Need Help on Season Ticket Deposit

[DraftNik]

11 years ago, when I was in 8th grade, I put my name on the season ticket waitlist at the Wheaton Ford dealership so I could get a free Redskins blanket.

Well, last week I finally got my letter from the Redskins. My name has come up on the list and I'm (very possibly) going to become a Redskins season ticket holder!

I'd appreciate any advice you guys have on how the deposit process works. I'm a little nervous committing a $400 deposit for four tickets when I have no idea what the tickets will cost (I won't find out what seats I get until May).

What is the possible range of ticket prices for a first-time season ticket holder?

Mods, apologies if this thread belongs elsewhere--the search function isn't working for me.

Thanks!

[Mark The Homer]

...another job for the Ambassador....

It's not necessary to wait for season tickets. Any fan can open an account and purchase season tickets directly from the Washington Redskins at any time by buying premium seats.

Otherwise, there is the waiting list which is currently taking anywhere from four to nine years depending on who you talk to. However, once you are on the list, you will be invited to purchase premium seats repeatedly during this time. Once your wait is up, if you refuse the opportunity to purchase general season tickets, you will be re-invited to purchase general season tickets annually.

Once you are off the waiting list and you're ready to buy season tickets, you will be required to pay a "deposit." The deposit is not really a deposit. It's an $100 per seat account activation fee and it's non-refundable, whether you choose to actually purchase your season tickets or not. The exception is if for some reason the team is unable to provide you with the opportunity to purchase general season tickets. But this isn't likely.

You won't know the location of your seats until after you pay your account activation fee. If you later decide to refuse your seats, you will not be refunded your "deposit," but know that your account will remain in place, meaning you will be offered (perhaps better) seats the following year, and the year after that, etc., and you will not have to pay the account activation fee again.

However, know your seats will almost certainly be in the upper rows of the upper deck.* The price for those seats is $484 each for behind the goalposts or $704 each for sidelines. There's a small chance you could get seats below row 16 behind the goal posts for $704 each, and an even smaller chance you could get seats below row 16 on the sidelines for $869 each. These prices include all taxes. There's an additional $25 fee for shipping and handling and a $3 fee if you choose to make your payment online at redskins.com. Parking is optional and it's $350, but it'll probably be either in the copper lot or gray lot, both of which are roughly a 3/4 mile walk to the stadium.

The good news is, you will eventually be upgraded to lower row seats, although it usually takes 2-3 years per upgrade. Current policy is, if you use the "auto-upgrade" system, you will move down in your section and you will not ever have to opportunity to move to another section in the upper level. It is possible you may eventually be upgraded to the lower level, but it will probably not be in a sidelines section.

You probably won't be sent an invoice or get your seat confirmed until June or maybe even July. That's because, first, the Redskins have to determine what seats are open after the Season Ticket Invoice due date is past. In past years, the team waits until about mid-June before starting the upgrade process. It used to be, the Redskins would upgrade season ticket holder seats from the upper rows of the upper deck to the lower rows of the upper deck first. After that, they would invoice the new season ticket holders for the newly empty seats in the higher rows of the upper deck. However, starting in 2009, the team began moving new season ticket holders into the lower rows of the upper deck, while leaving many long-standing season ticket holders in the higher rows without their requested upgrade.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Here's an example of what the waiting list letter will look like when it finally arrives:



*Starting in 2009, many new season ticket holders were given lower row seats on the sidelines of the upper level, leap-frogging ahead of long-standing season ticket holders sitting in higher rows waiting for upgrades. We're not sure if this policy will continue in 2010.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

MTH,

I know it may be excessive, but just a thought for the mods: what if we had a side forum that was a question/answer section for questions like this? It could have very little clutter and would be very easy to sort through and find answers for issues such as this. Just a thought....

[Mark The Homer]

Not a bad idea.

[DraftNik]

Thanks, very helpful!