Commanders Ticket Prices: 'Increase' Good News for Washington Fans
How bad are ticket prices if you want to attend a Washington Commanders game at FedEx Field?
Not as bad as you may think, apparently.
Shared in a recent tweet are the ticket price increases for every NFL team over the past 15 years, and Washington actually ranks 29th (from highest to lowest) with just a 39 percent increase from 2006 to 2021.
I know, 'just' 39 percent seems like a weird thing to say when talking about price increases, but when you consider Raiders tickets have jumped 147 percent in the same time period, it kind of puts things into perspective.
Of course, the Raiders are also continuing to pay off a move to Las Vegas and a new stadium.
But the Seattle Seahawks aren't paying off a new stadium or financing a move. In fact, they've been in the same place since the rise of the '12th Man' fan base which is widely considered one of the most loyal in the league.
Their reward? A 134-percent hike in ticket prices.
Since the rise in prices started, Seahawks fans have witnessed seven NFC West Division titles, nine years with at least one playoff win, and a Super Bowl championship.
A bit easier to swallow with all that sugar.
But the percentage of increase doesn't tell the whole story, does it?
While a 29th-ranked addition to ticket cost may sound good on the surface, Washington started in 2006 with the second-highest prices in the league.
At $79.13 in 2006, the average ticket price to see Washington play at home was second to only the New England Patriots.
The Pats, of course, had won six AFC East Division titles and playoff games in at least six of the ten years prior, and won four of their five Super Bowl appearances in that same stretch.
Washington, on the other hand, claimed just one NFC East Division title from 1996-2005, made the playoffs twice, and held a 2-2 postseason record without ever making it past Divisional Playoffs weekend.
In the 16 seasons since being the second-highest show at home (including 2006), the franchise has brought home three division titles (one being a 7-9 banner claimed in 2020) with no wins in the postseason since defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2005 Wild Card Round.
Where does the second-highest average price combined with the 29th-ranked increase place the Commanders after 2021?
Washington's average ticket price of $110.07 last season ranks 14th among all NFL teams, coming in higher than the Dallas Cowboys ($99.50) but below the Philadelphia Eagles ($127.06) and even the New York Giants ($115.31).
Of course, all of those are still a pretty good distance from the $153.47 average price tag to see the Raiders.
And while Washington Commanders leaders and players continue to plead for fans of the team to fill the stadium, I predict they'll have to prove it's a show worth paying for, before it actually happens.
