For D.C. Baseball Team, Deluge of Phillies Fans Is National Disgrace

The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 2, 2012 | BRAD REAGAN

[MinorityRepublican]

One of Andrew Feffer's jobs is getting Washington Nationals fans to come to the ballpark. But this year, the team's chief operating officer has another goal: keeping Philadelphia Phillies fans out.

Since the baseball franchise left Montreal for Washington, D.C., in 2005, the Nationals pastime has been losing games. They haven't yet had a winning season. Meanwhile, their rivals 125 miles up I-95 have been one of the best teams in the game.

With seats in Philly's Citizens Bank Park hard to come by, Phillies fans have taken to descending on Nationals Park whenever their team pays a visit. Two years ago, Nationals fan Ryan Sullivan spent more than $600 on Opening Day tickets for himself and his father. The park was filled with Philadelphia supporters, whose team routed the Nationals 11-1. One overindulged Phillies fan threw up on Mr. Sullivan's shoes, he says. "They were so obnoxious."

A veteran sports marketer, Mr. Feffer joined the Nationals in 2010. As a Virginia native, he had long been irked by the way Philadelphia fans converged on Washington to cheer for their teams—hockey and football fans also contend with Flyers and Eagles fans from up north.

The last straw came Aug. 20, on what should have been a happy occasion: The Nationals set a single-game attendance record. The problem was that two-thirds of the crowd was rooting for Philadelphia, which won the game 5-0. Phillies fans created a sign across the bleachers that said: "Welcome to Citizens Bank Park South."

Something, Mr. Feffer says, "had to change."

His solution was a curveball: For the first series between the two teams this year, Friday through Sunday, he blocked single-game ticket sales outside the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

[this_ol_patriot]

Stub Hub, tons of DC area fans bought extra tics and put them up on Stub Hub, no lack of Phillie Phans this past weekend.

[pepsionice]

I went to a Nationals game last year in DC....with the Phillies playing. It was a Saturday game and one of the few where most of the park was filled up. My humble guess is that half the folks in the stadium in DC...were from Philadelphia. For National’s fans....it’s a negative feeling when you have half the park full of opposition fans.

[Preachin']

This happens in Atlanta when the Mets visit the Braves, but to a much lesser extent. It’s just fun to see the Mets fans don’t have to drive all the way to NY to see Chipper Jones own their team.

[Boomer One]

Wouldn’t be a problem if the Nationals had put the stadium in Northern Virginia. But no, everyone had to be politically correct and put it in the slums of DC. I guess politicians wanted to have another place to go and show off.

[Freestate316]

I’m a Phillies fan who lives outside DC. I agree that the stadium is in a horrible area of the city. I think that the vision is for it to become like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area, with restaurants and shopping. If you go 3 or 4 blocks from Camden Yards, it’s pretty bad, but the Inner Harbor area is beautiful. We can drive 20 minutes to the Greenbelt Metro, park our car, and get out of the metro in front of the ballpark for $3 each way. If it was in Northern Virginia, getting to a game would not be so easy or inexpensive.