Cigar Night at RFK Stadium Strikes Out With the Washington Nationals

Our friends at the Stogie Guys send word that the Washington Nationals baseball team has officially rejected a proposal they came up with to designate a number of seats in the upper level of RFK Stadium for an upcoming home game as “cigar friendly.”

For now.

Empty seats for Washington Nationals baseball games at RFK stadium in Washington, DC

The light at the end of the tunnel is that Carleen Martin, director of marketing and promotions for the Washington Nationals, said that the franchise would reconsider the proposal next year. Perhaps Martin also should consider how successful other major league baseball teams have been with cigar promotions at their stadiums.

I’m not sure how much of a light the statement about “reconsidering the proposal” is, coming as it does in a town where being “sent back to committee” usually means that nothing is ever done. However, it is better than a complete rejection and maybe there is something Cigar Envy readers can do to help the Nats make a different decision.

More on that — and the freebies the Nats passed up to promote the cigar event — below the fold.

The StogieGuys.com proposal would have designated a special section for cigar smoking that night, with premium-priced tickets, and helped to fill seats in one of the largest parks in the country…and a park that currently ranks 17th in home attendance which means that there are an awful lot of empty seats at each game.

Patrick A. and Patrick S. offered to promote the event on the StogieGuys and use their D.C. cigar contacts to publicize it for free. On top of all that, they had worked out a deal with John Sullivan, manager of the Washington JR Cigar store, to offer a free cigar to everyone attending that night and sitting in the special section, along with a humidor and a free subscription to Cigar Magazine to be raffled off during the game.

Very good work, guys.

Hopefull it will pay off next year. And to make sure that it isn’t forgotten, the Stogie Guys have an online petition that they would like you to “sign.” If you are a resident of the D.C. area, or visit Washington on a regular basis, please browse on over and add your voice to those who say that a cigar night at RFK stadium is a good idea.

Hopefully, the Washington Nationals management will see the error of their ways and decide to play ball with us on this.

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Posted on Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 6:10 pm.