The NFLPA has put out their anonymous player report cards for all things within an organization from soup to nuts…and the Commanders were dead last out of 32 teams in overall grade, with Ron Rivera barely escaping the cellar as the No. 31-ranked head coach.
A lot of it is ‘not a surprise’ to JP and ‘still based off the past’ to BMitch, but still a sobering reminder of how much work Josh Harris and company have to do in all aspects of the organization.
“When asked the No. 1 issue respondents want to prioritize for fixing, most players couldn't come up with just one. Instead, the common answer was the entire facility,” JP read from the report. “The players understand that the new club ownership didn't create these current problems, and they are hopeful that the new team ownership is willing to do what it takes to fix them.”
JP agrees with that, giving one example of a perhaps easy amenity to add.
“Some of this they can fix, and frankly, they probably could have fixed it last year,” he said. “I’ve worked at a game at every NFL stadium, and I would say almost all of them have a room for families during games on game day. That ain't hard to do – they have those rooms across and down the hall from where the press room is, you could simply convert one of those to a daycare area. I think that would go a long way, and it’s not a heavy build. Maybe there’s other issues with liability or staffing or whatever, but I think that's an easy thing.”
“Some of the things will be fixed, but I think when you come in as late as they did, they were thinking about, let's try to fix some stuff in the stadium and some other little aesthetics, and we'll get on that next year,” BMitch replied. “But I also say this: when that thing came out last year, we had a lot of people say, ‘oh man, I didn't understand the question,’ and they were lying their asses off. So these dudes are getting in front of the camera, telling a lot of people what they think you want to hear, but behind closed doors, smashing you.”
It’s simply a function of old facilities, and in JP’s mind, the best thing the Commanders could do in the interim is find a new space for their practice facilities and offices – where personnel outside the business end spend the most time – and sell current Commanders Park to become another data center in Ashburn.
And also, maybe is RFK is the next destination, a new destination for players and fans becomes key?
“The facility is dated, and for 25 years of Dan Snyder's ownership, they put no money into it and that's it – and FedEx is the same,” JP said. “What Commanders fans should hope for…fans clearly want RFK Stadium, but that site isn't going to allow them to do their major destination. Ted Leonsis says the reason he's moving to Alexandria is more land, right, so they can control the stuff around there and make more money like that? Commanders ownership wants to do the same thing, but where they can do it is with a new practice facility. That's what Jerry Jones did with The Star, because the players are there all the time, and in turn, the fans want to be there. Then you build a Hall of Fame that will bring people there, and you got plenty of parking and restaurants and all that stuff.”
