VIP Last Hurrah?

If you read my post earlier this month about the changes made to the lower level all-inclusive ticket packages for Wizards season ticket holders next year and you've ever had the privilege of taking part in this experience, I'm sure you are about as bummed as I am. For the last I-don't-know-how-many-years, this has been an event to look forward to once or twice or maybe more (if I'm really lucky) per season.

Whether it's been through comps from my account representative; Monumental Rewards; the Fluid Tickets program; or the mystery season ticket renewal envelopes, I've had an amazing time just about every time I've done this. Next season, all this might change. I might never get this opportunity again. So if the remainder of this season represented my last best chance to do this ever again, I picked up a couple of all-inclusive tickets behind the baskets on the east end of Capital One Arena for last night's game against the Denver Nuggets. Here's my night in pictures. I'll let those do all the talking here.

 

6 pm arrival. Marcin Gortat warming up. Gortat is always warming up at this time. Dude's a machine about fitness and health. Mike Scott's also out there. John Wall would be too if he was playing.

Wristband line. First stop before entry. These people wield an uncanny amount of power.

The Etihad Airways Lounge. It will be like this later on when the game's going on. When we enter, it's empty. But first...

...gotta pick up a beer. May not be the last one, either. Always tip your server, folks! Especially when it's free. Yes, I'm drinking Budweiser. I like Budweiser at games.

And a little food with that beer. It's Jamaican night, meaning beef pasties, oxtail stew. Also some Hoffmann sausages with sauerkraut and mustard. Not Jamaican but must haves.

A pre-game edge of the court walk has to be made at sometime. I'm not sure what's going on in this pic. Some sort of Indian dance set to an Indian-ized Ed Sheeran's The Shape of You.

The DCFAMILY logo in the pic above has the names of all the season ticket holders on it. One last stop by my name this year is in order.

On the other end of Capital One is the MGM National Harbor lounge. More bare bones than Etihad. We assume this is gone next year.

Some dessert, maybe? Yes, please! The cheesecake bites were a miss but, by God, these white chocolate, macadamia nut cookies are amazing. I'm glad a took a full cholesterol pill that morning.

No Bud on the MGM side so back to Etihad, by which time Otto Porter, Jodie Meeks and the rest of the Wizards are warming up. Every time I make this walk I'm shocked by the size of these guys. There's always one dude who surprises me. This game, it's the Nuggets' Mason Plumlee.

Bud in hand, back to the seat for the game. They always have these notices at the VIP seats. Odd.

Almost ready for the game. I'm not showing pics of the game because that's not what this experience is about. Suffice it to say, the Wiz come out flat en route to another disappointing home performance.

The halftime show is the retirement of Phil Chenier's jersey at this game (more on that in another post I think) but they bring the ice cream out at halftime and I'm not missing a chance to wrap my fat fingers around an ice cream sandwich. Usually I'm a strawberry shortcake guy but finding none, I go with this thing.

The second half is disappointing and the Wiz end up with yet another bad home loss (see Dallas, Phoenix, Portland, Minnesota, Miami, etc.). We split with 26.3 seconds to go.

So that's pretty much it. For those of you out there who feel like I do about this change in policy, you now have just five home regular season games to do this for yourself. Get yourself to TicketMaster, or more preferably StubHub, and get yourself some tickets for one last VIP hurrah of your own. If I'm right, I'll miss this for as long as I'm denied it. 

One of the great perks of doing this and sitting in the east end of the building is being able to get close to the team after a big win. Since this team seems determined to play for sixth and last night lost to a Denver team they beat in Colorado earlier this year (another bad home loss), I skipped that part. But for the sake of completeness of what the VIP could be, I'm including a photograph of that part from earlier this year.

John Wall walking off the court after a win earlier this season. Need this guy back soon or we might be playing the Cavs in the first round.

Is Wizards VIP Dead?

 

We are now a couple of weeks into the annual Wizards season ticket renewal period. I published a post last week on this blog offering my thoughts on my almost 20% increase in cost for next year. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about my renewal, but while pondering if I really want to spend about $2K more for season tickets next year, the Wizards have slid back into 5th place on the heels of their first three game losing streak of the season. Great timing!

One of the subtleties that I didn't pick up on at first when the renewal information was posted (blame it on sticker shock!) was the changes to the all-inclusive VIP program for next year. While this doesn't really affect me at all when it comes to ponying up some dough for the next season, it will affect me in a big way one or two nights next season and I assume every season after that. I tried not to be too melodramatic in the title of this post but I think starting next year, VIP access for the average fan is going to effectively end. And I think that's really too bad.

So let's pull back a little. Whether you know it or not, during every Wizards home game, there's a bunch of people seated in the areas closest to the court who have access to an all-inclusive food and drink area on the lowest level at Capital One Arena. At the east end of the arena, there's the Etihad Airways Lounge which was redesigned a couple of seasons ago; at the west end of the arena, there's the slightly more dressed down and utilitarian space sponsored by MGM National Harbor. Both areas serve the same sort of food and drink so the biggest difference between the two spaces is the décor unless they only have your favorite flavor or beer at one end, which happens sometimes.

For a Wizards fan, this experience, if you can manage to get it once or twice a year, is really special. I'm a moocher at heart so I love the all you care to eat and drink experience (I can eat and drink a lot when I put my mind to it) but more than that I love the fact that you get to walk along the edge of the court just feet from the players warming up. It gets you connected to the game experience in a different way than just sitting in your seat elsewhere in the building.

 

 

Over the past several seasons, I've been able to make it to a game as a VIP one or more times per year. Years and years ago, our account representative was allowed to get us a pair of wristbands to games about once per year if we requested it as a perk. When the Monumental Rewards program went into effect, the once per year courtesy experience went away but VIP wristbands were available for purchase using reward points. Eventually, the team limited purchases to once per month then moved to the auction system and then eliminated them entirely once the VIP area was renovated and reinvented as the Etihad Airways Lounge. I quizzed my account representative about the removal of all-inclusive access via Monumental Rewards and he pretty much told me the people who paid for VIP seats didn't want other people (read: riff raff) who hadn't paid at their level in the space.

I spent one season (the 2015-2016 season) effectively locked out of the VIP experience. Then the team introduced the Fluid Tickets Program, which allowed season ticket holders to turn in seats they can't use in exchange for account credit to use towards the purchase of other seats. Lo and behold, there would be some all-inclusive tickets available from time to time. Last season the program worked great; this season the opportunities have been more limited as people (I think) have found there's very little use in turning in high priced tickets because there are few occasions where you might actually redeem your credit.

Now, just as the opportunity for reasonably affordable access to the Etihad Airways lounge seems to be getting squeezed again (I've even resorted to buying tickets on the secondary market to enjoy this experience this year) via reduced availability on Fluid Tickets, the team appears to have shut down access almost entirely through changes to their ticket policies.

Let me summarize.

This season, anyone who holds tickets inside the hockey boards gets access to the all-inclusive experience. That means the courtside seats at the two ends and north (non-scorers table) side of the court; the Owner's Seats and the seats behind them right next to the players' benches; the three rows behind courtside at the north and south sides and one row behind courtside at the two ends; the four corner boxes of 12 seats; and the 10 or so rows of seats behind the baskets beyond the walkway in the end zones. Next season, the 9 of the 10 rows of seats behind the baskets are going to be shut out of the VIP areas; only the first row beyond the walkway will retain all-inclusive access. By my math, that reduces the number of people with VIP access from 1,122 per game to 718.

 

So what? Who cares, right? Well I do. And if you ever get to experience the all-inclusive lower bowl treatment and want to do it again, so should you because the price point is going to be way higher. That means the price point on the Fluid Tickets Program is going to be that much higher (plus the inventory is lower, remember) and the price point on the secondary market is going to be higher. How much higher? I'm thinking double. And I'm really thinking there won't be any on the Fluid Tickets Program.

The lowest priced VIP tickets next season? The strange fenced-in corner areas the team added a few years ago.

This season the cost for VIP tickets on the secondary market has been between about $110 and $190 for a game against a reasonably unpopular opponent. That's for tickets sold to season ticket holders in the mid-$100s. Next year the lowest price for a season ticket with all-inclusive benefits is $230 per game and those are in the strange caged in sets of seats in the corners of the arena. Keep in mind there are only 48 of those in the entire building. The next lowest price is $300 for the first row of seats behind the basket beyond the walkway at that location. The prices are going up from there. The odds of any of those seats being available on the secondary market for less than $175 or so? Way low. And forget Fluid Tickets having these below season ticket discount value (if they even have them at all).

The bottom line here? Fans not willing to spend $250 or more on a seat with lousy sightlines (because these seat DO all have lousy sightlines) ain't getting into the VIP area next season. Honestly, for the average fan (or riff raff, if you prefer) being able to get a reasonably affordable all-inclusive experience on the lower level in what will now be a pretty empty Etihad Airways Lounge (with 1/3 of this season's folks kicked out!) just won't be possible any more. Congratulations, Monumental Sports, you've finally made this experience about as exclusive as you can get. If you aren't paying a lot for this, they aren't going to let you have it any more. It pretty much sucks! This one hurts way more than the other benefits I've lost over the years.

The lousy view from this year's end zone seats. The best thing about these seats was the all-inclusive benefit.

While I'm wallowing in self pity about this issue, I have to say that I feel terrible for the people who have been sitting in the seats where the all-inclusive benefits are going to be removed. Yes, they are getting a price break this year and a few bucks per game of concession money (not really much consolation for losing all-inclusive) but they are now forced to pay a lot of money for seats with view just not commensurate with the price point or go find some seats elsewhere. The irony of this second option of course is all the good seats by now are pretty much taken. The team has totally pulled the rug out from under these folks.

For a team that seems to every so often advertise that they value loyalty to their season ticket holders, killing this benefit just so people with a lot of disposable income can have a little more elbow room in their all you can eat and drink room just doesn't seem consistent with that ethos. I guess there's not a whole lot we can do here, right? Just not a fan at all of this move.

What Is A Fluid Ticket Anyway?

Every so often the Washington Wizards see fit to change up the benefits they offer their season ticket holders. Generally speaking, the benefits offered to us crazies that shell out money every year to watch this team play varies inversely with the team's on court performance (and ticket sales). Like the free group seats offered when JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche were walking the halls of Verizon Center? How about the special reception with Wizards players based on your level of tenure as a ticket holder during John Wall's first few years? And VIP access via the Monumental Rewards program just two years ago? All gone as the team got better or sold more tickets or got complaints from the biggest spenders.

So imagine my level of skepticism when the Wizards rolled out their latest enhancement for Wizards season ticket holders: the Fluid Ticket Program. I know what you are thinking: what the heck is a fluid ticket? And how can it possibly benefit me as a season ticket holder? Exactly my reaction when I first got the email announcing the feature. But after a few weeks exploring, I'm loving this benefit. Let me explain.

So the Fluid Ticket Program is essentially a ticket exchange feature on the team's official app that allows you to return your unused tickets to the team (as long as you do it before the game time listed on the ticket) for the full price you paid. You don't get the cash back; your return comes in the form of credit to buy additional or future tickets. And I know what some of you are thinking: I already have enough tickets to see this team play, why on Earth would I want more. Read on.

Foreshadowing. Cuban night by the way.

Why is this program awesome? Well, prior to this feature being available, missing a Wizards game left me two options: eat the cost of the ticket or try to sell it, which was a wild gamble based on who the opponent was and how indifferent the city of Washington is to the Wizards' performance. Can't make the Golden State or a Cleveland game? No problem; you'll make a tidy profit. Tied up at the office when the Wiz are hosting the Bucks or Jazz on a Tuesday? Better drop that resale price to the bare minimum and hope someone bites. And I mean really hope for that $5.

That message rings especially true this season because honestly the secondary market has been abysmal. I looked at tickets on StubHub the week before the Wizards-Celtics game earlier this month and I could have picked up lower level tickets in the center five sections for $30. Remember here that's the resale price; the season ticket holder selling admission to the game is getting less than that. Honestly for most games this season, season ticket holders had two choices: get 25 to 30 cents on the dollar on the resale market or turn your tickets back over to the team and receive full price credit. Given that choice, I'm taking some credit and trying my luck at some improved tickets later on in the year.

Now I realize this perk doesn't help those who want to attend every game much or at all. And I should explain at this point that I am in a unique position to use this benefit because I have two pairs of season tickets: one in the upper deck and one downstairs. The idea that my friend Mike and I came up with here was that we could bring extra people to a game now and then and not force the other person to miss out. But that also leaves us with a lot of extra tickets which we need to sell at a loss. This year, I've been trading them in for full credit.

More foreshadowing...

So what? Again, most people already have too many Wizards tickets. The last thing they want is more. Well the hidden benefit for me in this program is that VIP seats are available (which gets you access to the all you care to eat and drink Etihad Lounge under the stands) and the team gives you $100 free dollars to incentivize you to use the program. This is important. Let's do some math. 

Let's say you see some VIP tickets available on the Fluid Tickets Program for the Sacramento Kings game; the price is $195 per ticket, so you'd need $390 to buy a pair. The Wizards are giving you $100 for free. Trading in your Kings upper and lower level tickets (assuming you are like me and have both) gets you an additional $80 per lower level ticket and $30 per upper level ticket (just what you paid even though you know the uppers are overpriced). That gives you $320. Trade in two more upper level games which are utterly unsellable gets you an additional $120. 

You can now afford VIP tickets, which in my opinion are really valuable because I like to (a) eat, (b) drink and (c) watch Wizards hoops. Instead of watching the Kings game from the lower level while getting $5 for my upper deck tickets and spending at least $20 on beer, I'm eating and drinking for free at the game on the floor just for sacrificing what would likely be another couple of $5 sales on the resale market. Make sense? Too much math? Well, re-read these last two paragraphs as much as you need to so you understand. Or ask a friend for help.

Last night, I attended my first Wizards game with VIP access in about two seasons and it's because of this new benefit. I love this stuff so much that I'm doing it again next week when the Nuggets are in town and all that one cost me was a few tickets that would have been somewhat to totally unsellable on the secondary market. It's a total win for me. For a moment in time, I'm making out well with the Wizards.

The Etihad Airways lounge. LOVE this place. 

So there's a glass half empty side to this, right? Totally. There always is, even though I'm generally a glass half full guy. My top six takes (because there are six beers in a six pack) on the dark side to all this are below.

1. This program is only awesome because the Wizards secondary market sucks right now. If the team was actually drawing fans, I wouldn't need to trade my unused tickets in for team credit; I could just get some cash from ticket sales. Or I could just not spend my money on tickets to begin with.

2. If you have credit on your account at the end of the year, it disappears. Yep, that's right, if you have a few hundred bucks in credit when the last game ends, your money goes poof. Trade in tickets wisely, kids. Don't want to be stuck burning a bunch of money. $30 in way below cost sales is better than $150 in unused credit.

3. Not all games have VIP or even good tickets available in advance. Check this carefully. When I searched the games (and I did search every game) for VIP availability, I found four and all were before mid-December. That's not to say others won't be available later. Just don't bank on it. Weekend games (including Friday) had especially poor availability for additional tickets in all parts of the arena no matter the opponent.

4. The best time to maximize return from this program is before the Super Bowl. Trust me on this one: the Wizards resale market is always awful before football season is over and it's especially bad if Washington's NFL team still has a chance. Trading in tickets is wiser for tickets before Christmas than after February 1. I have the data to prove it. Wizards tickets sell better once football is done.

5. If you buy extra tickets to a game, the app prohibits returning unused tickets for that same game. I have no idea why it does this but you might want to think about this when you are considering upgrading your tickets through the app by buying first and returning later. I learned this one the hard way. I actually lied in my example story. I bought VIP tickets for the Kings game and tried to return my seats in 109 after the fact. Couldn't do it so I ended up sitting in my regular seats for that game because they are better than sitting behind the basket.

6. Extra tickets you buy are at the gate price, not the season ticket holder price. Want some extra upper deck tickets vs. the Cavs (if they were even available)? You'll be paying $79, not the season ticket price of $30. Just something to keep in mind.

If you are a Wizards season ticket holder like me who is tired of getting pennies on the dollar for tickets you can't use, I'd encourage you to check out this feature, even if you just end up spending the $100 the team gives you. I know this is going to prove extremely valuable for me this year. We'll see if it sticks next year. If it doesn't, I got two VIP games out of it without spending an extra dime, which I consider awesome.

One final note here: while the Wizards app is thinking about the absurdity of you buying extra tickets, it displays some "did you know" facts about the team's history. Unfortunately, the folks programming those messages can't spell Earl Monroe's last name right. I told someone at the team about it. I hope it's fixed by the time I press the "Publish" button on this post.

Lounging

A little less than two months ago, Monumental Sports and Entertainment hosted a press conference at Verizon Center to announce the acquisition of an Arena Football League expansion team. Wizards owner Ted Leonsis was there. The radio voice of the Wizards, Dave Johnson, was there. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was there. Former Philadelphia Eagle Ron Jaworski was there. Kiss' Gene Simmons was there. And I was there too. Albeit with a decidedly lower profile than the rest of the folks in this paragraph.

Why do I care about arena football? Well, I don't. Not a bit, although I suppose I could be talked into a game once the team actually starts playing in Washington. I didn't go to get hyped up about the AFL coming to Washington or for a chance to be in the background of an internet only broadcasted press conference or even to see Gene Simmons, although I have a couple of Kiss albums in my music collection and still consider Detroit Rock City one of the finest songs ever written. The reason I went to this lunchtime event was to set foot in the Etihad Airways Lounge in Verizon Center for the first time.

I know what you are thinking...I went all the way down to Verizon Center on a day that Metrorail wasn't working (yep this was the day they closed Metro for inspection) just to set foot in some room in the building? Yep, that's correct. I've been trying to get into this place without spending any extra money for the entire season. Call me crazy.

Hey, it's Gene Simmons!!!! Simmons is part owner of the Los Angeles AFL franchise.

One of the biggest complaints I have about being a Wizards season ticket holder this past season (other than the on court performance and lack of playoffs of course) was the reduction in benefits from the formerly excellent Monumental Rewards program the team instituted a couple of seasons ago. The best/only reward I ever wanted from that program was access to the two VIP lounges located under the north side of the lower bowl of Verizon Center. And for the prior two seasons, I got what I wanted. I immensely enjoyed access to the clubs at each end of the arena in addition to the opportunity to walk along the edge of the court. The program made me feel valued and special as a Wizards season ticket holder who's been toughing this thing out for 15 years.

But this year, the man decided to change the rules on us common folk who spend only a few thousand on season tickets each year (for over a decade) and deny us any sort of access to the lounges (including the brand spanking newly renovated Etihad Airways Lounge at the east end of the building) which smacked of being free in any way. No Monumental Rewards redemption opportunity. No one time entry courtesy of my ticket representative so we could kick the tires so to speak. No access at all without buying a VIP seat for at least a game. Apparently the VIPs who spend lots and lots of money complained about free access and management clamped down.

It even seemed to me that the Wizards and Capitals went to extraordinary measures to make sure riff raff like me didn't spoil the views of VIPs while they were downing their complimentary food and booze in the brand new Etihad Lounge. There was an item available on the Monumental Rewards webpage for VIP seats to a Caps game that specifically excluded access to the Etihad Lounge. And when we renewed our season tickets, we won VIP wristbands for a game that allowed us access to the lounge at the west end of the building but specifically excluded us from the Etihad Lounge. What the heck was the big deal? I had to find out. The AFL press conference was my chance. So I took it.

The new bar in the Etihad Airways Lounge.

If you had ever been to the former lounge under the east end of the building (entrance opposite the Wizards bench area), you might remember it as a fairly bland, dark, a little aged, narrow space with food stations on both the north and south walls. That space was fairly tunnel-like and led to a bar area through a set of doors at the end of the space on the right. The bar was approximately square and I remember it as being more dark than it really should have been.

All that is now changed. The space is completely opened up as a result of the former wall dividing the main food space from the bar being demolished and what used to be the south wall of the bar area being removed to expand the area even further. It's way more expansive, light and looks like a properly designed space. The old bar is gone and the widescreen televisions mounted at four or five places on the walls are now replaced with wall sized video screens. It's still fairly utilitarian since it's essentially an underground space (the ceiling is really low and the flooring is clearly designed to allow food spills) but it's clearly an upgrade over what they had before. I'm not sure it's worth fighting tooth and nail to keep people out but it's clearly a better more deluxe space.

There was also free food. So being completely devoted to covering the Wizards fan experience (or in this case the fan experience most fans are missing because they are just not special enough), I had to partake.

I'm not sure of course if the food at the AFL press conference was representative of the food available during Wizards games but for me, this food was an upgrade of what I used to have access to. In my 25 or so previous trips below Verizon Center to get some free grub and beer, I found few remarkable dishes. I love the Brussels sprouts and olives; the carving station is sometimes delicious; there was once a fantastic southwest style mac and cheese; and who can say no to the killer blondies and free strawberry shortcake ice cream bars but most of the food was what I would classify as arena quality. I realize I'm a snob here and I absolutely love hot dogs (which they had at every game) but I wasn't attached to the lounge access for the food.

At the AFL presser, I managed to sample a whole variety of snacks. I thought the spicy pimento cheese with pretzels, the hot sauce laden pork sliders, and the chili bar were especially good for this event. I'd come back again and again for those foods alone. Not that I'm allowed. Ever. Maybe.

So was free lunch and a chance to bask in the glow of a restricted access space on a Wednesday afternoon worth hoofing it all the way to Verizon Center from my office at 20th and K Streets NW worth it? Yeah, I guess so. Here's a final pitch to Monumental Sports and Entertainment from the little guy who's an extremely loyal fan: let us in to this place next year once in a while. I'll take one time the whole freaking season. This reward makes us feel so valued. Listen to me, please.

Hot sauce pork sliders and turkey chili with fixin's. Good stuff!