FedEx Field's hot water system fails in locker rooms, leaving Commanders and Giants without working showers
The Washington Commanders may be under new ownership, but their structural issues at FedEx Field are still alive and well.
Shortly after the New York Giants held on to beat the Washington Commanders 31-19 on Sunday afternoon, both teams took to their respective locker rooms to clean up and head home. Yet when they got there, they quickly realized that the showers weren’t working properly.
Officially, the team said there was no hot water available in either locker room for the showers — though reports coming out of the Giants’ locker room said the water pressure available with the cold water wasn’t great.
Update: minimal pressure with cold water
— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) November 19, 2023
Inside the Commanders' locker room, players told The Washington Post's Sam Fortier that there was no water whatsoever.
“We had an equipment failure in the main water heater that provides hot water to the field level locker rooms,” a Commanders official said in a statement, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “We can’t resolve the matter without completely shutting off the water to the stadium, which is why it couldn’t be repaired in game.”
Commanders players shouldn’t have that much of an issue here. While it would be inconvenient, they can just head home and shower there. Giants players, though, were faced with the choice of a cold, weak shower or making the trip back to New York gross.
Thankfully for the Giants, they at least grabbed the win.
The Commanders’ stadium has had several notable issues in recent years. Several fans fell, almost on top of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, after a metal railing collapsed during a game last year. In 2021, a pipe burst at the stadium and started dumping water all over fans. The team insisted it was just rainwater.
"It's sewage"
according to these Washington Football fans at FedEx Field @wusa9 #WashingtonFootball
(🎥I/G tommyob5) pic.twitter.com/iCYNQOzosF— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) September 12, 2021
Dan Snyder sold the team earlier this year for $6.05 billion, ending what was a toxic stream of sexual assault and misconduct allegations, financial impropriety accusations and a long-running name change controversy. While there are several on-field issues for the new ownership group to tackle first — the Commanders are 4-7 this season, and haven’t had a winning season since the 2016 campaign — a new stadium is presumably coming.
The way FedEx Field is holding up, the organization may need to speed that process along.
