BALTIMORE — “Everyone of the members of the flock, is going to have an advanced game day experience from these renovations," says Sashi Brown, Ravens President.
Ravens President, Sashi Brown made that claim back in December when the new renovations for M&T Bank Stadium were first revealed.
Part of the renovation is the new West End Zone Suites and Club which offers seating right on the field in front of the end zone.
Problem is those seats are already taken.
In January fans who sit in the west end zone say they got the worst call they could imagine.
Their permanently licensed seats are going away.
“The end zone is a different class of what we choose and after you’ve been doing something for 25 years it’s like losing a puppy or a dog that you raise for 7,8,10,12 years it’s in your heart," says Bill Paulshock.
Fans say sitting in the west end zone gave them a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else in the stadium, from player interaction, to watching game winning touchdowns happen right in front of them, all while making life long memories.
Memories they will no longer be able to create.
“But this it’s different it’s the event is the tradition it’s family. it’s it’s more than a game," says Ted Vlahoyiannis
Ted Vlahoyiannis would take his daughter to a game for her birthday in October each year, and in 2012 something special happened.
“Ravens made a come from behind win and on their last kick off the ball bounced in the end zone and I reached up and caught the ball. The fans you know the whole section is going crazy because everybody knows us. So a guy comes to take the ball and everyone is like no don’t give it to him, and I told him I said look, I said you have to say the magic words and he said I’ll get you another one, I'm like great," says Vlahoyiannis.
In 2021 he reached out to the ravens to see if he could get an autograph.
“I’ll take the ball with your daughters name and I'll get it signed, and two weeks later she calls me up and says I got the ball here it is, and then on her birthday during COVID I gave her the ball with Justin Tucker having signed it and that's the ball I caught, she was sitting next to me when that happened," he says.
Its the exact type of memory Ted says can not be had in different part of the stadium
We reached out to the ravens who sent a statement saying:
"A common and unfortunate reality of modernizing stadiums is impacting the seating bowl. We have worked very hard with our architects to limit the number of seats affected by our renovations.
With those renovations that will come online in 2025, certain fans will be impacted. We have a plan in place that will accommodate every fan whose seats will be affected. Every fan will have the right to retain a seat in the lower level.
We are already in communication with all impacted fans and will work closely with them to ensure they all receive a great solution.
We greatly appreciate the passion, loyalty and support of these fans over the years, and are firmly committed to doing everything we can to make this process and transition as easy as possible."
Stuart Crook who has been bringing his son’s and grandson to the games for decades says he doesn’t agree with the decision.
“Where those seats are $500 a year or more are they going to accommodate us and give us our old price because i mean that’s they can’t you know they’re basically forcing us to go to more expensive seats," says Crook.
Robert White says he also thinks the ravens should come up with a better solution.
“I just hope to be around people that I drive 5 1/2 hours to be around every week and I hope the ravens do something to compensate us financially because you know the reality of that is they are going to make millions of dollars more per season by taking the seats and it’s taking something away from the fans," says Robert White.
They say that something is the memories, moments with friends and family they’ve had for years in the west end zone.
At this time it is unclear how many sections and rows of seats will be removed.
Renovations for the West End Zone portion of the stadium will begin in 2025, giving the fans one last season to enjoy their seats.
