As Sean Foy walked around the concourse of Audi Field, the 35-year-old Baltimore native kept getting stopped because of his T-shirt. He originally bought the item as part of a friends trip to Chicago last October when he and his buddies all wore the same shirt to the Bears’ game against the Washington Commanders.
But attending the D.C. Defenders game Sunday — just days after Commanders owner Dan Snyder agreed to sell the franchise to Josh Harris — Foy dusted off the shirt that contained three words most diehard Burgundy and Gold fans could relate to: “Sell the team.”
“Perfect reason to wear it,” Foy said with a grin.
Foy wore his “sell the team” T-shirt not as a demand but to celebrate the news that Snyder has tentatively reached a deal to sell the Commanders. He wasn’t alone. At the Defenders’ 28-26 win over the Arlington Renegades, a number of fans broke out their Commanders memorabilia.
CJ Chang, a 15-year-old from Maryland, wore a burgundy-colored shirt that read: ‘The 10 Commands” that listed “sell the team” over and over. Jesse Bergman, attending his first XFL game with his two sons, dawned a “Snyder makes me drink” shirt. Tyler Rollins, 24, rocked a Clinton Portis Redskins jersey.
Not every item was worn because of Snyder’s pending departure, but there was a level of joy that carried throughout the stadium Sunday. Fans again chanted “[expletive deleted] Dan Snyder,” which appears to have become a staple of Defenders games.
“Pure joy. I’m ecstatic,” Bergman said. “It’s a new era.”
That era won’t technically begin until Harris and Snyder hammer out a contract, along with the NFL approving the sale. But for now, fans like Foy have moved on from doubting that Snyder would ever sell to accepting that Washington may soon have a new owner.
The Defenders, coincidentally, could be an interesting case study for the Commanders’ next ownership group. Sunday’s game against the Renegades was officially announced as a sellout with 18,684 fans in attendance.
Guess what these dudes are happy about at the Defenders game pic.twitter.com/IDneAGw2jk
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) April 16, 2023
The Commanders — with an average of 58,106 — easily top that number, but D.C. fans say that there’s a level of enthusiasm and passion during Defenders games that has been hard to find at FedEx Field over the past few years. At the very least, Defenders games come with their own traditions — from the beer snake to throwing lemons on the field when disagreeing with calls.
Winning, of course, helps. D.C.’s win against the Renegades improved the Defenders to a league-best 8-1 this season. The team will host a playoff game in a few weeks, and the Defenders were selling playoff memorabilia to fans during Sunday’s contest.
“I’ve been a Redskins, now Commanders fan my entire life and it’s kind of sucked,” said Wyatt Willis, a 28-year-old Defenders season ticket holder. “I was super excited when this came around and we jumped at the opportunity to get season tickets. … I couldn’t ask for a better fan experience. FedEx Field, as everyone knows, is kind of awful.
“It just feels like everyone is actually excited to be here,” he added.
Willis, wearing a No. 14 Washington Ryan Fitzpatrick jersey and Defenders bucket hat, said he “absolutely” thinks a similar atmosphere can be replicated again under new ownership for the Commanders. Though he was born after the glory days of Washington’s Super Bowl wins, Willis said the fact that someone other than Snyder running the franchise will reignite interest in the team. “It’s a very low bar,” he said.
D.C. safety D.J. Swearinger — remember him? — wasn’t quite ready to declare the Defenders’ atmosphere as better than one of an NFL team. But the 31-year-old, who played for Washington from 2017 to 2018, said he was struck by the passion of the Defenders’ fans.
Swearinger said he remembered, a player for the Redskins, the throngs of Cowboys fans who showed up for a Washington home game. That hasn’t changed since he left.
“I think it’s fixable, Washington’s just got to win games,” said Swearinger, who signed with the Defenders earlier this month. “If they win, it can always be fixed. Fans like to bandwagon and it’s a lot of D.C. fans that are Cowboys fans, so if they win in the playoffs or sweep Dallas or something like that, then you might have bandwagon fans jump to their home team.”
Swearinger said “it’s a little shocking” to see Snyder on the verge of selling the Commanders. The former NFL safety recalled how, when he was with Washington, the owner would text him “a lot” to get his feedback on certain players. But he maintained the two weren’t close and they haven’t had contact since Swearinger’s release in 2018.
Upon learning the news Thursday that Snyder agreed to sell to Harris, Willis suggested to his friends in a group chat that they pop a bottle and drink to cheer the owner’s departure. That, however, didn’t happen.
They smoked cigars instead.
“We did something to celebrate,” Willis said.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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