The Washington Redskins apparently have mistakenly been marketed in the official territory of the Baltimore Ravens. Today’s Baltimore Sun reports that residents of some Maryland counties well outside the Washington metropolitan area have recieved flyers advertising season ticket packages for the Redskins. One recipient of the flyer is the president of the Ravens’ Marching band. No fan of the Redskins, he passed the flyer to the Ravens who then reported the incursion to the NFL office. The Ravens have not heard back from the NFL and both teams down-played the issue citing the difficulty of policing the territorial agreement when promotions are conducted by second parties. For example, the offending season ticket offer, a pre-sale for 2007, is a Bank of America promotion, not a Redskins promotion.
In the past, the Redskins and Ravens have battled over marketing issues and team territories but neither team seemed concerned about this incursion.
Redskins spokesman Karl Swanson said the team did not intentionally cross into Ravens turf.
“This is an inexact science when other people [besides the Redskins] are doing the distribution,” Swanson said. “If it’s a concern they have, they should give us a call.”
Ravens officials say they don’t want to confront the Redskins over this recent lapse.
“I don’t regard this as that big of a deal,” Cass said. “It might be irritating to our fans. If you’re a big Ravens fan, you’re not going to want to get a Redskins mailing in your mailbox, and vice versa.”
The recipient of the ad thought it was a joke being played by another member of the Ravens Marching Band. “The Redskins are not my team and never will be,” he said.
