The Washington Redskins are for the first time requiring season ticket holders who buy their seats with a credit card to use a Redskins Extra Points MasterCard, a move the club said will ease ticket distribution and increase fan loyalty, but others said could enhance the team's profits over the long term.
The requirement that fans must use a Redskins credit card, which affects those buying tickets to FedEx Field's 66,500 regular admission seats, was announced last week in a letter to season ticket holders. Since 2000, Redskins fans have been able to use any credit card to buy their seats, and have always been able to pay by cash or personal check.
The team will continue to accept cash or checks for seats next season, team officials said.
Redskins chief operating officer David Pauken said the Extra Points program, in which each dollar charged to the MasterCard earns cardholders points that can be redeemed for everything from franchise jerseys to trips to road games with the team to seat upgrades, is designed to streamline the ticketing process.
"The Redskins reward program is an expense item and the change in the payments with respect to general admission is expected to have little, if any, effect on profits," Pauken said. "It helps process our tickets and get them out faster."
Redskins spokesman Michael Sitrick said the vast majority of fans already pay through cash or check, but would not give specific numbers. He said, "The purpose of the Redskins reward program is to build brand loyalty and have field passes and have other things that increases your fan base and obviously hope to sell other Redskins-related products."
The cards, issued by league sponsor MBNA Bank, also will enable the Redskins to track their customers' spending habits, allowing more targeted marketing.
The requirement could have an even greater, long-term financial benefit to the Redskins if a sizeable number of fans subscribe to the card and use it regularly, according to one sports industry analyst. An NFL official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said cards such as the Redskins Extra Points MasterCard benefit teams financially.
"Where the Redskins benefit is by creating another branded product and offering the fans an inducement to use it," said Chicago-based sports marketer Marc S. Ganis. "If many more people sign up for MBNA credit cards, they likely will use them for non-team related purchases such as groceries, department stores or whatever it is. That can have a modest financial benefit to the team through the sponsorship fee paid by MBNA."
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has earned a reputation around the NFL for aggressive marketing that has turned the franchise and FedEx Field into one of professional sports' biggest moneymakers. Since buying the Redskins in 1999, Snyder has signed sponsors, added more premium seating and luxury suites, opened Redskins merchandise stores and signed up fans for value-added items such as the Tailgate Club. Last season, Snyder installed 4,000 new general admission seats, some of which had partially obscured views, as he boosted FedEx's capacity to 91,665, the largest in the NFL.
The Redskins had an operating income of $70 million for the 2003 season, according to Forbes magazine.
The credit cards are part of the NFL's new Extra Points program, which began in the 2004 season. The NFL earns revenue from league sponsor MBNA Bank for the cards and distributes that money to the 32 teams. Also, each team can earn income based on the number of fans who sign up for the cards and the frequency of their use, according to the league.
It could not be immediately determined whether any other NFL teams are requiring fans to use a team-branded credit card when they buy their tickets. The New England Patriots do not, but they accept only Visa cards, spokesman Stacey James said. Baltimore Ravens spokesman Kevin Byrne said the Ravens have no restrictions of any kind on such purchases.
The Redskins said they had received fewer than 10 complaints about the new requirement, though several fans contacted late last week said they were unhappy with the system.
