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WP: A once-proud franchise, the Redskins are showing signs of foundational cracks


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12 hours ago, BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93 said:

 

 

I’d bet that this is largely true, that Snyder doesn’t know how bad it truly is.  There’s some fans who don’t see through the fog either.

 

When your surroundings are poor for a period of time then it becomes normal.  The substandard becomes acceptable and people will adapt to what is the norm.  Take a dirty, dingy business for example.  It is dirty and dingy because the people who work there have accepted the state of this business as SOP and don’t strive to create anything above the status quo.  Sometimes the business gets lucky and they’ll have a hit.  Most of the time it just subsists, attracting a dwindling number of clients and a shrinking talent pool for which to employ.

 

For the Redskins, especially the ownership and FO, there is a culture of substandard practice that simply OK.  They are not building a winner because, from the top down, being average is fine.  From the stadium to the practice facility to the management, and all.  Some fans have accepted this, many are relenting.

 

We need a full on rebellion.

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Truthfully, I don’t believe the story of Snyder not knowing how the fan base feels. He knows, he just doesnt care. Snyder is not that old to not care about social media. He is just dumb that is all there is to it. This storyline is just being trotted out there so when he does make the inevitable firings (whenever that may me), he can use this as an excuse to say “I let others do their job so I had no idea but as soon as found out, I had to make a change. I have learned from this and will grow from it”. Same bull**** lines he always gives.

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A crack the size of the Grand Canyon...

 

I don't believe that Snyder doesn't get it.  Not for a minute.  I believe Snyder got lucky in life, he got a winning lottery ticket, made it big in the business he had, whatever.  I don't believe he's stupid.  I think he's certainly naive to a certain extent, but he's not stupid.

 

I know, I know, it's fun to say that he is.

 

But he knows that the team has been losing since he bought it (well, since before he bought it, but let's not talk about that).  He knows that the attendance is down.  He knows that the stadium is filled with opposing fans.  He knows that TV ratings are down.  How the hell can he not?  He's there at the games, he can tell.  For someone who was a self professed fan of the team when he purchased the team, he has to understand. 

 

He might not admit that to his inner circle as a way of keeping up a facade, but deep down, he has to know that he's despised and some fans are pissed and others are ambivalent about this organization.  Why do you think he never makes public appearances?  Why do you think he's never available for interviews?  That's the tell tale sign of someone who knows that he's not welcome and not liked.  

 

I don't know why he keeps Bruce Allen around.  We can speculate all day, it's truly baffling.  But I don't, for one millisecond, believe that Dan Snyder isn't aware of how much he's reviled in this town and how far the franchise has fallen.  

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Also, please spare me the "All Dan cares about is money, he doesn't care about winning" argument.  It's probably the worst argument in the history of arguments.

 

Winning = money.  If the Redskins were between 10-12 wins every year and in the playoffs every year, the stadium would be packed and revenue would be up.  There'd be more merchandise sold, more food and beverages sold, better tv ratings.  

 

I do believe Dan wants to win, he's just got a ****ing weird way of showing it.  I think, perhaps, part of the reason he keeps Allen and Gruden as long as he has is a way to say "You all were pissed at me for hiring and firing every year, I kept these two around for longer than anyone else and look where it got us."  

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1 hour ago, London Kev said:

The fans decided that enough is enough and formed a protest group called the Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD) and have carried out some memorable protests, including throwing thousands of plastic pigs, beach balls and crisp packets onto the pitch to disrupt games, staging a mock funeral parade of the club, driving a custom sign-written taxi to Duchatelet's home town in Belgium and generally boycotting games.

 

In one of the other threads, it had been suggested that fans showing up at home games should start anti-Dan and Bruce chants. My first thought was that in the same situation, English football fans wouldn't hold back. There's the proof 😆. I'm sure it gets somewhat worse!

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17 minutes ago, dyst said:

Truthfully, I don’t believe the story of Snyder not knowing how the fan base feels. He knows, he just doesnt care. Snyder is not that old to not care about social media. He is just dumb that is all there is to it. This storyline is just being trotted out there so when he does make the inevitable firings (whenever that may me), he can use this as an excuse to say “I let others do their job so I had no idea but as soon as found out, I had to make a change. I have learned from this and will grow from it”. Same bull**** lines he always gives.

Would you prefer him to say that "I'll have to go back and watch the tape?" :D

 

14 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

<...> He's there at the games, he can tell. 

<...>Why do you think he never makes public appearances?  <...>

Hmmm technically wouldn't be being at the game being a public appearance?

Just kidding :D

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47 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

A crack the size of the Grand Canyon...

 

I don't believe that Snyder doesn't get it.  Not for a minute.  I believe Snyder got lucky in life, he got a winning lottery ticket, made it big in the business he had, whatever.  I don't believe he's stupid.  I think he's certainly naive to a certain extent, but he's not stupid.

 

I know, I know, it's fun to say that he is.

 

But he knows that the team has been losing since he bought it (well, since before he bought it, but let's not talk about that).  He knows that the attendance is down.  He knows that the stadium is filled with opposing fans.  He knows that TV ratings are down.  How the hell can he not?  He's there at the games, he can tell.  For someone who was a self professed fan of the team when he purchased the team, he has to understand. 

 

He might not admit that to his inner circle as a way of keeping up a facade, but deep down, he has to know that he's despised and some fans are pissed and others are ambivalent about this organization.  Why do you think he never makes public appearances?  Why do you think he's never available for interviews?  That's the tell tale sign of someone who knows that he's not welcome and not liked.  

 

I don't know why he keeps Bruce Allen around.  We can speculate all day, it's truly baffling.  But I don't, for one millisecond, believe that Dan Snyder isn't aware of how much he's reviled in this town and how far the franchise has fallen.  

 

The dude is so reclusive is all we can do is guess.  So I hang on the people who have met him even for just a little (Paulsen talked for example about meeting him at a party) or have contacts at the FO.  Granted all of it crumbs where the best you can do is try to puzzle it together.  The best I can do based on all of that.

 

A.  Dan knows he is despised -- that i think is 100%

 

B.  Dan is socially weird and uncomfortable around people.  He likes to use his ownership to make friends both with players and employees with Bruce being his current best buddy.

 

C.  Dan doesn't use email or look into social media or listen to talk radio.  It's possible that he doesn't know the extent of fan dissatisfaction with the team and Bruce -- especially with Bruce being in his ear all the time.

 

The most muddled message I get is about Dan's understanding or not so of fan unrest.  Guys like Keim say the FO is confused about the fan unrest but are aware of it.  The WP sort of doubled down on that point in the article.  Does that extend to Dan though, don't know? One guy, forgetting whom maybe it was Russell said that Dan wants Bruce to go out on a high note and doesn't like that he's down right now with fans.  Others have said (like Brewer) that Dan is insulated as heck and might have no idea.  Keim said Dan's circle is super small with Bruce being the center of it.   Russell said Dan at the very least knows his business is in trouble.  The WP says though even if so, Dan scapegoats others for the trouble and I guess Lafemina is the latest scapegoat.

 

Among my issues with both Dan-Bruce is they are chicken to face the music publicly.  Jay does all the talking whether it fits his purview or not -- I add that to the pile of pathetic.  Sheehan likes to say Bruce-Dan think they are smarter than everyone else and that's part of what makes these problems persist.   If they are that full of themselves then they should be able to handle themselves publicly like big boys as the rest of the league does.  So my guess like it is for many their arrogance masks deep insecurity. 

 

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That was a well thought out, factually based, non-bashing article that definitely has been in the works for a while.

 

Some of the Washington Post stuff over the years has come across as simply nasty and mean spirited.  This did not.  It was objective, and almost came of as begging Snyder to see reason.

 

The part that was most troubling to me was the part where the marketing guy basically blaming the "aggressive marking plan that didn't work" which to me reads like Snyder and company are blaming Lafamina for the attendance.

 

I think he's going to be in for a very rude awakening next year, if he retains Bruce and Jay, and there are even less people in the stadium.

 

Part of me actually feels bad for Snyder.  He clearly is in way over his head.  He made millions doing one thing very well, and it gave him a big head and huge ego, and he tried another thing, and just can't figure it out at all.  I'm sure he's detached and doesn't really get it, but there's also part of him I'm sure that just has no idea what to do.

 

He brought in a guy who had a great family name, he's hired 2 SB winning coaches, he's showed incredible patience recently, he meddles less with the football operations, he's kinda doing most of the things he was asked to do.

 

But what he doesn't realize is that the most important thing he needs to do is the one thing he hasn't done: Hire the right person to be in charge of football operations, and then get out of the way.  Bruce is the wrong guy.  He probably doesn't realize that yet, which is a shame. 

 

But the longer he goes, the harder it is going to be get the right guy. 

 

I keep saying this, but the Hail Mary is Peyton Manning as CEO of football ops.  He's the big name, he studied as much film as anybody, extraordinarily well respected, and brings serious juice to the organization. He also would be an amazing ambassador of the team.  And honestly, I'd trust his opinion on talent as much as anybody's. 

 

Your other options is promoting from within, but I doubt promotions of Doug, Kyle or Eric really do anything to move the needle.  People will be happy to get rid of Bruce, however removing Bruce by itself isn't just going to magically make things better.

 

You could go after a Casserly, but he kinda flamed out here and in Houston. 

 

You could go after Bowles as a coach, but that's not THAT inspiring. 

 

You could go after Tomlin if he's fired, he would add juice, but I'm not sure he's really a great coach. 

 

The other thing is that I can't imagine Snyder is having any fun anymore.  I mean, if you're a billionaire, and you are pretty hated and you're being blamed for destroying  a proud franchise, that can't feel good.  Maybe he's so isolated he doesn't even realize.   But I think he knows about the blame.  He doesn't believe it, but he knows.

 

My hope is that either he figures it out and hires the right guy, or he just gets so miserable that he sells the team for $4 billion dollars and retires to the Maldives or something. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Building a taxpayer-funded stadium might actually be DC's best hope of getting Snyder to sell. Here's why:

 

From Snyder's perspective, there is no reason to sell right now. Valuations for NFL franchises are likely driven off a multiplier of either revenue or earnings. If fan attendance and game-day revenue are declining, then so is the valuation of his franchise (at the least, it's not growing as rapidly as he probably thinks it should). So he sees an asset that should be worth ~$4b, but it's only worth ~$3.5b right now because of these troubles he's having selling tickets. Why would he voluntarily lose $0.5b? He'd probably prefer to do whatever it takes to fix the revenue issues so that he can get the valuation back up past $4b.

 

But the new stadium might be a silver bullet.

 

As a thought exercise, let's say that the full $1b price of the stadium will be funded by taxpayers, with no money coming from Snyder. The valuation of his franchise will essentially have increased by $1b overnight. Furthermore, the franchise might command a higher multiple of revenue because the new stadium represents a better growth/monitization opportunity than having a new owner being saddled with FedEx Field. The math might be something like this:

 

Current valuation without a new stadium: $500m revenue x 6.0 = $3b

 

BUT: revenue is in danger of declining year-over-year due to fan apathy, and Redskins' status in the league as a premium franchise in the league is being tarnished with each losing season; therefore both of the key inputs in the Redskins' valuation are under pressure to decrease. For example, if revenue next season is only $450m, and a buyer will only pay 5.5x revenue because of the Redskins' perception as a dumpster fire, then the valuation drops to $450 x 5.5 = $2.5b.

 

Current valuation with a new stadium: $500m revenue x 6.5x = $3.25b + $1b from taxpayer-funded asset he got for free = $4.25b.

 

In summary, maybe a confusing post, but the overall point is that ironically a new stadium might actually help us get rid of Snyder quicker, even though it's distasteful. Look at Eric Throrir of DC United - spent years and years with a payroll near the bottom of the league. Fans were miserable. He got a new stadium paid for by DC and then sold his ownership as soon as it was built.

 

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14 hours ago, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

Cracks are starting to show?

 

Cracks?? STARTING???

 

Weve been an embarrassment since Dan got his little fingers on the team. This is arguably the most pisspoor organization of any kind in the history of earth and has been for two decades.

 

Anyone think we would have been better off if Howard Miltstein was allowed to buy the SKINS? Every time I think about the crap Snyder has put us fans through, I wonder if Milstein would have been the better option or John Kent Cooke if the Squire didn't screw John over. 😞

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47 minutes ago, Skinsinparadise said:

...

C.  Dan doesn't use email or look into social media or listen to talk radio.  It's possible that he doesn't know the extent of fan dissatisfaction with the team and Bruce -- especially with Bruce being in his ear all the time.

...

If I were lucky enough to have had business success that allowed me to buy the Skins, and then fans - lots of fans - blamed me for single handedly destroying the team, I wouldn't look at social media or talk radio either.  No one would.  It's like having your baby die and behind your back everyone talks about how it was your fault.  I think he knows the level of dissatisfaction, but is taking shelter in people he considers friends because they tell him that the fans don't know what they're talking about.  Of course, they're not really friends, they're sycophants with their own best interest in mind. 

 

Surely, Snyder envisioned just the opposite happening.  He would be the toast of the town, and the model for future owners, bringing new business acumen to the world of old school lazy owners.  Now he's stuck with a cobbled together "team", one of the worst stadiums in the league, a shrinking fan base, and abject hatred focused directly on him.  As I write these words, I'm starting to feel sort of bad for him.  I do think he genuinely tried to improve the team.  He just wasn't good and he wasn't lucky.

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1 hour ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

The part that was most troubling to me was the part where the marketing guy basically blaming the "aggressive marking plan that didn't work" which to me reads like Snyder and company are blaming Lafamina for the attendance.

I think the attendance would've slipped because of the way the Kirk thing went down. But Lafemina's strategy of not selling to brokers did contribute to what I think was a disaster of an optic at FedEx this season. I don't blame Brian for trying to look to sustain STH value, but it turned out not to be a good look in the stands. 

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In the era where a homeless dude sitting on a cardboard box in DC can skype, viber, fb messenger, etc with his homeless online girlfriend in Manila any time 24 hours a day.

 

Fans of an NFL team from DC actually believe that the owner of the team is just out of the loop and has no way to tune into what the mostly former fans of his team think about how he has been running it.

 

But he cares.

 

And will get it right one day once he gets away from the evil men around him.

 

He's just being kept hostage apparently.

 

He'd talk to us if he could only get untied.

 

Save Dan Snyder!!!

 

 

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@Skinsinparadise But Dan does have a wife and 3 kids. It is hard to believe he doesn't know how the fans feel or are saying about him or Bruce from his own family members. Are the people close to him in the FO are saying this to make him look more innocent then he really is? 

 

Also, factor in the other partners of the Redskins. I am sure they have access to Internet and Social Media and must have a say since it effects how much they put in their pockets too.  

 

Such a mess indeed though. 

 

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"While Snyder hired Lafemina with an eye toward this project, given his eight years of experience as the NFL’s liaison with its franchises on stadium issues, Allen appears to have convinced Snyder that he can deliver the new stadium largely on his own."

 

This quote from the article is the reason we will not see Bruce Allen leaving the Redskins anytime soon. Snyder needs Allen to get the stadium project done. We are just stuck in a perpetual cycle of suck until little Dan gets what he wants. The apathy for me is stunning in all honesty. I have been a Skins fan for 50 years. And I am about done with them at this point.

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