The Redskins announced new improvements to FedExField for the 2010 season and hosted a viewing of the stadium upgrades for media on Sunday afternoon.
Among the improvements to the facility include a new text message traffic alert system, installation of the locker of the late Sean Taylor for viewing on the club level, and club level party decks, as well as the previously announced installation of new HD video boards and complete renovation and replacement of the stadium's video control room.
"Everything we are doing is focused on continuing to improve the gameday experience for fans at FedExField," Redskins chief 0perating officer David P. Donovan said. "We believe fans will really feel the impact of these improvements."
Said Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder: "It's still a great stadium and it's one where we're building a tradition...It's exciting for us. It's a new decade in Redskins history and we're looking forward to it."
This season, the Redskins will provide traffic alerts via text message, giving fans access to regular updates on the best routes to use to get to FedExField on gameday.
The service will provide information on gameday bottlenecks to avoid up until kickoff, as well as announcements on any post-game traffic issues that arise to help fans get to and from the stadium for every home game.
Redskins staff will monitor traffic on the Beltway, Landover Road, Arena Drive and Central Avenue to provide up-to-the-minute updates. Fans can opt in to these alerts by completing the signup form at www.redskins.com/trafficalerts.
The Redskins also have updated route guidance to the stadium to give fans alternatives to Beltway exits 15, 16 and 17, including turn-by-turn guidance so fans from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia can enter the stadium grounds from the west on either Landover Road or Central Avenue. This information and more can be found online at www.redskins.com/parking.
The team also has added more than 1,000 additional cash parking spaces for this upcoming season for fans attending Redskins home games at FedExField.
The parking lot, located on the corner of Brightseat and Landover Road, is available to fans on a first-come, first-serve basis. Parking is $40 per vehicle.
Although the most notable addition this year is the previously announced 100-foot long HD video boards installed in each endzone, the multi-million dollar renovation of the stadium's control room is just as important.
The much-anticipated video boards are accompanied by eight new digital ribbon boards to provide fans with out-of-town scores, statistics and more, all monitored and operated from a state-of-the-art control room located on the Owner's Club Level.
The improvements will allow for simultaneous multi-angle game highlights and replays, game graphics and other high definition content.
"When the stadium was first built, high definition didn't exist at the time in this capacity," Snyder said. "So we said, 'Hey, this is a real opportunity,' so we upgraded it...It's important that we keep up with the quality of entertainment. This is really state of the art."
The Redskins have retained Big Screen Network Productions, a worldwide leader in stadium videoboard productions, to operate the control room for all games for the 2010 season.
Big Screen Productions has handled stadium video production for the last 26 Super Bowls and 15 Pro Bowls, as well as NCAA National Championships, Olympic Summer and Winter Games, and many other prominent sporting events around the world.
FedExField premiered the new video boards with the first showing on July 17 of "Brothers of the Legacy," a documentary chronicling the friendship of Redskin legends and Pro Football Hall of Famers Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff.
FedExField is also the new home of the locker of the late Sean Taylor, located near the Sprint Gate A club level escalator.
The locker from Redskins Park, which has been kept exactly as it was left at the time of Taylor's untimely death in November 2007, is enclosed in Plexiglass, with oversized photographs of Taylor exhibited on the exterior.
"We sealed it after he passed, and now that it has been a couple of years we wanted to bring it to FedExField and let the fans experience it exactly as it was," Snyder said.
The locker will be on display for Suite, Loge and Club Level ticketholders on gamedays, and all fans will be able to view the locker during stadium tours, the annual draft day, and other events.
Fans will also appreciate the Redskins' new partnership with Lasting Impressions Landscaping Contractors, Inc. (LILC) to completely renovate the exterior landscaping at FedExField.
The renovation includes planting thousands of burgundy and gold annuals and perennials this fall and next spring, as well as maintenance, pruning and irrigation updates outside all the main gates, the ticket office, VIP suites and club entrances and the Redskins Hall of Fame area.
