Redskins fans for the first time this year will have to "register their name and email address" with the franchise for "admittance to the team’s training camp in Richmond," according to Kathryn Young of the RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH. Although the policy has "been in place every year, this is the first year it will be enforced at the gate." Redskins Senior VP/Communications Tony Wyllie said that the decision was "made in the interest of 'crowd control,' so the team can have a better handle on how many fans are attending, and who they are." On Thursday morning, as the first crowds were beginning to arrive, lines were about "10 people deep but were moving briskly, and it took fans no more than five minutes to clear security and registration to be admitted." The Redskins "no longer announce attendance after each session, a policy they adopted before last year’s training camp." Crowds on Thursday were "comparable to last year’s opening day crowd, as a few thousand people trickled in and out of the facility over the course of the day" (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 7/28).
MAKING A PITCH: In DC, Liz Clarke notes with six months before his term expires, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe "met privately" on Thursday with Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder and his co-owners to "stress the many ways in which Virginia makes the most sense to host the team’s next stadium." Later, he sought out Redskins President Bruce Allen on the sidelines "during the afternoon’s sparsely attended practice at the Bon Secours facility." McAuliffe said, "We’ve laid everything out and served it up beautifully. If they were smart, and they really wanted to be Super Bowl champions, they would have that facility in Virginia." McAuliffe went on to "enumerate the ways in which he believed that a Redskins Stadium in Virginia made the most sense -- a pitch he has fervently made countless times in both public and private settings." The Redskins’ lease at Prince George’s County’s FedExField runs through '27. While some in the industry say that a site selection for an NFL stadium ideally should be made a decade in advance, McAuliffe said that his understanding was that it "could be pulled together with just five to seven years’ lead time" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/28).