Washington Football Team won’t allow fans at FedEx Field in 2020

The Washington Football Team will not welcome fans to FedEx Field in 2020.

If you’re a fan of The Washington Football Team, you’ll have to watch games at home this year.

On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported “there will be no fans at home games in 2020.”

Though Washington hasn’t had much of a home-field advantage for the last two decades, not having any fans present could make things challenging for them to win many games this year, especially if other stadiums they visit allow reduced capacity crowds.

Is The Washington Football Team making the right call here about fans?

While it may be a tad early to punt on having fans attend games in any capacity, Washington appears to be firm in its decision-making process. It has been a whirlwind of an offseason for the franchise, as they hired a new head coach in Ron Rivera, drafted Bednarik Award winner Chase Young out of Ohio State and, oh yeah, moved off their offensive former nickname for good.

Washington has already removed all names, logos and images associated with its former nickname at FedEx Field. While that was the right call and absolutely necessary, maybe this could be a reason for not having fans come to the stadium at Landover this year? Washington will not have adopted a new nickname until next year.

If Washington wants to move forward and only forward with their rebranding efforts, they need to ensure old traditions don’t get in the way of progress. This franchise has a very proud fan base, but Washington may not want fans to be dressing up as Native Americans or doing all things #HTTR during their one season as The Washington Football Team. It’d be so clunky otherwise.

If Washington were to field a championship-caliber team, surely, ownership and the PR team would have allowed fans present in some capacity. Being able to watch winning football in person is always the best. However, Washington went 3-13 last season and may not even be a .500 team this year under Rivera. The team will be better, but Washington isn’t playing for a Super Bowl trip.

While the franchise could have delayed allowing fans at FedEx Field until mid-October vs. the Los Angeles Rams in a similar vein to what the Green Bay Packers are doing up in Lambeau, The Washington Football Team has to not only combat a global pandemic, but make sure its in-house optics are on the up and up. They could try, but it may not honestly have the runway for it in 2020.

We can all cheer on The Washington Football Team from the comfort of our own homes this fall.