Yesterday we told you about ESPN’s gross and horrifying 2009 report on the cleanliness of vendor stands throughout arenas and stadiums all across the major sports. The home of the Washington Capitals, the Verizon Center, was shown to have violations at 100% of their vendor stands including 10 that had mouse excrement around them.
Today, Caps owner, and new owner of the Verizon Center, Ted Leonsis addressed the story himself on his website.
I was surprised and disappointed by ESPN’s recent industry-wide report and ratings related to the cleanliness of professional sports venues, including Verizon Center. Since we acquired Verizon Center from Washington Sports and Entertainment six weeks ago, we have been planning and making improvements. Please be assured that we take the complaints of our customers extremely seriously, and quality and cleanliness are paramount.
We remain in the early stages of our evaluation process, and the ESPN report touched on some of the elements we have been examining and will be vigilant in improving. We will redouble our efforts immediately and review all facets of the issues identified. Once we have the facts, we will embark on remedies.
That said, if I were a Caps fan and had season tickets to see the Capitals this upcoming season, I’d be very eager to buy from the vendors there now because there’s no way things could get any worse and with Leonsis now on top of things, they’ll probably have some of the best service and goodies you can find anywhere in the NHL or the NBA. The next thing they’ll have to get over is the aftereffects of this report on the public. I can’t imagine that concession sales will be too high to start the season.