Steeler Nation in the Nation's Capitol

Last Monday I was in Washington, DC on business with a couple of Press Pass colleagues and was fortunate enough to score some prime location tickets to the Monday night Steelers-Redskins matchup at FedEx Field. Aside from the great seats, there were many things that stood out about this game vs. other games I've attended over the years. The Monday Night Football atmosphere was great, We arrived early to avoid traffic, tailgate, and watch the players warm-up. Several times over the course of the 90 minutes of warm-ups, the classic old-school MNF theme blared over the top notch sound system---awesome. A Redskin player played catch with people in the stands for a solid 15 minutes. Throwing to the first row to 20 rows up; it was a fun atmposhere. The enormity of the 92,000 seat stadium also stood out. It sells out every game and the waiting list for season tickets is long beyond belief. The 'Skins could probably sell out a 150,000 seat stadium!

However, the thing that stood out the most to me was the amount of Steeler fans present. There were Steeler jerseys all over---from Franco Harris to Troy Polamalu to Big Ben. I know that the Steelers are perennially one of the top selling teams in terms of NFL merchandise. Each year at www.presspassinc.com we sell more Steeler diecast than any other team. This fact was reinforced by what I saw at FedEx Field. During the player introductions and throughout the game, the infamous gold "Terrible Towels" were everywhere! At times you had to wonder if you were in DC or Pittsburgh, I think quite a few of the Redskin season ticket holders made some large cash selling their Monday night tix to members of the Steeler Nation. While the majority of fans were rooting for the hometown Redskins, I bet a solid 25-30% were cheering on the Steelers. The fact that the Steeler fans had a lot more to cheer about in the 23-6 victory made their presence seem even larger. If the Steelers come to vist your stadium, prepare to cheer extra loud for your team (or make a bundle selling your tickets!).

Tom