Redskins To Increase Some Seat Prices By 40%; Mayor Won't Call Team By Name

Several Redskins fans with seats in the upper deck of FedExField have complained that their percentage increase in season-ticket prices for the '13 season "was much larger" than the 40% jump the team said would be the largest increase, according to Dan Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. The Redskins in '11 removed "thousands of 400-level seats to create party decks," forcing the team to relocate fans in that area "whose seats had been eliminated." Those ticket holders were "moving from the cheapest end zone seats in the stadium ... to more expensive seats in the corners or on the sidelines." The team "promised these plan holders that their prices would not be increased until the team raised prices on other seats." However, prices are now "being raised, so the grandfathered price freeze no longer applies." And many plan holders are "seeing their per-game per-ticket price increase from $48.40 to $75.90, an increase of 57 percent." Redskins Senior VP/Communications Tony Wyllie said that 806 accounts "are affected by the elimination of those grandfathered prices." Steinberg noted if the team is "bragging that prices haven’t increased in seven years ... then it sort of has to acknowledge that hundreds of fans are now facing a 57-percent price increase from one season to the next" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/7).

THE NAME GAME: The POST's Steinberg noted it seems "notable" that DC Mayor Vincent Gray "is evidently refusing to speak the name" of the Redskins. Gray during his State of the District address Tuesday called the "Nats by name," but did "not name the Redskins." Gray recently said the name "has become a lightning rod." Steinberg noted there are "relatively few cities represented by pro sports teams whose mayors refuse to speak their names" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/6). In DC, Courtland Milloy writes, "We don’t mean to offend anybody by using it." Redskins fans "will understandably fight to keep" the name, as that is what DC residents do. Milloy: "The Native Americans I know who live around here don’t go around complaining about the name. Here’s how they put it: We are happy for you when your team wins; we wish we could be happy with you. But for the name, they could" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/8). Meanwhile, NBC Sports Network’s Michelle Beadle said, “Redskins and politics: I feel like once a year we do talk about this, and it’s up again." NBC Sports Network’s Dave Briggs: “I don’t think a bunch of columnists at the Washington Post should be debating this story” (“The Crossover,” NBC Sports Network, 2/7).