The Redskins have yanked 10,000 seats out of FedEx Field.

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With thousands of people on a wait list for season tickets, why remove all of those seats?

A top team official told a radio station that fans were turning down scores of ticket offers but there is more to the story.

Now you can see clear sky where 10,000 seats used to be high above both endzones, leaving about 82,000 seats instead of the previous high of almost 92,000.

So, there could be 10,000 fewer screaming football fans at FedEx this season -- if there is one.

"The organization is removing seats without getting consensus from their fans as to whether or not they want the seats," says Bob Smith, a fan.

A top team official said in a radio interview that the Redskins tried to sell the upper deck seats but no one wanted to buy them.

Kelly McCrae spent years on waiting list for season tickets. She got the call a few months ago, just when the NFL labor issues started to look like a real threat. She turned down the offer to buy season tickets.

"The lockout did play a role, yes it did," McRae says. "And the 'Skins weren't doing so well."

A team spokesman explained to ABC7 that there's more to the story.

The team says it approached the fans on the waiting list, but General Manager Bruce Allen, explained on redskins.com "....when the lockout took effect, the team elected to stop those offers and proceed with the renovations...."

The team says the long-term plan is to put in party decks for standing room only tickets. But they say the process of getting construction permits and a design plan hasn't even begun.

So for the 2011 season, the team has said in emails to current ticket holders, with 10,000 fewer people, there will be less traffic and parking congestion, shorter wait time for concessions and restrooms.

But not everyone cares.

"Being a Dallas Cowboy fan I don't care if they close the stadium," Tony Castro said to ABC7.

If you're on the waiting list and you get the call, if you say no, you have to go to the bottom of the list. With a lockout, the team says it didn't want to put fans in that position.