After finally agreeing to drop the team’s name, Dan Snyder has made another big change to this year’s NFL season. On account of the covid-19 pandemic, the Washington Football Team has decided not to allow fans to attend its home games at FedExField, according to NFL.com.
“We are fortunate to host the best fans in the NFL year after year, but the well-being of those supporters, along with that of our players, coaches and each and every member of our gameday staff is simply too important, and the current knowledge of COVID-19 too unpredictable, to welcome our fan base to FedExField to start the season,” Snyder said in a statement, according to NFL.com. “We were the first team in the league to recall our scouts and other personnel from the field back in mid-March and have been monitoring this evolving situation ever since. This decision was not an easy one, but after several discussions with federal, state and local officials — along with input from some of the nation’s foremost medical experts, based right here in the nation’s capital — we are confident that it is the right one. We are working to find ways to make our fans’ presence felt in new and innovative ways for 2020 and can’t wait to welcome the community through the gates as soon as it’s safe.”
At least the surroundings won’t feel completely foreign to the players. After all, the team’s miserable on-field performances sent fans fleeing the franchise long ago.
Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.
