Tuesday, September 18, 2007

FedEx Field

The stadium opened in 1997 as Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, in honor of the recently deceased owner of the team, and the stadium site was known as Raljon. Before the stadium was built, the Wilson Farm was there. The name "Raljon" is a portmanteau of Jack Kent Cooke's sons' first names - "Ralph" and "John." Notably, Cooke was even able to register Raljon with the United States Postal Service as a legal alternate address for the 20785 zip code of Landover, Maryland, in which the stadium is located, and went to some lengths to require media to use Raljon in datelines from the stadium.

After the team and stadium were purchased by Daniel Snyder, the naming rights were sold to the FedEx corporation in November 1999 for an average of $7.6 million per year; however, many fans still refer to the stadium as "Big Jack." FedExField replaced Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., as the home of the Washington Redskins. FedExField has not had a football season in which the stadium failed to sell out its tickets. Even though it's the NFL's largest stadium, the waiting list for Washington Redskins season tickets has reached well over 10 years.

For the past six years at FedExField, Redskins fans have set the regular-season home paid attendance record. In 2005, the team drew a record 716,999 fans overall. The December 18, 2005, 35-7 win against the Dallas Cowboys was the most watched game in Redskins history, with 90,588 fans in the stands.

The August 28, 2004, BCA Classic between the Virginia Tech Hokies and USC Trojans attracted a record 91,665 in attendance

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