Nice-to-Have and Must-Have

It is training camp and preseason matchups that are rightly dominating the Commanders chat right now.

Although Head Coach Ron Rivera has yet to officially confirm Sam Howell as the QB1 in Washington, it is 99.9% assured that the second-year North Carolina graduate will be under centre Week 1 vs the Cardinals.

The OL has come under obvious scrutiny, but by all accounts, held their own vs the Baltimore Ravens in joint practice. Logan Thomas continues to be an injury worry despite the assurances from Rivera that this is more a case of ‘looking after a veteran’s health’, there has to be questions marks that linger in the TE room.

Here at UKHTTC, we thought we might swing back to some further thoughts on the Josh Harris Group.

With the Harris Group now firmly in place, we discuss what John, and his investment group, could action to make a positive impact for a better fan experience and a winning franchise.

We divided this into two groups – Must-Have and Nice-to-Have.

UKHTTC founder, Christian Burt, and our long-time USA friend and contributor Andy Eckert offer up some thoughts.

Let’s hear from Andy on Nice-to-Have:

The Harris Group just paid over $6B for this franchise; asking them to pay out more on something that isn’t going to help them on the field or community might be rough. But there are a handful of small things that would be nice-to-have for this upcoming season that can also be done in the weeks before the preseason games start.

Over five years ago the Falcons offered really low prices for concessions.

I remember during the rebranding journey charade where former ownership pretended to care what fans thought, I was one of the many chosen to talk to a team rep about anything and everything. I mentioned this story as an example to make it affordable for a family to eat at a game and to get people into the stadium earlier. I was told they can’t do that because of some deal with the vendors.

I didn’t believe that, but it wasn’t worth a fight.

Fans are buying more game tickets this year; thank them by making concessions more affordable. That leads to something semi-related…. while I haven’t been to a game now in many years, I was a season ticket holder who always felt there weren’t enough people working the games. From ushers to concessions to people cleaning up. It always felt light and understaffed.

Spend the next month hiring more people to help the lines move faster and train them to be nicer than a Chick-Fil-A employee in North Carolina. Those two things would help the fan experience during a season when we really have no idea what the product on the field will be like.

I also think it would be cool on Friday nights before at least a home game, the team jumped on a bus and went to a local High School game to show their support for the sport in the community. Rotate between DC/MD/VA schools.

Have them come and talk to both teams playing, sign some autographs, and split between home/away rooting for those kids. That’s how to help build the next generation of fans: those kids will never forget that time when someone like Terry McLaurin or B-Rob or Jon Allen were talking to you before you went on the field.

Christian continue the Nice-to-Have theme.

I state this from the off; my Nice-to-Have is arguably selfish; but would make Washington stand out from the crowd.

Could Washington become the team that really invests in overseas fans with clearly identified travel, ticket, and accommodation packages to D.C?

The UK in particular remains a strong market of fans of the burgundy & gold and I have little doubt that the UK entourage would be vocal at FedEx. Such a move would provide the platform to continue the great connections that have been made over the years between fans who blog, podcast, or simply offer up opinion on the latest discussion points for the team.

There are already trailblazers out there in the UK, Scott Hartley and Andy Burrows purchased a season ticket that is such a brilliant way of showcasing support from outside the USA. Clearly identifiable, bookable, and affordable travel packages would be a great gesture from the new owners to the many UK fans that have stuck by the team.

And now for the Must-Have with Andy.

Must-Have is a totally different category. These things need to be done ASAP to help your players and/or the fans. These are also things that they can do right now or at least throughout the season.

The Park is famous for being one of the worst facilities for practice and training in the league. They can’t just replace it this year, but they can do some things to help their players be ready for game day. Do they need to bring in better nutrition specialists? Do they need to park a number of portable trailer buildings next to the Park that are loaded with a row of cryosaunas for faster recovery? Add to the medical staff? These things can happen immediately and temporarily fix a longer-term problem while they work on a location and building a new stadium.

I’m sure this is already happening since the day they took ownership. But, if there isn’t an army of inspectors and repair professionals going inch by inch at FedEx field, there should be. No more broken pipes or railings coming down. Only so much can be done to improve that dump, but they will be there for years longer, and let’s not have anything go wrong on TV anymore, please.

And Christian concludes with his broad Must-Haves.

In some ways the team has already made evidenced progress particularly with regard to access and comfort at training camp. John Harris has demonstrated none of the godawful aloofness of Dan Snyder and, whilst knowing he has a significant job on his hands, there seems to be a clear confidence in his demeanour.

My Must-Have for 2023 is that the Harris Group leave no stone unturned in their analysis of the current staff, facilities, and a full evaluation of the Rivera ethos at roster building.

Go into detail, speak to the current incumbents; I am sure improvements were already being made, but they are likely to be merely at the competent level rather than a clear pathway to achieving greatness.

Goodwill is evident from this starved fanbase towards the new ownership. Go even further to build that feeling of trust and belief. There may be huge roster decisions ahead if the team is not successful in 2023 - my feeling is that the Harris Group would want to hire the best up and coming GM out there rather than the coach-centric approach - and we might even see popular players traded for picks if languishing in the NFC after 10 games or guys allowed to hit the free agency market.

If firm belief is instilled in the fanbase, then such big decisions will be accepted with an eye on the bigger picture: that’s how a well-run franchise operates.

What Ron Rivera believes to be the best way – steady and reward your own – might not be how the Josh Harris group views future success for the burgundy & gold under a General Manager with full control.