Who would you rather owned the Redskins?

[MattFancy]

Funny you mentioned 4 other teams...since the Skins were the 5th worst team in the league last year. And again, here is that 'at least we arent the worst team in the league' defense - as if saying that over and over will make the Skins' situation any better.

i could name more teams that the owners are worse if u want, how about the whole mess with the dolphins, the bills; they just got rid of their whole team and best running back, the raiders. so just because we had the 5th worst record doesnt mean we have the 5th worst owner. like i said before, id rather have an owner that is willing to spend money and help the team than one that is just in it to make money. we have an owner who is all about winning and thats more than you can say for some owners.:2cents:

[deejaydana]

Dan Snyder, though he has his faults, is a badass.

Uh, doing what exactly? Because he stinks on ice as an owner of my Redskins...

[deejaydana]

Steve Bisciotti who owns the Ravens (forgive me if I've misspelled his last name). The guy just gets it imho...

[Dick Edds]

Wow, calm down, man. I'm saying that, until proven otherwise, which I pray to G-d that I am, our worst days are not behind us. Our most recent season was 5-11; our most recent game was a loss.

I want us to win. Go back and look at my prediction last year: 13-3, XLI champions. I was sorely disappointed. There's a major difference between being a fan who doesn't want his heart broken again and being a fan who finds the Sun on a cloudy day. You are the latter, and I envy that. Really.

I am calm, I am VERY calm, hence my more positive outlook on our team and our owner. I am of the mindset that Rome was not built in a day. And the central question/argument is how we all view Snyder as an owner, at least that is what I took from the initial question, in which I tried to answer in my own honest opinion.

I see the sun on a cloudy day because it is not even the end of June yet.

I have a more positive outlook on this season because of the moves we did not make. I have high-hopes for this season, but "high-hopes" to me are competing for the division and/or sliding in the playoffs as a wild card. That is improvement that I think we can build upon. Basically we need to win a few games first, I'm also somewhat of a realist though.

But back to the question at hand, I believe that Snyder is an owner who is willing to do whatever is in his means to help build a winning team and return this franchise to glory. And that's it for me.

Cheers to you too! Hail!

[phatSkins27]

Joe Gibbs...he would make the perfect owner

[Smoot Point Really]

I understand that there is an opportunity cost. I don't care. He still makes money with the Redskins, and that's his priority. He could own fifty companies, and each of their top priorities would be to make money. I don't care what his "hobby" business is, that being the Redskins, it's still a business and it's still there to make money first and foremost.

You obviously don't understand opportunity cost, because if his number one goal were making money:

1) HE WOULDN'T OWN AN NFL FRANCHISE.

2) He wouldn't go to OTAs, Minicamps, etc...

3) He probably wouldn't have hired Joe Gibbs, Gregg Williams and/or Al Saunders... He would've probably hired someone unproven like John Gruden was a few years ago and then not signed him to an extension after his asking price was too inflated.

4) He probably wouldn't spend money to fly potential free agents around in Redskins One... Would he even have a Redskins One?

5) He probably wouldn't have bought a $400M stadium in the suburbs of DC when he could hold the city hostage for a new stadium and threaten to move to another city that would gladly build him a stadium or would have a larger TV market (Los Angeles anyone?)...

6) He probably would've hired a GM... Anyone who would take care of responsibilities that he would want nothing to do with.

Again though, why go to this hassle if he could just do something else with his initial investment? The answer: He loves the Washington Redskins (and it isn't just another investment to him)...

For those who think of it as just another investment to him, ask yourself if it would be just another investment to you... Why is Dan Snyder any different?

[Smoot Point Really]

Steve Bisciotti who owns the Ravens (forgive me if I've misspelled his last name). The guy just gets it imho...

Do you mean Art Modell? Did Art kick it or sell his team?

[Bryan81]

I just wish Jack Kent Cooke had left the team to his son.

[Smoot Point Really]

I just wish Jack Kent Cooke had left the team to his son.

I think Norv Turner would still be coach...

[Fred288156]

Fred,

Respectfully, I have two points:

1) Wouldn't you want the owner of your favorite NFL franchise to make money (and even more than anyone else in the NFL)? Frankly, the more money he makes, the more he is likely to spend in an attempt to make your favorite franchise better... He hasn't been successful, but you can't say it wasn't for a lack of trying.

2) Your statement about an "abusive husband" was a poor choice of words that reflect more on you than it does on anyone who supports the current ownership of the Redskins. I know it was "creative writing", but it let's not get too creative.

1) Irrelevant to me as a fan. Like I said he could be in it for the money and I wouldn't care if it actually did translate into more on-the-field success. If one of your first moves as owner is to fire 20 members of the previous staff and hold the rest accountable, I would hope that it would be to replace them with better staff. I haven't seen that.

2) You'll have to spell out what it reflects about me. It was the best analogy I could think of at the time and not intended to offend. I will remove it if it gets you or anyone else to address the rest of the post - which involved a lot more than that statement.

"He wants to win" is not good enough to defend someone so heavily involved in the affairs of the team, nor is it an objective point. There are owners out there who don't want to win as much, but how on earth would you rank desire? Besides, you know what they say about good intentions...

[smalex41]

And why? Give me one example of an owner of a team in the NFL that has done a better job than Dan Snyder. And I dont mean an owner that has done a better job recently. I mean throughout the life of thier ownership.

Other than maybe Bob Kraft, I just dont see an owner that has an awesome record. I see Tom Brady making Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick look pretty smart. Considering Belichick and Bledsoe led the patriots to a stellar 5-11 season the year before Brady stepped in.

And during his head coaching tenure in Cleveland, Belichick compiled a less than impressive 36-44 record.

True the team in new england has been very successful and Bob Kraft has forged a name for himself as an owner. However, give me Dan Snyder on any given day, he has a "penchant and passion" towards returning the skins to their "glory days". Personally, i don't think he'll rest until he accomplishes this.

"KUDOS" to Dan Snyder !!

[Smoot Point Really]

1) Irrelevant to me as a fan. Like I said he could be in it for the money and I wouldn't care if it actually did translate into more on-the-field success. If one of your first moves as owner is to fire 20 members of the previous staff and hold the rest accountable, I would hope that it would be to replace them with better staff. I haven't seen that.

If your favorite franchise is doing poorly financially, it is definitely relevant to you as a fan.

2) You'll have to spell out what it reflects about me. It was the best analogy I could think of at the time and not intended to offend. I will remove it if it gets you or anyone else to address the rest of the post - which involved a lot more than that statement.

You implied that Daniel Snyder is like an abusive husband... It was a poor turn of phrase, but nothing to harp on. Let's move on.

"He wants to win" is not good enough to defend someone so heavily involved in the affairs of the team, nor is it an objective point. There are owners out there who don't want to win as much, but how on earth would you rank desire? Besides, you know what they say about good intentions...

He is more active, but he doesn't impede the coaches from making moves that they feel are in the best interest of the team. Would Adam Archuleta have been here if Gregg Williams didn't want him? On the contrary, it was Gregg Williams who wanted him and Daniel Snyder opened up his wallet and let it happen. We could use a GM, but there are also a lot of really bad GMs out there (Matt Millen for one). A GM isn't exactly a silver bullet to success... Even the traditionally bad teams have a GM. There are very few GMs in this league who would've saved us from the poor decisions we made the last 7 years.

[Skins24]

I just wish Jack Kent Cooke had left the team to his son.

Any particular reason why?

[JC2MOSS]

Any particular reason why?

Not one person has bothered to give a reason why. A few guys gave a list of names, but didnt back up the reasoning behind them.

[ttr77]

Unbelievable... Everyone of your posts skirts the issues that are really the owners responsibility and blames Dan Snyder for things that are the responsibility of the Coaches and Players.

For 7 years, there have been missteps that can be attributed to decision-making of the owner, but the last 3 years you cannot blame Dan Snyder for the wons/losses. He put a HoF coach on the field and brought in every coach/player that the "organization" felt would improve this team. You want the guy to return kicks too?

Over the last 9 years the Skins have had 5 different coaches with similar results. What is the constant here? Yep...the owner. If you want to blame Gibbs...fine. But I still think he is the only one that has a chance to win under this guy. If he can't do it, I don't know who can.

[Fred288156]

He is more active, but he doesn't impede the coaches from making moves that they feel are in the best interest of the team. Would Adam Archuleta have been here if Gregg Williams didn't want him? On the contrary, it was Gregg Williams who wanted him and Daniel Snyder opened up his wallet and let it happen. We could use a GM, but there are also a lot of really bad GMs out there (Matt Millen for one).

My problem is not so much with acquiring Archuleta. It's with paying him what we did. Deciding that safety is a concern and recommending a particular player to address that concern might fall under the coach's responsibility, but deciding his worth in dollars and cents is most definitely not. Since Snyder has taken over the team, we've developed a reputation for desperation and overpaying that wasn't spread nearly as much by "the media" as most fans would like to think. Sure they played their part, but by agents all over the NFL have too. You think word like that takes long to get around?

A GM isn't exactly a silver bullet to success... Even the traditionally bad teams have a GM. There are very few GMs in this league who would've saved us from the poor decisions we made the last 7 years.

I'll address that in this next post.

[Fred288156]

Trying to think of an owner who came in and lit the league up right away.......

I'm thinking in the first few years of a job that lasts a life time, you'll make a few mistakes. I'm GLAD he's made the mistakes he's made early, as it'll (hopefully) only make him better in the long run.

2 playoff wins and a 59-69 (rs) record in the first few years of a BRAND NEW owner whose only expericnce in football is being a fan?

Do people realize how much worse we could (and maybe should) be?

This is exactly why Snyder has to get a GM, my friend!

I think your post does a good job of summing up the reason that a lot of other fans give this guy a pass. But I did some research...

Of the current 32 owners/chairmen in the NFL, 21 of them had comparable or better on-the-field success than Snyder within their first eight years of ownership. 19 of them had GM's.

Owner(Team) / reg sea W-L-T within 1st 8 yrs / Playoff App / Rmks

Virginia Halas McCluskey(Bears)* / 87-40-0 / 6 / 1 SB Title

Pat Bowlen(Broncos)* / 81-45-0 / 5 / 3 SB appearances

Al Davis(Raiders) / 76-29-7 / 4 / 1 AFL Title... this is counting his years as a head coach, Trust me - his next 8 yrs (after moving into the front office) are even better.

Jerry Jones(Cowboys) / 78-50-0 / 6 / 3 SB Titles

Tom Benson(Saints)* / 74-53-0 / 4 /

Malcolm Glazer(Bucs)* / 73-55-0 / 5 / 1 SB Title

Georgia Frontiere(Rams co-owner)* / 68-53-0 / 6 / 1 SB app

Stan Kroenke(Rams co-owner)* / 73-55-0 / 5 / 2 SB app, 1 SB title (also owns Nuggets and Avalanche)

H. Wayne Huizenga(Dolphins)* / 75-53-0 / 6 /

Bob Harlan(Packers)* / 71-57-0 / 4 / 1 SB Title; Chairman & CEO of GB Packers Foundation - currently being replaced.

Bob Kraft(Patriots)* / 70-58-0 / 5 / 1 SB Title

Jim Irsay(Colts)* / 69-59-0 / 5 /

Wayne Weaver(Jaguars)* / 68-60-0 / 4 / Founding Owner

Bud Adams(Titans/Oilers)* / 58-53-2 / 4 / 2 AFL Titles; Founding Owner

Ralph Wilson(Bills)* / 61-59-6 / 4 / 2 AFL Titles; Founding Owner

Woody Johnson(Jets)* / 58-54-0 / 4 / only 7 yrs

Arthur Blank(Falcons)* / 40-39-1 / 2 / only 5 yrs

Steve Bisciotti(Ravens)* / 28-20-0 / 1 / only 3 yrs

John Mara/Steve Tisch(Giants)* / 19-13-0 / 1 / co-owners only 2 yrs

Clark Hunt(Chiefs)* / 9-7-0 / 1 / only 1 yr

Daniel Snyder(Redskins) / 59-69-0 / 2 /

*Team used a GM

To all:

This isn't at all meant to rank these owners. It's more to illustrate that an owner can have better on the field success than Snyder has and pretty much right away. Additionally, of those teams mentioned above, which of these teams fans do you honestly believe would say that they would rather have Snyder for an owner? If you went onto a msg board comprised of fans from all 32 teams and made a list of who you thought were the best owners in the NFL and put Snyder at #2 behind only Bob Kraft, what do you think the reaction would be among the other fans?

Finally, I just want to reiterate that while I would prefer not to have Snyder as our owner, I will never stop pulling for the Skins. I just can't think of any sort of positive assessment of his performance thus far nor any objective reason to be too optimistic for the future.

BUT, I would love for him to shatter all of my doubts and for the team to start winning. I'd eat that crow in a heartbeat - with gravy, even.

[ttr77]

Finally, I just want to reiterate that while I would prefer not to have Snyder as our owner, I will never stop pulling for the Skins. I just can't think of any sort of positive assessment of his performance thus far nor any objective reason to be too optimistic for the future.

Good research...and it goes to show that a 10 year 'learning period' is not necessary for good ownership.

And I would also like to state that my love for the Redskins trumps my dislike for Snyder. But at this point in time, I think the team would be much better off without him.

[bedlamVR]

I would also like to add to Smoots point is that Snyder made his money himself... none of it was given to him.... and yet he built up a huge fortune...before buying an NFL franchise . John Kent Cooke was seen as a silver spoon kid had shown no bussiness prowess and the only reason he could afford to put any bid in for the team is becasue of the money Daddy left him.

Jack Kent Cooke - a great man but no saint- often cried poverty, had a chequred private life, and threatened to take the team out of the area throughout his stewardship. He owned the team for 4 years before he even moved into the washington area and it was 8 years before really tasting sucess though the sucess he did have was magnificant. The most significant thing he did was hire Joe Gibbs in 1981 , you have to wonder what had happened if he hadn't.

I think Dan is a fine owner because he cares about the Skins and yes that is significant ... you may be aware the Glazers bought the Bucs - none of them are football fans and Manchester United - none of the Glazers are soccer fans either . Ask a bucs fan how great the Glazers are as owners ...

[RFK Lives]

Great research and points. I agree with your statement about Snyder and would eat the crow as well if we start winning.

[Horatio]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Jack Kent Cooke! There is 1 owner right there that has done a better job throughout the life of his ownership!

I agree that a resurrected corpse of JKC would do a better job than Snydork.

[Smoot Point Really]

Over the last 9 years the Skins have had 5 different coaches with similar results. What is the constant here? Yep...the owner. If you want to blame Gibbs...fine. But I still think he is the only one that has a chance to win under this guy. If he can't do it, I don't know who can.

Snyder only chose three of those coaches (You are blaming him for Turner and Robiskie?) and he has only been here for 7 years. He never would've chosen Marty if Spurrier had taken his original offer. His big mistake was giving Schottenheimer full control of the team. We should've hired a GM and then let the GM choose his coach, instead of picking Marty to fulfill both jobs then.

The first Snyder year was a wash, since he had to give Norv Turner another shot since he took us to the playoffs. The 2nd year was over-compensating for the demand for Snyder to take a backseat when it came to football decisions and he decided to hand full control over to Marty (big mistake, and this is what I believe is the reason we don't have a GM now since Snyder probably feels he tried this once already). The Spurrier years are Daniel Snyder's fault, but many thought Spurrier would make it in the NFL and most were excited to see the "Ol' Ballcoach" in Burgundy and Gold in the beginning. How can we blame anything that has happened on Dan Snyder since Joe Gibbs has been here?

You may have legitimate reasons to dislike Daniel Snyder, but you shouldn't place the blame for the Gibbs W/L record on his doorstep. I can see people making a case for the two Spurrier seasons though.

[ttr77]

Snyder only chose three of those coaches (You are blaming him for Turner and Robiskie?) and he has only been here for 7 years. He never would've chosen Marty if Spurrier had taken his original offer. His big mistake was giving Schottenheimer full control of the team. We should've hired a GM and then let the GM choose his coach, instead of picking Marty to fulfill both jobs then.

The first Snyder year was a wash, since he had to give Norv Turner another shot since he took us to the playoffs. The 2nd year was over-compensating for the demand for Snyder to take a backseat when it came to football decisions and he decided to hand full control over to Marty (big mistake, and this is what I believe is the reason we don't have a GM now since Snyder probably feels he tried this once already). The Spurrier years are Daniel Snyder's fault, but many thought Spurrier would make it in the NFL and most were excited to see the "Ol' Ballcoach" in Burgundy and Gold in the beginning. How can we blame anything that has happened on Dan Snyder since Joe Gibbs has been here?

You may have legitimate reasons to dislike Daniel Snyder, but you shouldn't place the blame for the Gibbs W/L record on his doorstep. I can see people making a case for the two Spurrier seasons though.

Snyder bought the team in '99 and last year was his 8th season as owner. His first season, which you called 'a wash', was arguably his most successful one - and he had virtually no say in that team's roster. Since then? One playoff season. We can sit here and pass blame back and forth for their record, but since Dan has had true control over this team they have only made the playoffs once. At what point will this be an issue?

Perhaps you just have more patience than me. Maybe in another 10 years, after several more losing seasons and 5 or 6 more coaches have been sent packing, the blame will be placed on the proper person's doorstep. But by then, FedEx stadium will hold 120k fans, beers will be $18 each, Snyder's annual profits will have exceeded $300 million, and this board will still be full of posters making excuses and claiming about how great an owner we have.

[Horatio]

Snyder bought the team in '99 and last year was his 8th season as owner. His first season, which you called 'a wash', was arguably his most successful one - and he had virtually no say in that team's roster. Since then? One playoff season. We can sit here and pass blame back and forth for their record, but since Dan has had true control over this team they have only made the playoffs once. At what point will this be an issue?

Perhaps you just have more patience than me. Maybe in another 10 years, after several more losing seasons and 5 or 6 more coaches have been sent packing, the blame will be placed on the proper person's doorstep. But by then, FedEx stadium will hold 120k fans, beers will be $18 each, Snyder's annual profits will have exceeded $300 million, and this board will still be full of posters making excuses and claiming about how great an owner we have.

Great post. Remember that Snyder is the man who tried to prevent Redskins fans from walking to the stadium supposedly because of "safety concerns", but it was really because he wanted to force them to park at FedEx Field so he could charge exorbitant parking fees.

Is that the mark of a man who cares about the fans? No, it's the mark of a guy who MAKES MONEY. Until that desire to make money translates into wins on the football field, Snydork deserves all the slings and arrows that come his way.

[Peregrine]

Easy.

Me.