Goodbye, Monumental Rewards

So I had this great idea for a post where I was going to talk about some of the suggestions or rants I've offered up on this blog over the years and connect those old posts to new programs, new benefits for season ticket holders or improvements at Verizon Center / Capital One Arena which have been implemented over the years by the Wizards. I figured I've spent enough time complaining, imploring and begging over the last five or so years that it might be time to give credit where credit is due.

Don't believe me? Let's give it a shot. I've asked for more bobbleheads here, here and here. We got more bobbleheads via the G Wiz Kids Club (I know it costs $20...) and last year via the Monumental Rewards program. I've asked for better food options, including a specific suggestion that season ticket holder Jose Andres open a spot. Last year, we got an Andres food stand. I've asked for access to the Etihad Lounge (admittedly, I asked for this because it got taken away) and we got it (back) via the Fluid Tickets Program. I even asked for a different approach on season tickets to increase the number of Wizards fans in the building after which the team rolled out a digital only, low cost, full season plan with non-fixed seat locations which could not be re-sold.

OK, so I get they are not necessarily doing these things based on personal requests from me, but my voice is potentially part of a larger discussion and things are changing. Or have changed.

But enough about how much the team is listening to fan input on new benefits because this post isn't about that. It was going to be until I found out the team has killed the Monumental Rewards program, the rewards site which allowed Wizards, Capitals and Mystics fans to redeem points accumulated through a variety of team-engagement activities for exclusive experiences and swag.

For some fans, the loss of this program will have little impact. Over its four year history, I used the program for cheap access to the VIP lounge area a ton of times then once a month access to the VIP lounge area then access to a suite once per year with some free food then for a couple of Mystics games and an exclusive bobblehead. If those perks in the previous sentence seem to get less exciting as the sentence goes on, that's by design because the program actually did get less exciting over its four year history. Well, with the exception of the exclusive bobblehead availability. I saw that last one as the solution to my bobblehead envy of other teams' fans who get multiple bobbleheads every year for free with a game ticket.

For other fans, and count me with my 97,107 lost reward points among this number, this is a failed initiative that just lacked some imagination behind it to succeed. The program was rolled out four years ago with a good amount of fanfare and for a while it was super valuable and a great perk. Heck, even if there were a little swag, maybe a suite game to bid on and a collectible bobblehead each year I would love this program. I suppose with the team's prospects on the upswing, the need to continue to provide benefits like this to fans goes down. I've said it before and I'll say it again: there are times where teams need to value their season ticket holders a little more than doing the bare minimum will allow them to do.

Looks like Scott Brooks will be the only exclusive Wiz bobblehead released under Monumental Rewards.

I kind of saw this coming. The Monumental Rewards site has been down for a few weeks now, just displaying the message at the top of this post when you sign on to the site, which is still active as of this writing. I also never got my new points as a result of this season's ticket purchase that I made this past February or March which made me a little suspicious. But I did use the program as recently as August to attend a Mystics game in a suite. Those missed opportunities will be felt in the future.

So what replaces this? Anything? Is this just another lost benefit that the team decided to kill because it was too much of a pain to keep going? Is the team now too popular to have it waste efforts like this to make season ticket holders who have suffered through plenty of non-playoff seasons (including two 19 win years and NOT during a lockout shortened season) a little happier?

I should mention that I have not received any notification from the team that this benefit is dead. I'm sort of putting two and two together here. But I believe I'm right. I don't believe we'll see the team auctioning off suite access or creating any season ticket holder exclusive bobbleheads any more. And that sucks. I hate writing blog posts like this. I believe NBA teams should value long term season ticket holders more than cancelling benefits without communications to the people that have stuck by the organization for a long time. Moments like this make me realize that interactions with season ticket holders is a business too. I'll get over it. Regular season starts in less than two weeks. That will take my focus off this sort of stuff for a while.

Monumental Rewards Changes

With the start of the NBA season now less than three weeks away, it will soon be time for Wizards season ticket holders to start paying attention again to the team's Monumental Rewards program in a more serious way. That is, assuming we still see any substantial value in this program at all. For those of us who do or are still maintaining hope, it looks like there are some changes either implemented or in store.

Since this program was introduced by the team prior to the 2013-2014 season, I've had an up and down relationship with it. I loved it at first because it got me into the VIP lounges a whole bunch of times in the first year it was implemented; loved it less the next year when they cut that experience back to just once each month; became disillusioned with the program when they deleted that benefit entirely and replaced it with a once a year much higher priced shared suite experience; then maybe saw an uptick this summer with a Capitals exclusive edition bobblehead and some Mystics benefits I was able to take advantage of. Now the program is entering its fourth year. Let's take a look at some implemented and potential changes before we get this season kicked off. We'll look at this thing in three parts.

The Current Catalog

When I'm dealing with the items available now on the Monumental Rewards site, I'm really talking about items and experiences related to the Wizards, not the entire available inventory. Last year my opinion of the items available for purchase here was pretty low. Like literally there was nothing I wanted except a couple of tickets to a suite game, which (again) the team limited to a single purchase.

So what's available right now? Here's the current list, with points value and some snarky comments.

• Wizards Portfolio Notebook (5,000 points): Depending on the size I could actually use one of these. I've been using the same notebook at work for about 20 years now.
• Wizards Moscow Mule Mug Set (60,000 points): Don't drink Moscow mules and I own glasses that work already if I did. By the way I have no idea why this item even exists. Are Moscow mules a big thing? They must be, right? Excuse me if I'm out of touch here.
• Wizards Shooting Sleeve (5,000 points): Why? Why would I ever need this. There is a limit of two on this item due to limited availability. Again...why? Who even wants ONE of these?
• Wizards Umbrella (20,000 points): I'm of the opinion that you can never have too many umbrellas.
• Wizards Shot Glass (15,000 points): Seems a bit high priced but OK. Not really a shots at home guy, though.
• Wizards Beach Towel (15,000 points): OK. Fine.
• Wizards Travel Bag (45,000 points): This was the season ticket holder gift last year. Already have one that I haven't used.
• Wizards DC Rising T Shirt (1,000 points): Leftover in game giveaway. There are made in XL only. I am not XL.
• John Wall 2015 All Star Frame (5,000 points): Already have one. It's in the back of my closet.
• Wizards Aluminum Water Bottle (5,000 points): Already have one that I haven't used.

I'm not pumped about the current catalog in case that wasn't obvious. Now in their defense Monumental Sports has added new items this summer to about double the available items and they just added the portfolio in the last week. Maybe there's more to come. Or maybe I better just get more optimistic about what's already available. I might not have any choice on this last point. Shooting sleeve, anyone?

Earning and Using Points

The big news for me on earning and using points which broke this past month is that you can no longer hang on to your Monumental Rewards points forever. Yep, that's right. These things now expire. I currently have about 140,000 points and according the my last Monumental Rewards statement, 44,347 of them are going to disappear on December 31 of this year. This is too bad because I had some sort of grand vision of stockpiling an enormous amount of points for some future auction of concert tickets or something like that because right now I'm just not competitive on most auctions (we'll get to auctions in a minute or two). Now I'm going to be forced to buy something I don't want or just give up the points. Unless something good is posted in the next month or so, I may end up with an umbrella, a portfolio, a beach towel and a shooting sleeve (because why not?). Christmas presents maybe?

The smaller news on the earning side is that it appears the 125 point credit for posting each of our season tickets on Ticketmaster re-sale site (with an added 125 per ticket for a sale) has disappeared. This was a great deal and it's too bad it's gone because this was a great way to rack up some points in a system that only really handed out a significant amount of points for dollars spent on season tickets. Even if we didn't intend to sell our tickets, we could earn a few extra points by posting tickets; the points didn't expire with an expired listing. Now those of us who spend relatively little on season tickets have less of a way to get more points to compete with those who pay a lot. The rich get richer is the message here. On the other hand, if the catalog doesn't change and points are going to expire, I'm not sure I care about losing this way of getting more points.

Translating the Current Capitals Catalog to the Wizards

So what's in store in the future? Well, if I waited a couple of weeks to post this, I could probably tell you point by point but where's the fun in that when I actually have the opportunity to hopefully speculate by looking at items recently added to the Washington Capitals category of the catalog.

The Caps catalog right now is way better than the Wizards catalog. There's a big reason for that: the team just added a whole bunch of items to the stockroom. Within the last couple of weeks, they have added some clothing, suite tickets, an insulated lunchbox and some other things like a riding the zamboni experience. They have also added a brand new bobblehead of T.J. Oshie to go with last season's Monumental Rewards only Andre Burakovsky bobblehead (which interestingly has recently had it's price slashed in half to just 15,000 points). I'm hoping this means similar items will be added to the Wiz side of the store, although I'm wondering if the price cut on the Burakovsky bobble means there's no demand and the team will abandon my personal dream of Monumental Rewards-only Wizards bobbleheads. Please, no!!!

So about those suite tickets... As I mentioned earlier in this post, last year suite tickets were available for purchase on a once per season type offer. The suite tickets were set at a lump sum price which varied by opponent (I paid more for suite tickets against the Celtics than my buddy Stephen did for the same item vs. the Pistons for example). If the Caps catalog is any indicator, this same deal won't stand this year.

Right now there are three sets of suite tickets available on the Monumental Rewards site for October (these are shown in the picture above). They include four (rather than two last year) tickets so that's an improvement. Well, unless you don't need four tickets of course. They are also no longer fixed price but instead are offered at auction. And that's very bad for fans like me and those who spend less than me per season. Of the three auctions, I'm already priced out of two of them and would have to pretty much go all in if I wanted to bid on the third.

Why is this bad? Well, it's because of the way points are earned. Auctions favor those who spend the most on tickets. Season ticket holders earn five points for each dollar spent on season tickets. That means someone like me who spends $9,350 on season tickets get awarded 46,750 points each year. That seems like a lot but not if anything valuable on the site is selling at auction for over 100,000 points and you can't save your points from year to year. 

Now let's say you buy VIP tickets (which already gets you club access and free food and drinks every game) at the cheapest level, which is $186 per seat. Buying two season tickets gets you just shy of 80,000 points, which still doesn't win you an auction for suite tickets. Buy a pair of cheap seats on the side of the court inside the hockey boards ($320 per game by the way) and those come with 136,000 points. NOW you can start buying up items at auction. There are maybe 300 accounts in this price range and they can buy all the good stuff if they really want to, leaving the rest of us to wonder why we own two Wizards shooting sleeves.

Are you tired of me complaining? I am. I hate complaining. I hate complaining even more about a program that is an added benefit just within the last four years with no increase in cost. Well, except for the steadily rising cost of attending games to watch a team that hasn't raised any banner since 1979 that is. Maybe the bar was set too high the first year. Maybe since it's an advertised benefit, I am annoyed that the program value really has diminished to nothing. Or maybe I should just stop paying attention to Monumental Rewards because it's too upsetting.

I still maintain some sort of hope that something good will come out of this site in the future. But I'm also prepared to buy a couple of umbrellas and not get anything substantial this year. It's too bad. It was a great idea. Once.

Offseason Shopping

In 2013, the Washington Wizards introduced a new fan rewards system called Monumental Rewards, in honor of the ownership group that holds the Wizards, Washington Capitals, Washington Mystics and (now sort of brand new off the presses) Washington Valor Arena Football team. This program when it was first rolled out was fantastic but over the past almost three years, I've gone from loving it, to complaining about price hikes, to feeling completely screwed, to seeing a glimmer of hope that maybe things would get better.

We'll have to see about the getting better part over the coming season. It's going to take a lot of small moves or one pretty grand gesture to get me turned around on this thing. I'm still hoping the team will re-introduce VIP lounge access on at least a once or twice per year basis and I'd love to see some Monumental Rewards-only bobbleheads for Wizards fans. Please, listen to this fan on this one. There are people out there that really care about this stuff.

At the end of last season, my Monumental Rewards balance was just shy of about 145,000 points. Know what kind of Wizards swag or experiences that would get me as a Wiz fan this offseason? Well just look at the picture at the top of this post: an autographed photo from two years ago (Garrett Temple, Otto Porter and Bradley Beal only); a t-shirt that was given away at multiple games; a travel bag which I already have and which has been sitting in my closet since the day I brought it home; a yearbook after the fact that I don't want; or a John Wall bobblehead, which as awesome as it is, I already have. So basically this offseason there's nothing I want. Unfortunately given the recent history of this rewards program, there's not likely going to be anything during the season that I want either. So I decided to dig a little deeper this summer to see if I could get any value out of this program which I raved about when it was first introduced.

And I actually did find a couple of things. First, I decided to pony up 6,000 points and buy a couple of extra John Wall bobbleheads to take to England as gifts for family during a trip back to my homeland in May and June. Not the most glamorous purchase and I'm sure my uncle Malcolm and my cousin Ryan have little to no idea of what to make of these things but they have them nonetheless. Plus they were a perfect conversation piece during an Iceland stopover when we ran into the radio voice of the Wizards Dave Johnson in Keflavik airport. I've now bumped into Randy Wittman, Ernie Grunfeld and Dave Johnson in airports, although my Iceland encounter with Dave is by far the most random.

But my real source of Monumental Rewards gold (or some less precious metal depending on your perspective) this summer has been the Washington Mystics, a team that before this season I had never seen in person. I attended my first ever Mystics game back in May and after that I started poking around on the Monumental Rewards site to see if there was any way I could cash in a minimal amount of points in exchange for a ticket or two. And indeed there are options for those of us willing to go to a Mystics game or two.

Generally speaking, there are two options. First, you can pick up a pair of tickets in a suite on the 200 Level of Verizon Center for a mere 5,000 points. The suite on the club level is about as far from the court you can get at a Mystics game because the upper deck is closed. Whatever, it's a free game. What else do you want? Similar tickets for Wizards games on Monumental Rewards start at 25,000 points and go up from there so dropping 5K seems like a bargain. Albeit the Wizards games have free all-you-can-consume-at-least-until-it-runs-out food and booze as opposed to the nothing you get with the Mystics so it might actually be worth it to spend 20,000 more minimum here.

The other option is to sit in the Mystics "M-Class" seats which come in bunches of two and four for 8,000 and 10,000 points respectively. What are M-Class seats? Well if you were at a Wizards game, you'd refer to them as the Owner's Seats, the group of eight courtside seats right between each end of the scorer's table and the benches of the two teams. Sitting courtside for 8,000 points. Count me in! I grabbed a pair with my eight large for the July 22 Friday night game vs. the league leading (and very very good) Los Angeles Sparks.

One of the most interesting things about being a basketball spectator (assuming you have enough cash and the opportunity) is the choice of seating options and how the game changes as you get closer to and further away from the court. Now I've never sat courtside at an NBA game (one day...) but I've done it in the D-League a couple of times. There are things I just can't see or perceive when I'm that close to the action. I need that space to truly get a big court view. I'm sure if I sat there every game I would learn to be a better spectator.

But what you lose in closeness of vision, you gain in sounds and the small details being that close to the action. You can hear players yelling for help and talking about communication (or in the case of the Mystics a lack thereof that night); you can hear fouls (yes, HEAR); you can hear the head coach yelling profanities at the officials whose names are written on a piece of tape on the floor in front of the bench; you can watch plays being drawn on the coach's clipboard during timeout huddles; and you have to watch your feet (so players checking in and out of the game don't trip over you) and you have to drink your beer carefully (and hopefully not during game action to avoid accidents). I get that it's the WNBA and that experience might not be as glamorous as the NBA, but sitting courtside is worth it, especially being right next to the benches and especially if it's free. I mean what else are you saving your points for?

The VIP lounge at the Mystics game. At least you can stay there and watch the game live...

The M-Class seats we picked up also included free access to the Courtside Club, which is the Mystics VIP food and drink area. Now this I can get excited about! I've loved VIP access with free all you can eat food and free booze when I used to be able to get it at Wizards games. And while I knew it wouldn't be in the Etihad Airways Lounge, I was optimistic about getting some dinner and a few drinks in what I thought would be the space under Verizon Center's 100 Level west end. Just like the men's game, right?

Well...there is for sure a huge difference between the game experience at an NBA game as opposed to a WNBA game for pretty much everyone at an arena. Everything from the crowd size to the media coverage to the players' salaries is smaller for the women's game. Not surprisingly the same is true about the VIP area for courtside customers. Wizards games have two large food and drink areas under the 100 Level seats with pasta, carving stations, hot dogs, salads, cookies, brownies, ice cream, wine and beer. And it's all free except the tips (and please do tip your bartender when he or she is handing you free booze). 

Mystics games don't. There's a plate with raw vegetables with dip; a plate of fruit; a nachos station with some fixin's (chili, nacho cheese, sour cream, salsa and jalapenos); and a cooler full of soft drinks and water. At the end of the arena just behind the west basket. No gourmet food. No cookies. No brownies. No ice cream. No free beer, although a 16 oz Bud Light only at $9 a pop was available. Yep, I've now experienced the WNBA VIP treatment. 

Look, I'm not really knocking it; it was free after all. And it was worth it. Not for the VIP food and drink area but for a chance to see the game of professional basketball from a different perspective. If I want to do this at a Wizards game, I'm basically paying a couple of grand per seat on the secondary market and that's for a Tuesday night game against Minnesota or something like that. If you need to spend some Monumental Rewards points, I can give the Mystics M-Class seats experience a thumbs up. Just keep your hopes at a reasonable level.

The Mystics are off for pretty much the rest of August for the Olympic Games so I'm not seeing any live basketball in person for a while, although I could see myself going to another game if the same seats are available. Who knows, maybe next time there will be cookies instead of fruit in the Courtside Club or something.

Failing that, I'll be carrying my 130,000 plus Monumental Rewards points into the Wizards season with some hope that the availability of rewards will somehow change for the better. I got an email from my ticket representative today letting me know that new items would be available soon but it sounds like beach towels and umbrellas are being added rather than VIP experiences and members only bobbleheads. I should be thankful I got to use some points this summer I guess. Hopefully I'll use them more than once in the coming Wizards season.

Remember, Wizards...VIP and exclusive bobbleheads are what Wizards fans want.

John Wall bobblehead in England.

Monumental-ly Good Idea

During this past season, I've written, tweeted and said a lot of negative things about the Monumental Rewards program invented by the owners of the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics (and I guess now a yet to be named Arena Football team) prior to the 2013-2014 Wiz and Caps seasons. My written and spoken words this last year stand in stark contrast to my initial reaction to the program, when I declared it "one of the best, if not the best, benefits we have ever had as Wizards season ticket holders."

I hate complaining about benefits we didn't have five years ago but honestly, it's turned from a program that allowed the common fan access to some uncommon experiences, into a program to unload leftover free merchandise and allow people with hundreds of thousands of points (read: those who spend the most) to get even more stuff for free. It looks like it's good for everyone, but it's really all a ruse. What used to make me feel special as a long time season ticket holder now makes me feel like I'm getting cheated. Probably not fair to ownership here, but they do after all advertise it as a benefit. It's not really a benefit if you can rarely use it.

But the point of this post is to give credit where credit is due to the Monumental Rewards program. And that credit is in the bobblehead department, another area where I have been especially critical of Wizards ownership in the past couple of years. If you would have asked me how I would have improved the Monumental Rewards program this past year, I would have offered two suggestions: (1) bring back access to the VIP lounge experience that we had during the first two years of the program and (2) if you are not going to do that, start making exclusive bobbleheads available to season ticket holders. Guess what? For the first time, Monumental Rewards is now offering the second item on my wish list. Sort of.

Log in to the Monumental Rewards site today and you'll find an unavailable anywhere else Andre Burakovsky bobblehead. This is fantastic. I love it. Finally, there's a positive change in this program. Of course, it doesn't do Wizards bobblehead collectors any good because Burakovsky plays hockey for the Capitals. But it's maybe a sign that more bobbleheads might be coming. I could be fooling myself but I remain glass half full on this issue, even though I know my dream of a Randy Wittman bobblehead is now dead. The Burakovsky bobblehead costs 30,000 points. At that price, I have enough for three Monumental Rewards-only bobbles. Please get started on some Wiz bobbles ASAP. Markieff Morris, Marcin Gortat and Kelly Oubre are all under contract next year and currently without team issued bobbleheads. Come on, guys. You know you need to do this.

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!

Monumental Disappointment

The title of this blog post does not refer to the Wizards up and down 6-7 start, although honestly it could. I can't remember a season where this early in the slate I've left two home games really early (vs. Oklahoma City and Indiana - 24 and 17 point losses respectively) and turned the TV off once before the game was anywhere close to over on the game clock (vs. Boston last night - a 33!!! point loss). There's something seriously wrong with the team over at 601 F Street and for this long time season ticket holder, this hurts badly. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

But I'm not writing about that stuff today. Today, I'm talking about something else. And I'll warn you right off the bat here, there's likely some whining in here. Not my usual form and I feel bad doing it but there's likely some nonetheless.

Two seasons ago, the Washington Wizards parent organization, Monumental Sports and Entertainment, introduced a season ticket holder rewards program called Monumental Rewards. The program, which spanned across Wizards, Capitals and Mystics season ticket holders, instantly became one of the best benefits of being a Wizards subscriber. The site seemed stocked full of great fan experiences and hidden goodies. Yes, there were admittedly some cleaning out the closet type stuff, extra stock of old in-game giveaways, laying around but by and large, it gave the committed (double entendre intended) fan an added perk and some access to some exclusive stuff: autographed memorabilia, pre-game captains' meetings and even an all expenses paid road trip to Philly to see the team play the Sixers.

But by far the best reward on the site for me was the opportunity to have access to the Dewar's Coaches Club and Courtside Club, two floor accessible exclusive access clubs with complimentary food and drink typically only accessible to those fans who have invested an insane amount of money per year in the VIP seating area within the hockey boards. It was the only thing I've ever spent my points on and it really made me feel valuable as a Wizards season ticket holder. Even when the opportunity to enjoy this benefit was cut back to once per month last season, I loved every minute of it. Just walking along the court was enough of a thrill for me, although I've never turned down some free grub.

This year the two clubs were overhauled and renamed the Etihad Airways Lounge. The Monumental Rewards website was also overhauled, oddly enough to a slower version of its former self, and along with the overhaul many of the great rewards have disappeared or are now just plain off limits to the common fan. Of course, the best benefit, access to the VIP experience, is gone entirely. There are still plenty of leftover in-game giveaways on the menu (although it looks like they finally ran out of Bradley Beal bobbleheads from three years ago - I already have two) which I guess if you haven't been a season ticket holder that long you might want but there are definitely slim pickings on there.

The Wizards are still offering some exclusive experiences and autographed items on the site but it appears there are so many people with an unconscionable amount of points out there (likely from VIP ticket purchases - points are awarded largely on dollars spent on tickets) that these are almost totally off limits to the common fan. I think I spend a lot of money on Wizards tickets and I've managed to engage enough with social media (one way to earn some supplemental points) to scrounge together about 108,000 points. That's nowhere near the current high bid of 307,500 points required to grab a pair of John Wall autographed shoes.

On the subject of access to the new Etihad Airways Lounge, I got this statement through a friend out of the Wizards ticket office.

"Due to the VIP season tickets being sold out, unfortunately, we will not be offering VIP bracelets on the rewards program, however, they will have several pairs of Suite Tickets in a catered suite instead."

At least part of the statement above is true. Heck, it might all be true. VIP seating may be sold out and for sure, there have been some suite tickets available on a ONCE PER SEASON basis. Based on my visiting the Monumental Rewards website multiple times per week, these suite tickets seem way more rare than the VIP wristbands the team offered last year. But I'm not sure that availability is the issue. It appears there are no opportunities to visit the Lounge for Capitals games like there were last year (and no way are Caps tickets more sold out than last year) plus there was an auction for some Caps tickets on the site earlier this season that included the seats but no club access. Why on Earth not?

I'm in no way a conspiracy theorist or natural skeptic but there's only one explanation that makes sense to me: now that the building has a brand new VIP area, either the team or the people who have bought their way in no longer want freeloaders like me in there via the Monumental Rewards program. This is total speculation on my part (although I think my logic is sound); I know nothing more than what I've been able to deduce from the website. And it's disappointing. A program that made me feel super valuable has now just had the only benefit (for me) taken away.

Now I get that the Wizards (and Capitals, I guess) have every right to do this. After all, I'm paying just for game tickets; all the other stuff is extra. I also get that folks who spend a lot of money on season tickets wouldn't want someone like me in their area even once a year. They've spent the cash, they should get their benefit. 

But there are for sure some folks who sit around me outside the hockey boards with special access passes who are getting into the VIP area because I see them going in there. If it was just sold out, surely they wouldn't fit in there either. There are also some nights when the VIP seating isn't close to full, so during those games (Tuesday game vs. Milwaukee, anyone?) it would seem to me that there wouldn't be any harm in letting a few loyal season ticket holders into the Lounge. And in case you are wondering, it's fans like me who suffer year after year and pay a little bit each season no matter what the odds or outcome who are the lifeblood of the fan support, not the bandwagonners who buy when the odds of success are high.

But the biggest objection to the change in policy is that the Monumental Rewards program is an advertised benefit of being a season ticket holder. Yes, I know I wrote all my cash gets me is the tickets but that's really not true. If the benefit sucks or isn't available, it's not really a benefit, right? And yes, you could counter that a benefit that sucks is still there and available and I'd concede. It's certainly not like the Summerfest benefit which is still on the Wizards website which happened once in 2013 and never again (to date).

I know that money talks and I know that the between $8,000 and $9,000 I spend annually on my seats is not much compared to someone paying twice or way more than that once a decade for seats with free food and booze. But every year I get a survey from the NBA or the Wizards or both asking me to rate how valued I feel as a season ticket holder so they must care a little about folks like me. Removing this benefit for sure makes me feel less valuable. I sat through two 19-63 seasons as a season ticket holder. That sort of loyalty is worth rewarding and for sure the VIP access did that.

I told you there would be some whining. Maybe I can get some suite tickets at some point this year to make me feel better. Or maybe I'll just keep amassing points until the team sucks again and all the fair-weather fans flee. Toronto up next. Need a better showing than the last three nights. Go Wizards!!!

Halftime of the Pacers game: folks flooding to the Etihad Lounge. Not me though; not this year, it seems.

Inflation

Last year the Washington Wizards created a rewards program for season ticket holders. The program, called Monumental Rewards, allows season ticket holders of the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals to redeem points for merchandise, memorabilia, food, and Verizon Center. The VC experiences include basketball and hockey games, concerts and some more unique stuff not generally accessible either to the general public or even to season ticket holders.

Points are earned in a variety of ways, including buying tickets; retweeting and liking official Wizards tweets on Twitter and posts on Facebook; selling tickets on the Ticketmaster ticket resale website (more on this soon); attending season ticket holder events; and watching the team on TV and entering promotional codes. The intent here is to get season ticket holders to engage with the team in the maximum way possible. In exchange for our love, we get points which we can exchange for stuff, mostly by using points like cash based on set prices, although there are some items for auction.

Last year, the only item I redeemed points for was a pair of VIP wristbands to allow me access to the Dewar's Coaches Club below the northeast lower bowl stands and the Courtside Club on the opposite side of the arena. That is because in my opinion they we're the only item worth purchasing. VIP wristbands offer fans an all you can eat and drink experience as well as exclusive access to the floor level of Verizon Center. The chance to walk along the edge of the court alone is enough of a thrill to justify spending points on this reward. It is so great a benefit that I devoted a post to it on this blog last season.

According to the Inflation Calculator, VIP wristbands costing 750 points last November should cost $766 today.

At the beginning of the 2013-2014 season, the price for VIP wristbands on the Monumental Rewards site was set at 750 points. That number is totally relative but considering I had 28,000 points at the beginning of last season, I could have cashed in all my points and had VIP access for every game. The price seemed way too low. And surprisingly, I didn't cash in all my points, but probably should have. By the end of December last year, the price had climbed to 3,000 points. I definitely should have cashed in all my points at that point but because I was at least on the ball enough to recognize the cost of this experience was too low, I managed to get 14 games with VIP access, which was completely awesome. It made the 2013-2014 season, which was already the best in the last 14 years, even better.

So naturally this season, I was hoping to participate in a similar number of VIP experiences. But in the last week, my hopes have been dashed. Significantly. The rules have changed. Significantly.

First of all, the price has climbed to 10,000 points. I expected a price hike this year (I even told the Wizards the price at the original 750 points was way too low) but I didn't expect an increase of 7,000 points over the final number last year. But even worse, access appears to be restricted to one game per month, which unfortunately really restricts my own personal use of this reward. I say "appears" because only November's games have been released for purchase so far, which I guess also allows them to raise the price even higher. I guess I shouldn't have told them the price was way too low, although I think they would have figured it out anyway. But that's some kind of year over year inflation. Wow!

Don't get me wrong here, this is not a complaint. This rewards program was instituted by the Wizards last season without any increase in cost to the season ticket holder and I really appreciate the opportunity to enjoy VIP access even once a month. The Wizards don't have to offer this type of perk to season ticket holders at all, although I think I deserve it; I've sat through a lot of games in two 19-63 seasons since I first bought season tickets.

Every person gets something different out of the Monumental Rewards program; I've talked to other season ticket holders who use their points for things I never in a million years would want. To each his or her own I guess. But the VIP experience is the only thing I want. Now maybe if there were exclusive bobbleheads for purchase...that might ease the sting of the once-a-month VIP restriction. Consider it, Wizards, please. I can imagine how perfect a Kevin Seraphin bobblehead would look on my shelf next to the rest of my collection.

VIP-ing

The new year is here and the Washington Wizards 2014 campaign is off to a miserable start.  A three game home losing streak to start the year brought our home record this season down to an unimpressive 7-8 total. Admittedly, all three losses were to teams whose records are not only above .500 but are also good enough to make the playoffs in each of their respective conferences. But we shouldn't be losing this much at home and the way we lost each game just stung too much.

New Year's morning I woke up with my Wizards as a 14-14 squad, a non-losing record on January 1 for the first time since 2008 and the second realistic chance to have a winning record this season other than opening day (the last time, we ended up losing at home to Milwaukee, owners of the worst record in the league). The first three quarters looked pretty good as the Wizards clung to a 61-59 lead over the Dallas Mavericks. One more quarter slightly ahead of the opposition would have sent us to a winning record. But then we stopped scoring and got blown out by 11 in the fourth en route to our 15th loss of the season. Another blown chance.

In the next two games, against the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors, the Wizards also started strong, trailing by just three at the half to the Raptors and salvaging a tie at the midpoint of the game with the Warriors who came into Verizon Center winners of eight straight. But in the third quarter in both games we just quit, getting outscored by 20 vs. Toronto and by 19 against Golden State and we ended up losing both games badly. In those first three games, we outscored our opponents by two, seven and three in three of the four quarters of each game. Unfortunately, the games are 48 minutes long so the remaining quarter of these three games, where we lost by 50, means we ended our mini-home stand 0-3.

If I'm searching for a bright spot in the home schedule so far in 2014 (and as a Wizards fan, I do a lot of bright spot searching), at least I've drank and eaten well at the last two games for free. In fact, I've done that a number of times in the first half of this season. Let me explain. After all, there's nothing like free beer to drown your sorrows in the midst of a scoring drought that's dooming the team you love to another L.

Entrance to the Dewars Coaches Club at the east end of the arena.

If you have ever sat in the lower level of Verizon Center during a Wizards game, especially on the north side of the building, you may have noticed people walking into and out of the two tunnels at either end of the arena opposite the tunnels that the players use to get to the locker rooms. And if you have watched closely, you would surely have seen those same people exiting those tunnels with plates of food or cups of wine or beer. That's because at either end of the arena there are exclusive VIP clubs (the Dewars Coaches Club at the east end of the building and the Courtside Club at the west end of the building) where they serve food and drinks for free, providing you can get in.

Access to the two clubs is typically purchased with your season tickets. Pretty much everyone inside the hockey boards has access to the complimentary grub and booze nightly. In the past few years, we've been able to take advantage of these clubs about once a year courtesy of our Wizards account representative who has been able to get us in either all game or before the game as a gesture of goodwill or as an opportunity to try to sell us on some higher priced seats. And while our seats don't come with VIP access, the location of our seats is perfect for accessing the Dewars Coaches Club, only five rows back on the first aisle; we can get from our seats to the club in about two minutes.

But this year access to the VIP areas has improved immeasurably and it's become one of the best, if not the best, benefits we have ever had as Wizards season ticket holders (other than a winning team that is). This year, Monumental Sports, which owns the Wizards along with the WNBA's Mystics and the NHL's Capitals, started a program called Monumental Rewards, a points based rewards system which allows you as a season ticket holder to customize the benefits of your account by redeeming points for the rewards of your choice. Points are earned in a variety of ways, including paying invoices for tickets, watching road games on TV, checking in on Facebook at Verizon Center during games and an assortment of other methods in which the team tries to engage fans.

The Courtside Club: not as polished, but bigger.

I generally like to think I am pretty on top of the benefits which are conferred upon Wizards season ticket holders (read: no life other than the Wizards) and so naturally, I explored this program immediately upon its announcement. Lo and behold if one of the choices for points redemption wasn't access to the VIP areas. And knowing how much I loved the once a year opportunity I'd had in the last few years, I immediately investigated this benefit and then cashed in 750 points of my 28,000 points a number of times before the team raised the price to 1,500 and then cashed in a whole bunch more games before the price went up again to 2,500 and then 3,000. All told, I ended up with a pretty good slate of games to enjoy this benefit, including the last two at home.

The words "all you can eat and drink" definitely go with my personality. It's difficult to hold back sometimes, although getting these games more than once a year has definitely curbed my eating. Still working on the drinking part. And the dessert part, I guess. Those carrot cake squares and Rice Krispie treats are difficult to resist.

The food in the VIP areas is not stadium food. Sure they have hot dogs and nachos every game but they also have fresh pasta, meat carving stations and antipasti like olives, artichokes and Brussels sprouts that are typically really amazing. They need to bring back the pico de gallo mac and cheese we had at the season opener vs. the 76ers. That stuff was tasty, even for me as a mac and cheese snob. The beer selection last year in the VIP areas was pedestrian but this year we've been treated to Redhook Gamechanger, Molson Canadian and Kirin Ichiban rather than the Miller Lite and Coors Light they had last year. Good moves there.

More than anything else though, hanging out before the game and at halftime in these areas makes me feel like I'm part of some sort of select club, which I guess is exactly what the Wizards want you to feel like, even if I bought my way in on a game by game basis. When I bought my first season tickets in 2000 for $10 a game, I didn't know about these areas but if I had, there is no way I would have imagined I'd be standing down there every other game in any one season. Here's hoping Monumental Rewards sticks around and we can get lucky enough next year to participate again. I'll be watching closely. Next game with access is the 18th against Detroit.

It's all free!!!