
02:48Yes.
02:49These prices are a major development.
02:52I know just being on a text thread with a bunch of buddies that tailgate with us over at Northwest
02:56Stadium
02:56that are season ticket holders, this got rave reviews from them today.
02:59Now, if you're not a season ticket holder, this doesn't affect you.
03:02You're not very happy about it.
03:04Welcome to the world, I guess.
03:05I don't know what to tell you.
03:06Sorry to let you know on a secret.
03:07They would like to incentivize people to become season ticket holders.
03:12This business, close your ears, would like you to spend some money with them.
03:17And I'm sorry you had to hear it from me.
03:19Now, if your big picture thought is, let's lower the prices for everyone.
03:24Which I agree with.
03:24That would be a nice gesture.
03:26And if they're still near the most expensive in the sport on beer, last year there was information floating around
03:32that their 16-ounce beer was over $16, I think it was, was the most expensive in the league.
03:38They had a smaller option, which their average beer price because of that, Danny, was a lot lower and kind
03:43of middle of the pack or better.
03:45But that's because a lot of teams just offer the one big beer.
03:48But if you're saying, hey, let's have beer that's cheaper.
03:50Let's have food for everybody that's cheaper.
03:53That's a reasonable enough ask.
03:55But I don't get the anger or the vitriol when they do something decent.
03:58We beat up on them all the time.
04:01I got you covered.
04:02If you're looking for someone to call balls and strikes, we get called names all the time for not being,
04:07quote-unquote, positive enough.
04:09But when they come out and do a thing where they go, hey, we're going to have more open training
04:14camp dates for season ticket holders.
04:17Good.
04:17These people are forking over thousands of dollars to support this team and getting very little for it.
04:24Cash up front, dude.
04:25Not pay as you go.
04:26Cash up front.
04:26That's operating stuff.
04:27So, yes, they're trying to build their season ticket base.
04:30Say what you want about Jason Wright, but he was very open about this years ago where they're going, look,
04:35we don't have the season ticket base of most of these other franchises.
04:39You need that.
04:39That's your lifeblood.
04:40The number, I wish I remembered it.
04:43The number I heard one time about how low their season ticket base got would shock people.
04:50Like, it was four digits.
04:51It was single number of thousands of people.
04:54Yep.
04:55And I'm thinking, how is that even possible for the Washington, the waitlist team, the Washington Redskins at the time?
05:01I don't know if they were the football team.
05:03Not only was it not a waitlist, it was the opposite.
05:05Right.
05:05It was a no thanks list.
05:06But also, it made sense to me.
05:08As someone who has been one of these people, I don't consider myself a season ticket holder.
05:12I don't go to the games.
05:14But my wife is, and so we're kind of married into this thing.
05:18Yeah, it's crazy to be a season ticket holder five years ago.
05:21Why?
05:22And they did do these things with, like, you said, the points, or I think they called them yards, where
05:27you could collect yards, and then you'd get to go down on the field and kick a field goal, or
05:31you'd get to go to, like, some lunch and watch tape with an offensive coordinator in the bubble or whatever.
05:38And they got rid of a lot of the stuff like that that was popular.
05:42So they're trying to build that back up.
05:44I give them credit for that.
05:46This is such a, again, I think you can have two conversations.
05:51One, I don't think you should have among the most expensive concessions in the sport.
05:55I don't, whichever list you're on, you know, some people say it's their seventh, some people say it's first or
06:01second.
06:02Point is, you shouldn't be in the conversation with how terrible it is to go there, to park there.
06:07The stadium itself is the worst in the sport.
06:10A new one's on the way, we get that.
06:11You shouldn't be among the leaders in that bad category.
06:14So, yes, concessions should be cheaper there.
06:17I will die on that hill, period, full stop.
06:19The next paragraph is, you should also do as much as you possibly can for your season ticket holders.
06:24Here's a tweet from Kristen.
06:26She says, at Grant Paulson,
06:28Incentivize people to become season ticket holders by offering them things that I can't just go up and buy, like
06:33a player meet and greet.
06:34Having it so that popcorn is at two different prices is a kick to the guts if you can't afford
06:39season tickets.
06:40I get that.
06:41I understand that.
06:42I understand that complaint.
06:43Yeah, I don't even know that she's wrong.
06:45She's not.
06:45I still don't have a problem with what the team is doing.
06:47Totally.
06:48So, again, I'm going, remember my first paragraph, less expensive everything as soon as humanly possible, immediately.
06:56The next paragraph is, we need to do everything under the sun to make our season ticket experience the best
07:03it can be so that people want to buy season tickets.
07:06That's the business.
07:07There it is.
07:08Like, I understand, like, I'm not, I can't buy net season tickets, for example.
07:12I just, the logistics wouldn't work, et cetera.
07:14It's not something we can afford or it would make a ton of sense right now.
07:17And I love the Nationals, but it's just I wouldn't be able to use it.
07:20What they should be trying to do is everything under the sun to woo a new season ticket person.
07:26Right?
07:27A new person to subscribe, to buy in, to feel incentivized, to feel empowered, to feel that they're getting their
07:32money's worth.
07:33And this is one of the ways you can do that.
07:35So, I know it leaves some people by the wayside.
07:38I understand all that.
07:39And you need more for them, too.
07:40We've talked about this a bunch.
07:41Here's where I'll be critical of them.
07:42They have nowhere near enough open training camp dates.
07:46Last year, they failed in that regard.
07:48100% failure.
07:49It's not going to be that much better this year.
07:51And I'll do the same thing I did last year.
07:53I'll crush it because this is one of the worst things about the trend of the NFL over the last
07:58few years.
07:59And the commanders got close to the front of the line last year on closing down training camp, which used
08:04to be 30 days of open practices and letting your young people and your fans fall in love with the
08:11team and interact and building core lifetime memories.
08:14And for no reason, zero reason, teams have completely done away with that under the guise of people not being
08:22able to watch their scheme in July, in August.
08:27Get out of here.
08:28That's ridiculous.
08:29Agreed.
08:30And there are other areas where you need to do more to reach out to the fan that can't afford
08:34$17,000 club tickets or dream seats or whatever the hell.
08:38You need to do that.
08:40I'd say the same with the Wizards.
08:41Same with the Capitals.
08:41Not everyone could be in the vault or whatever Hennessy Lounge or whatever the name of the places are that
08:46are really expensive.
08:47You can't do that every day if you're just a regular rank-and-file dude.
08:50I understand that.
08:51More has always needed to be done.
08:53But I think you could separate those two things and say, be nice to your season ticket holders and try
08:58to do more for everybody else.
08:59I think that's fair.
08:59I just generally think that there's ways to take things.
09:04You can take everything that doesn't involve you as an indictment, or when someone says something nice to someone standing
09:11next to you, it's just an endorsement to them.
09:14It doesn't have to have anything to do with you.
09:17And so if you're not a season ticket holder and you're not benefiting from this, that does stink.
09:23But it's not like they're raising the prices double so that you become a season ticket holder.
09:27They're not saying, hey, the popcorn that was $11 for you is now $17, but it's $4 if you get
09:33season tickets.
09:35I'd like to think, hopefully, their prices are going to be in the ballpark of where the rest of the
09:41league's prices are.
09:42You want them to be normal to what a stadium is.
09:45We're in D.C., so things are going to be more expensive here at any store than they would be
09:50if you're in Kansas City or wherever.
09:52Some small market like Cincinnati.
09:54But, yeah, I'm with you.
09:55I'd like the cheapest things possible all the time for your fans.
09:59I talk about Arthur Blank, who you make fun of constantly, being a Hall of Famer.
10:03That's a Hall of Famer.
10:03Because he did one of the coolest things ever, and they still do.
10:06It's like $2 and $3 for everything at the concession stand.
10:09And the early reports on that are that it's worked beautifully, that they don't lose money because more people buy
10:15more things, basically.
10:16And it's just known that when you go to that stadium, you're going to get six hot dogs for your
10:20whole family.
10:20And now, all of a sudden, you just made, you know, $60 with that and the drinks and the chips
10:26and all the $3 things that they're adding up.
10:29Like, you're at the snack shack at the local youth baseball park.
10:35But I have long thought they need to be focusing on season ticket holders to build this thing back up,
10:40especially as you're getting ready to go to a new stadium.
10:43And by the way, if you think this is bad, wait to, I don't know what the numbers are, but
10:47you think it's going to be cheap to get a seat license at that new stadium?
10:51Oh, no, no, no, no.
10:51Those PSLs are going to be outrageous.
10:54The tickets at the new stadium are going to be mind-boggling.
10:57I mean, just buckle up.
10:59Yeah.
10:59It's coming.
11:00Sorry.
11:00They got to recoup some of that six-plus Billy.
11:03Grant and Danny on the...
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