Northwest Stadium Tour

As the Chair of Professional Development for the CCIFMA, it is important to find tours that add value for the membership. I had recently met a Commanders employee at a network event. Shortly after,  I remembered what past President of the Chapter, Dexter Barrow had once told me, “we like tours”.  So, I reached out to the Commanders and learned that Fletcher Coffman, Director of Operations was the right person to contact. To my pleasant surprise, Fletcher is an IFMA member and was open to hosting a tour at Northwest Stadium. We scheduled it several months out to make sure we had time to promote the tour. Fletcher told me that this was a good time as there had been many upgrades to the stadium infrastructure.

The day of the event we had 80 people registered. Amazing! We also invited the Chesapeake Chapter with six members in attendance.  

The result was that the Capital Chapter of IFMA held one of the most memorable tours in recent memory. A special thank you to Fletcher Coffman, VP of Operations for the Commanders. Fletcher showed the chapter what goes on behind the scenes and told us anecdotal stories of many upgrades (and some just in time.) For example, how quickly Fletcher's team upgraded the owners suite in literally two weeks. How HVAC, chillers, blowers etc. had been neglected for 25 years and how in three years the stadium had all new systems. Facilities managers loved the details but also as fans, it was a thrill to walk into the locker room and step out onto the Commanders field. “

- Larry Saenz