The Washington Commanders heard the complaints. They saw the pictures on social media that gave the appearance not a lot of fans were coming to training camp. So, the team reacted and made a change allowing more fans to attend a training camp practice at team headquarters in Ashburn, Va.
"Pivotal offseason for this franchise, so to limit fan access didn’t really make good business sense and to now know that fans can come," Commanders fan Ted Abela of D.C. said. "All they have to do is RSVP, I know some people have just shown up, they’re not turning you away. It’s great to see all these fans out here, rooting this team on."
The original plan was for the team to have a fan lottery to attend a training camp practice. It worked but shut out a big portion of the fan base.
Now, with five training camp practices remaining, the team is encouraging fans to go on their website to fill out an RSVP form, selecting the practice they want to attend.
It's simple. Fill out the form, select the date and a confirmation email will be sent.
"Oh, I think it’s great," Commanders fan Karen Fowler of Falls Church, Va. said. "This is such a good time to get to see what’s happening and to kind of build excitement and I think they were missing that because they didn’t let us come."
The Commanders final training camp practice open to the public will be on Thursday, Aug. 18.