“Slowly Strangling the Golden Goose”

If ever there was a Golden Goose in live entertainment, it’s professional football.  This sport is a gold mine.  People by the tens of thousands per game spend hundreds of dollars per ticket, happily.  Almost every game (at least until recently) sells out.

Teams like the Washington Redskins have literally hundreds of thousands of people on a waiting list to buy tickets (supposedly.  more on that here.)

People, lots of them, love this game and look forward to being at the stadium, and it makes the NFL money.  Big Scrooge McDuck-style piles of money.

But there’s more evidence today that there’s trouble in the NFL.  Sure, the economy is denting some fans’ enthusiasm for $1000 suite tickets, but that’s manageable.

Instead,the trouble is that there’s a growing sense that perhaps some teams are not treating the fan with proper respect, and the Washington Redskins seem to be coming in for particular scorn.  Here are some tidbits from a piece in the Washington Times today called “Fed Up at Fed Ex (Stadium)”:

“Boos can have a junk-mail quality about them. Take the boos directed at the Redskins during and after their 9-7 victory Sunday over the bottom-scraping Rams. They rang in every player’s ears, even though not every player was deserving of such censure. It was like the boos were addressed to: Occupant, Redskin Park, Ashburn VA 20147.”

My comment: When boos are directed at “occupant,” it’s not usually the performers who are to blame. It’s management.

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard it,” Casey Rabach said. “It is what it is – fans showing their disapproval.”

Actually, I think it’s more than that. It’s more than fans being dissatisfied with a fair catch or a field goal or a third-down call. As much as anything now, it’s 17 years of pent-up frustration, almost two decades of sub-.500 football – at some of the highest prices in the NFL. That’swhat the Redskins were tapping into when they danced with defeat against St. Louis.”

My comment: it’s not so much that the Redskins aren’t winning as it is that management keeps arrogantly telling people they’re getting a premium product when they’re not.

“Has Redskins Nation finally run out of patience? Well, let me just say that when I got out of my car Sunday after arriving at FedEx Field, the first words I heard were a profane condemnation of Dan Snyder’s latest parking policy – the one that involves an army of attendants waving flags and directing you to a space in Waldorf.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he and similar-minded fans carried their grievances into the stadium (assuming, that is, they could slip them by Security). And the first time the home team messed up… out their anger spilled.”

My comment: when you treat the fans perspectives with general disregard AND you charge a high price, even your little mistakes (like making parking less convenient) will earn you hatred.  People definitely keep score, and they know when you’re on their side and when you look at them as a wallet with legs.

“You look at the club section of FedEx, and you see plenty of empty seats. You look in the upper deck, and you also see empty seats. You take this all in, and you wonder whether it’s just the economy – or whether, in Year 11 of the Snyder Era, the Golden Goose is slowly being choked to death.”

My comment: Empty seats for the Redskins? Some people lived their whole lives without seeing such a thing, and there’s no question economic times have been hard before.

If the Redskins can take the enormous reserve of both good will and financial strength and fritter it away by not being fan-centered, anyone can.

Anyone.  Any organization in the live entertainment business (or beyond for that matter) can take an enormously advantageous position and deplete it simply by not being fan (or customer or patron) centered.

Chances are, you don’t have as much fan equity as the Redskins (or at least as much as they had.)  That makes it even more important that you get fan-centered right now in everything you do.  You must show them in every aspect of their experience that you are on their side, because when you’re not, they pick up on it.  They may not say anything, but they pick up on it.

And remember, you’re not unique.  There are substitutes for what you provide.  It could be another ballet company (if you’re a ballet company) or it could be a playhouse instead.  It could even be a movie theatre or a night at home cooking dinner for friends.  The point is, you’d be amazed at how quickly frequent patrons will forget about you if you neglect them.

I’ve even heard of some Redskins fans taking their loyalties up the road 30 or 40 miles to the Baltimore Ravens.  Named after Poe’s “The Raven” and sporting an undefeated record this year and without the arrogance, I can’t say I blame them.