The City of Richmond, Bon Secours, and the Washington Redskins are all hailing (pun intended) the first preseason at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center as a success.
And they should be.
The expectations were for 100,000 people to come watch the Burgundy and Gold practice off Leigh Street behind the Science Museum of Virginia. Over 165,000 came.
Now here's what we don't know. They believed 60 percent would come from a 100-mile radius to visit. How many people came from Charlottesville, from Norfolk/Virginia Beach, from North Carolina, from Southern or Southwest Virginia? And, interestingly enough, how many left the usual friendly Redskins confines of the Beltway area and Northern Virginia to come to #RVA?
Those answers should be forthcoming, at least we hope so. One thing is certain. The Redskins weren't quite the "cash cow" for area business that city leaders lauded at several events at the Center during its construction.
But that, in and of itself, can be blamed mostly on the City of Richmond. When a city official admitted at the July 8th "grand opening" that they were "still working on" tourist vacation packages, 17 days before camp opened, that sent a message to observers that maximizing tourism opportunities surrounding the Redskins in 2013 simply couldn't happen. Reason? No time.
Monday Morning Quarterbacks will now ask why these packages weren't in the works during the first four months of the year when the city was in "Redskins or Bust" mode in completing the Center in time for this preseason. They have a right to.
2014 will be the bellweather year for area businesses to see if the Redskins, over a three-week span, can have what we labeled "The NASCAR Effect" when posing a question to Mayor Dwight Jones at a May 20th press conference at the facility. At the time, he was optimistic it would. We believe the numbers will show, for 2013, a blip rather than a jolt, especially in suburban areas such as Hanover County.
Richmond Region Tourism should already have plans today for 2014 vacation packages to lure families to spend their vacation in our area. Imagine a vacation plan, reasonably priced, that includes the chance to go to Redskins camp for free on more than one occasion (depending on their practice schedule, remember, they were away from the camp August 7-9 for their first preseason game in Tennessee), tickets to Kings Dominion, tickets to the Science Museum and Children's Museum, tickets to the Flying Squirrels, car rental and accommodations within 5-15 miles. With Kings Dominion in the package fold, that brings hotels at VCC, the growing Lewistown Road area, and of course, Ashland, into play as well as the I-295 hotels in Mechanicsville. Add in guests eating at restaurants close to the hotels...you get the picture.
It would behoove Hanover County to have a long conversation with those at Richmond Region Tourism to work to create such a summer vacation package, drawing the county closer to those coming in trying to get RGIII's autograph. Municipalities east of here may try the same thing, using Busch Gardens, Water Country, and Colonial Williamsburg as their response to Kings Dominion. But Kings Dominion and the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center are only 20 miles apart. Busch Gardens is 55 miles away.
And, to guard against a big run by Virginia Beach officials, negotiate separate packages for families who would come to Richmond for a couple of days to see the team on their way to four nights along the sand. We're certain a few Atlantic Avenue properties would have open ears to such a deal.
When May, 2014 arrives, let's hope Richmond Region Tourism is getting regular phone calls and web hits with people from all over the Mid-Atlantic making reservations for their "Redskins in Richmond" opportunities.
And hopefully, 2014, with a year's better planning in marketing, will ring cash registers in the Ashland/VCC/Mechanicsville triangle....
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FINAL NEWS AND NOTES:
--The Redskins host the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night in their second preseason game. Expect Kirk Cousins under center for the first half, with Rex Grossman and Pat White, battling for the #3 quarterback spot on the roster, splitting second half reps.
--The players fighting for roster spots we will focus on for the rest of preseason are rookie CB Chase Minnifield (UVA grad, trying to follow in his dad's footsteps into the NFL) and WR Leonard Hankerson, whose career has been highlighted with many dropped passes. With such fierce competition at wide receiver, will he do enough to make it another year on the 53-man roster, and will the decision to keep/cut him be based solely on training camp 2013, or to a degree, his past?
--Best memories of Training Camp?
1) The kids walk tradition
2) The accessibility of the players to the fans for autographs and pictures. No, we can't expect them to sign everyone's sign or card or such, after all they are there to work and prepare. But this group of players went above and beyond this year.
3) The ability, on most days, to get in and out of the area surrounding the Center with little idling time in your car. Oh yes, there were plenty of instances where that was not the case, but they were fewer than this writer expected. Kudos to the city and to security in and around the Center.
--What Needs To Be Improved?
1) Fan Appreciation Day: 25,000 people don't fit into that 17-acre campus. Period. Maybe splitting that day into two sessions, opening the gates twice, a la a baseball doubleheader, could solve the problem, with the team practicing in between. The simpler solution is to move to another facility for the day, but with all the millions having been invested there, we don't think Bon Secours would take kindly to the #1 attended day of camp NOT being at their location.
2) Some Areas of the Field: Yes, it's been an unusually rainy summer in RVA, but 2013 proved it can happen. And the rains exposed a flaw in the preparation of the area around the fields. Lots of muddy tracks to avoid, even days after it rained. Unless it's a driving rain, we shouldn't see people sending out Tweets warning fans coming to the Center to wear their worst pair of shoes.
3) Viewing: All fans were warned, for weeks, that there would be no bleachers. Thus the fight for rope spots ensued. People standing five or six deep along the yellow ropes had obstructed views. Our suggestion is, unless you want to fight for the yellow, "head for the hills" and bring a chair or blanket. You see the players better at the sacrifice of being able to be close enough to see if they spilled something on their practice jersey.
4) Emergency Evacuation Planning: We were at the Center August 10th as a small, but powerful storm cell bore down on the north side of RVA. It even caught the National Weather Service by surprise, as their severe thunderstorm warning was issued long after the storm began between Short Pump and Glen Allen. It hit at the worst possible time: 15 minutes before 2pm practice. The fans stayed, then started scrambling for any cover as the first of several major lightning strikes were seen. The worst of the storm was north of the camp, along I-295. What if the center of the cell had hugged Broad Street instead? With deadly lightning, 60 mph plus winds and rain so hard you couldn't see, where would the assembled thousands go to ensure their safety? We do not know if the Redskins made any announcements directly to the crowd asking them to seek shelter. If they didn't, they should have. Mid-to-late summer is prime time for sudden severe weather in Richmond. The team needs to ready to insure, to the best of its ability, the safety of their fans in the event that this happens again. And it will.
OVERALL GRADE: A few minor problems were overcome by the smiles and cheers of 165,000 people. A-
Here are a few pictures from the final week of practice in Richmond to help tie you over until next year!
