“That was fans’ internalization of our decision-making tree, was, ‘How do we make money?’” Ziff said, noting that that’s been thrown out the window. “Now it’s, ‘How do we please our fans? How do we be a first-class organization? How do we protect our brand and make it something that means integrity and means class to people?’ All those things are more important than any decision related to revenue generation.”

If this feels like a jaw-dropper coming from the Redskins, it is. For years tickets were all but impossible to come by, passed down among relatives and made available only on extremely rare occasions.

Over the past few seasons, though, Redskins tickets have been available for as low as $5, far less than the face value of $80 for an upper-deck seat, on the secondary market.

Ziff said reform had to start with pulling the plug.

“The decision was not to sell as many seats to brokers as we have in the past,” he said, adding that those season tickets weren’t renewed by the team. “We’ll sell those more fundamentally to Redskins fans. This is the decision of saying, ‘This is the right way to do business in the NFL.’ Reward (Redskins fans) and treat them well.”