Almost Courtside

Earlier this month, the Wizards sent out renewal information for season ticket holders. Even though the team made no noise about this, they have elected to not raise the price of season tickets for the 2020-2021 season. That's good, because I am pretty sure the secondary market can yield cheaper tickets than the price season ticket holder pay per game for about 3/4 of the schedule. 

This season has been expensive for me. I don't want to spend a ton of money to watch another Wizards team underperform but I have precious few options once I elected to renew last year. There's no market to sell at a profit or even at the cost I paid for them some games. Because it's been so difficult to sell tickets at cost, I've elected to return some of my tickets to the team using the Fluid Tickets Program rather than selling them at a loss. The result has been an unused balance of credit that has built up. So I decided to spend some of that "cash" on some VIP tickets. This month I sat in better seats than I've ever had for a Wizards home game. Twice.

So I get this is a waste of money. Effectively, I've spent $1,700 on two Wizards home games for me and my wife. But there are two things to consider here. First, once I've bought season tickets, it's all sunk cost. Once I've committed it's too late. Better to trade my tickets in to the team and get something of greater value than losing money.

Second, even though I'm paying $96 per ticket per game as a season ticket holder, the real value of my purchase is variable. That's why the list price on my tickets mailed to me by the team is different than $96 per game. That's why the Wizards offering to give me $96 of credit per ticket for my Tuesday night tickets vs. the Chicago Bulls increases my value. And that's why, faced with a choice of selling my tickets for $30 or $40 per seat, I traded in my tickets.

If you know anything about me, you know I love the all inclusive experience at Wizards games. Sure it was way better when the team provided this as an occasional perk for loyal season ticket holders but the days of this team really valuing rank and file season ticket holders (read: those who spend less than let's say $30K per seat per season) are long gone. Today, it's all about the money for this ownership group. Which means for me, I gotta pay up. With my commitment to renew for next year on the fence, I figured doing the VIP thing using the Fluid Tickets Program might actually be the cheapest way to get this sort of experience. And it may be my last chance.

If this year is my last year, February provided me with some memorable experiences. I've sat closer to courtside than this before years ago in Minneapolis but never this close at MCI Center / Verizon Center / Capital One Arena. I came, I ate, I drank, the Wizards lost. Both games. Along the way I learned some things. Here's what I got out of my experience.

1. Not All VIP Seats Are Created Equal

We picked up VIP seats in the Row BB in opposite corners of the arena for our two VIP games. Against Memphis, we sat in Section 110 across from the Wizards bench; against Cleveland (how do we lose twice at home to Cleveland?), we sat in Section 121 behind the visitor's bench. In Section 110, Row BB is two rows behind courtside seats; in Section 121, Row BB is one row behind the walkway in back of the two row visitor bench area. Seats across the court from where the players sit are way closer to the court. Also, basketball players are tall. There's nothing like Andre Drummond standing up in front of you to inhibit your view of the game. For me, seats on the non-bench side of the court are better.

2. The Game Continues To Change As You Get Closer

One of the things I love about the live basketball experience is that as you get move around the arena, the game experience changes. Want to see a TV-like view but live? Sit on the sides of the arena in the upper deck. Want wider seats and more space? Sit on the club level? Want to see plays unfold a little closer to the action? 100 level in the back. Want to see players' eyes and have them hear you when you yell at the top of your lungs? Sit closer downstairs (that was for Dray Blatche). Want to hear the players talking? VIP it.

Some chatter from the court is pedestrian. In fact, I'm sure most stuff in a game between two non-playoff teams in late February is pedestrian. Moe Wagner asking who Tristan Thompson was yapping at from the bench in the first half was a nice touch considering the Wiz were way ahead at that point. I'm sure real trash talking in an important game would be fun from that close. Kevin Porter, Jr. got tossed in the Cleveland game and we know why. After what he felt was a blown call by the official he let him know it: "That's bullsh*t! F*ck you, man!" Tossed!

3. All You Need In Life Is On The Gatorade Cart

OK, so maybe that's not exactly true. But pretty much all a player might need during a game is on the Gatorade cart. Towels, bandages, Kleenex, O'Keeffe's Working Hands hand lotion, cell phone, gum and of course Gatorade. This is not the first time I've sat this close to an NBA bench so I didn't necessarily see anything surprising here. I remember a Wizards road game in either Atlanta or Indianapolis where there was a Tupperware container full of candy and gum. Players need that sugar. And soft hands apparently.

Next to the Gatorade cart was a separate cooler with personalized Gatorade bottles for individual players. These things were sharp. Guess the cups aren't good enough for some.

4. Waffles With Caramel > Donut Holes With Bourbon Sauce

One of the benefits and downsides of the VIP experience is you end up eating things you would never in a million years eat in real life. I mean, hey, it's free, right? We had to go for the waffle dessert bar in the Memphis game and the donut hole dessert bar in the Cavs game. Neither was any good for us but we piled sauce and sprinkles and sweetened whipped topping (it wasn't actual cream) on both those things. If I ever get VIP tickets again, I'm getting the waffles again if they have them. But I'm passing on the donut holes. Way too sweet.

5. Darius Miles Fans Are Everywhere

Darius Miles was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers in the year 2000 with the number three overall pick. He lasted two years with the Clips before moving on to Cleveland before the 2002-2003 season. He spent a year and a half with the Cavs before being traded and was out of the league in 2009. More than 16 years after he left the Cavs, there was a dude wearing a Mile 21 warmup right next to us at the Cavs game.

In 2012, I attended the NBA Draft in Newark, New Jersey. Sitting near us for that event was a guy with a "Bring Back Darius Miles" sign and five different Miles jerseys that he rotated as his jersey of choice throughout the night. What's up with all this Darius Miles love? Some players stick with the fans I guess.

Unless I renew for next season or I actually break down and buy a pair of courtside seats for one game (it's on my non-bucket-list bucket list) sometime in the future, these two games may be the last times I sit inside the hockey boards for a Wizards game. If that's the case, I guess I got something close to my money's worth. Or at least made the best I could of a bad situation. I love doing this stuff. Too bad the team makes it so hard for regular season ticket holders to participate in this sort of experience.

Cap One Arena Facelift

Last night the Washington Wizards hosted an open house for season and non-season ticket holders to get a look at what they've done with the Capital One Arena over the summer. Before the end of last season, Monumental Sports and Entertainment was making a good amount of noise about this renovation that's been about 20 years in the making. Seriously, some design decisions about the then-MCI Center should have been corrected immediately.

It's always interesting to come back down to Penn Quarter after a summer off to see what's changed (the answer seems to be not much this year) so I wasn't going to miss this chance to dip my toe back in the Wizards pool after a few months off. And for me, it really was a few months off. So even though the first preseason game is just next Monday, I couldn't miss this opportunity to get down to 601 F Street NW and check the (new) place out. Plus they said they'd have free food and I'm never one to turn down free stadium food.

They don't look it in this pic but trust me these seats are black.

New Seats
The purple seats are gone!!!! I have no idea why they put purple seats in MCI Center to begin with (maybe because it was an MCI color?) but it never should have happened. The color isn't (and never was) in the Bullets, Wizards or Capitals color scheme so unless it was corporately driven from MCI, I just don't get it.

The new seats are black (which is fine I guess) and each one in the lower bowl features the Capital One logo. Guess who paid for the arena makeover, by the way? After sitting down in one I have to say they are no more comfortable than the old seats; in fact they might be less comfortable at this point because they haven't been broken in (if you long for the old seats Monumental was selling them off at the beginning of the summer; of course, you can't bring them to the game with you). We'll reserve full judgment once I (and other folks) have had a chance to rough them up a little.

I do have a small question about the logos, though. This is an awfully big gamble by Monumental, isn't it? I get that it's never easy to turn money down but Cap One's naming rights deal as I understand it is only for 10 years and we are already a year in. If we consider the first batch of seats took more than 20 years to replace, what happens if Capital One doesn't extend their naming rights deal? Do we have Etihad Arena with Capital One seats? Or do we get new seats?

Or maybe the deal has already been extended. Monumental has a habit of secretly extending deals (cough! Ernie Grunfeld! cough!).

New Signage
The purple signs are gone!!!! When I wrote above the certain design decisions that should have been reversed a long time ago, those God awful purple seat-matching signs with the garish colored (and fonted) numbers were what I meant. Thank goodness those things are gone.

But they aren't just gone, their replacements are actually pretty cool. The color scheme is simple black and white (I guess we are going all in on no colors, although I guess black and white are actually colors) which is fine but the cool part is each sign features a muted photograph of some event that occurred in the history of the building. Or something like that.

Some of these are cool, like Dale Hunter's 1,000th point. Others are kind of lame, like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw in concert (I mean who cares, really? Washington was just a stop on their tour). In a very me-centric moment here I'm proud to say that the sign outside Sections 109/110 where my seats are features a picture of John Wall with the caption Southeast Division Champions. Two thoughts here: (1) you can make fun of celebrating a measly division title if you want but this is the only thing the Wiz have won in the 18 years I've been a season ticket holder and (2) the Wiz won the division in 2017 by beating the Lakers in Los Angeles. I'll never forget that because I was there. I'm still proud of this sign anyway.

New Concourse
This one's a work in progress. Like literally. They are clearly not done with part of this renovation. One of the account representatives last night assured me everything would be buttoned up for the season opener. I work in the design and construction industry; excuse me for being a little skeptical about construction schedules being maintained. I'm sure the original plan wasn't "let's not finish for the Caps' season opener but make sure we are good to go for the Wiz."

We visited the first and second levels and skipped the 400 level. We did this strictly based on where the food was and with no offense intended to the upper deck. There just wasn't any grub up there. The Club level showed little change, although there's clearly been a bit of work up there. The major changes are downstairs.

So what does this mean for the 100 level? It's tough to say. The floors are clearly new, they have added new tile outside every toilet room and there are some new baffled ceilings but the rest is so incomplete that's it's difficult to say whether there will be more or less room on that level. There's no doubt based on my having visited about half of the league's buildings that Capital One Arena is one of the smallest venues in the NBA. More concourse space would be good. I guess we'll find out when they are done but it looks on first blush that at least the bar area in the southeast corner of the building (what I believe used to be called the Bud Light Corner or something like that) is reduced in size, returning more space to circulation.

New Food
Two years ago way back when it was Verizon Center, a José Andrés food stand showed up in the building. I'd been begging for something more than Papa John's or Dunkin' Donuts for years. José in the building was a welcome addition. Having it change throughout the year from one Andrés restaurant to another was interesting but I think it worked.

Last year, they move José out and got Alex McCoy to move a version of his Lucky Buns joint into the building. This year, they are moving Alex along and getting more celeb chefs into the building (I guess you can debate whether McCoy was a celeb chef but let's say he is for this post).

Andrés and McCoy both put their food stands into the building under a Launch Test Kitchen brand banner. This year, their spot on the east side of Capital One Arena is occupied by Maria's Greek Kitchen serving up dishes created by Maria Menudos, who I see as the woman who talks to me in the preview section of the movies when I'm over in Courthouse AMC in my recliner waiting for the feature to start. We sampled a lamb and beef gyro last night that I thought was tasty but the texture of the bread and meat was off (the bread broke while folded and the meat was plastic-y). I'd maybe go back in a pinch hoping they have these kinks worked out later in the year.

It's also apparent that both David Chang and Cat Cora (who I definitely would call celebrity chefs) are going to have some presence in the building although I'm not sure where. Chang's chicken tenders (branded under his Fuku restaurant) and Cora's chicken and salmon (from her OLILO stand) were available for consumption last night. We passed on Cora's stuff because honestly Chang's chicken was freaking awesome. I'm not sure where these two are going to be (last night they were both in the PwC Club on the Club level) but I'd eat David Chang's food any day, even at a Wizards game. Chang is just good.

There's also a new taco stand where the brat / sausage place used to be on the east lower level. I found their steak taco salty and fatty. Not impressed on the first take but tacos are definitely good arena food.

Fewer VIP Seats
When season ticket renewal information was sent out to season ticket holders, a whole lot of folks behind the baskets at both ends of Capital One Arena found out they'd be denied access to VIP treatment during the coming season. It's kind of surreal looking at an empty Cap One and thinking about people in the first row behind the walkway having access to the Etihad Lounge and the people right behind them having nothing. I still feel bad for those folks. We did check out some of the available seats for purchase at the west end of the arena. Got $24K to blow on a single seat? Yikes! When did this stuff get so expensive?

There are some additional all-inclusive seats that have been added in the PwC Club at the west end of the arena. That whole area is now all you can eat and drink. Those seats are nice padded chairs with individual tables attached to the arm of each chair to hold your chicken tenders, InBev brew of choice or whatever else you happen to be consuming on an all-inclusive basis. Of course, they are also pretty darned expensive for an endzone seat on the second level. I'll be interested in seeing if there's any availability of this space on an individual game basis.

Brand new seats in the brand new PwC Club.

If this renovation is supposed to be finished for opening night, they got three weeks to get this done. Seems possible from my walk through last night but then again I'm not scheduling crews to get into the building before October 18. I'll start breaking my seat in Section 109 that night. In the meantime, there's always preseason to check out the renovations in an almost empty building.

Looks way better without the purple.

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!