SBN- Comparing NFL owners Steve Bisciotti and Daniel Snyder

[Kosher Ham]

http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/index.asp?story_id=36202

Headline Central

May 27, 2004

Comparing NFL owners Steve Bisciotti and Daniel Snyder

The similarities between Steve Bisciotti, new majority owner of the Baltimore Ravens, and Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder are immediate and striking. That and this report from The Washington Times' Eric Fisher

Both are self-made businessmen, quickly rising from unassuming middle-class backgrounds and less-than-stellar academic credentials to vast fortune and success. They are two of the three youngest owners in the league, with Bisciotti 44 and Snyder turning 40 in November. Each owner's predecessor was part of a legendary NFL family. Both Snyder and Bisciotti embrace a love of aggressive marketing, and each owns a team among the best in American sports in terms of corporate sponsorship.

But the differences, particularly to those familiar with Snyder's tumultuous five-year run as the Redskins' top boss, are even more jarring. Whereas Snyder favors high-end business suits, courts political and media luminaries, immediately immersed himself into the football operations and fired more than 100 front-office employees at Redskin Park within his first year, Bisciotti remains about as much an Everyman as an NFL team owner can be.

Bisciotti often dresses as if he is heading to or just coming from the golf course, something he still does with enough regularity to maintain a 10 handicap. Only one prominent employee within the Ravens' organization, David Modell, team president and son of outgoing owner Art, did not keep his job under the new owner, but he remains a consultant to the club. Several others, including vice president of business operations Dennis Mannion and vice president of public relations Kevin Byrne, received promotions. And not only does Bisciotti not make on-field personnel decisions, he considers himself wholly unqualified to do so.

His first six weeks as majority owner have been perhaps the quietest and least eventful of any NFL team owner in recent years.

"I don't really have a designated job right now. My job is to learn," Bisciotti said during an extended interview last week. "Quite frankly, I'm the least experienced person in the building."

Bisciotti's on-the-job training continues at NFL owners' meetings this week in Jacksonville, Fla., his first such session since formally taking full control of the Ravens in early April. But after a quiet four-year apprenticeship at the hands of Art Modell, part of the terms of his $600 million purchase of the club, expectations are high that the Severna Park, Md., native soon will make his mark upon the Ravens and the football world at large.

"He's an incredibly grounded individual," said Michael Busch, speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates and a friend of Bisciotti's for more than 35 years. "There's simply no pretense about him, particularly for someone with his kind of economic success and stature as an owner in the National Football League. There's nobody instructed to call him Mr. Bisciotti. He's just Steve to everybody."

For the past several years, Bisciotti has been at once a man sports fans knew about and really didn't know at all. His deal to purchase the Ravens, 49 percent in 1999 and nearly all of the rest this spring, obviously made news and kept Bisciotti busy as he quickly took the lead role in developing the team's new training facility, set to open this fall. He is also a prominent fixture at University of Maryland football and basketball games, to the point where he is golf buddies with Gary Williams.

"He'd probably buy the Maryland basketball team if he could," Busch said.

But Bisciotti has been painted as something of a media recluse. While a minority Ravens owner, he almost never granted interviews, partially out of respect to Modell and his swansong after a distinguished four-decade career in pro football. Since assuming full control of the team, Bisciotti still doses out his public visibility carefully and turns down most requests to appear at black-tie dinners in the charity and society circles.

The mysteries continue with the technical staffing company he founded, Aerotek Inc. The company is widely considered a leader in its field, generating more than $2.6 billion in revenue in 2002. The success also has enabled Bisciotti to become part of Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans with an estimated net worth of $625 million. But for its size and impact, Aerotek, now known as the Allegis Group, remains an unknown entity to most Marylanders. That and this report from The Washington Times' Eric Fisher

"People think all that, but I'm very sociable. I'm out and about. I'm anything but a recluse," said Bisciotti, who routinely plays host to dozens of old neighborhood friends and associates at his suite at M&T Bank Stadium. "I'm not uncomfortable doing interviews. It's not that I can't do it. It's just not something I particularly like doing. Being visible is just not something I'm after. Having said that, I must confess it is interesting seeing [coach] Brian [billick] and [general manager] Ozzie [Newsome] live like they do in such a public world."

Bisciotti attended Severna Park High, dabbling in football but not particularly standing out in anything. A degree from Salisbury State University arrived in 1982 but without any significant academic plaudits. It was not until after college that his talents in dealing with people began to manifest themselves fully.

"Even when I first met him, he had a great personality, a real knack for getting along with people," said Nick Manis, Annapolis lobbyist and friend of Bisciotti's since junior high school. "He really learned to use that. Just because he didn't pull down high grades [2.05 GPA at Salisbury] doesn't mean he's not a good student. He's very intelligent, and it came out a bit differently."

As Bisciotti prepared to assume full control of the Ravens this spring, several fires were immediately waiting for him. Petulant wide receiver Terrell Owens tried and ultimately succeeded in voiding a trade from San Francisco to Baltimore, landing in Philadelphia as a free agent. Star Ravens running back Jamal Lewis also was indicted on federal drug charges in Atlanta.

Bisciotti insists the team has moved on from the Owens situation, signing receiver Kevin Johnson as a primary target for young quarterback Kyle Boller. The Ravens, meanwhile, stand firmly behind Lewis as he awaits trial.

"I'm very comfortable believing he's going to remain a productive player for us," Bisciotti said. "I really believe he is mentally strong enough to deal with this."

As for Snyder, Bisciotti professes a cordial relationship with his regional rival. The sentiment comes despite some rumors to the contrary after Bisciotti purchased the minority stake in the Ravens, as well as Bisciotti showing far more reverence for established league traditions and policy than Snyder. The teams, each with open playoff aspirations, will meet Oct. 10 in a nationally televised clash from FedEx Field.

"My relationship with Dan is really kind of indicative of what makes this league work," Bisciotti said. "I can disagree with Dan on one issue and then find myself in total agreement with him an hour later. We compete, make no mistake about it. We compete for sponsors, we compete for the transient population that comes every year into our region. We don't communicate regularly, but we do socialize once in a while. I think there is a mutual respect there." That and this report from The Washington Times' Eric Fisher

[Pocono]

Whenever I read comments on here about what a great owner Snyder is because he's willing to spend anything and do anything to make the Skins a winner I think about owners like Bisciotti. The one thing Snyder won't do to make the Skins a winner is bud out and admit he's not qualified to be doing the things he's doing. He wants to be like Jerry Jones and he's pretty close once you eliminate all of Jones' Super Bowl wins. Mind you I don't blame him because I'd be the same way and the man paid his two dollars so he gets to live out his fantasy but it's pretty clear that he's not willing to do "everything" possible to make the Skins a winner.

[Art]

Originally posted by Pocono

Whenever I read comments on here about what a great owner Snyder is because he's willing to spend anything and do anything to make the Skins a winner I think about owners like Bisciotti. The one thing Snyder won't do to make the Skins a winner is bud out and admit he's not qualified to be doing the things he's doing. He wants to be like Jerry Jones and he's pretty close once you eliminate all of Jones' Super Bowl wins. Mind you I don't blame him because I'd be the same way and the man paid his two dollars so he gets to live out his fantasy but it's pretty clear that he's not willing to do "everything" possible to make the Skins a winner.

Except, Pocono, as per the norm with your posts, you repeat fallacy rather than reality when making your assessment. Snyder has budded out and admitted he's not qualified to do the things he's done. He did that with Marty, if you'll recall, therefore proving your statement false. He further did that with Spurrier, staying out of personnel decisions except to break stalemates with his coaches and personnel people. And he's filling that same role now with Gibbs.

What Snyder has done is to streamline what role he does fulfill for the Redskins. Snyder is the closer now. He has contract people, but, on the big deals, he's the guy who seals it. He's the best in the league at this because he's willing to pay the dollars and, more, because he's the owner, so he can negotiate and get deals done more quickly than other teams who have to go back to ask if it's ok.

Snyder has no desire to be like Jerry Jones. Jones is the general manager of the football team. Snyder is the owner of his. He's found a role he does better than anyone and he fills that well giving over choices in players to his personnel people. That you don't know this is why you are so limited when you talk on this board.

No question the false premise in which you base any number of statements here is meaningful to you and you believe it is a strong basis. And it would be. If only it were true. As it's not, that leaves you looking like you are grasping to make a point you can't make on merit, which happens to be precisely what you're doing.

[Pocono]

Originally posted by Art

Except, Pocono, as per the norm with your posts, you repeat fallacy rather than reality when making your assessment. Snyder has budded out and admitted he's not qualified to do the things he's done. He did that with Marty, if you'll recall, therefore proving your statement false. He further did that with Spurrier, staying out of personnel decisions except to break stalemates with his coaches and personnel people. And he's filling that same role now with Gibbs.

What Snyder has done is to streamline what role he does fulfill for the Redskins. Snyder is the closer now. He has contract people, but, on the big deals, he's the guy who seals it. He's the best in the league at this because he's willing to pay the dollars and, more, because he's the owner, so he can negotiate and get deals done more quickly than other teams who have to go back to ask if it's ok.

Snyder has no desire to be like Jerry Jones. Jones is the general manager of the football team. Snyder is the owner of his. He's found a role he does better than anyone and he fills that well giving over choices in players to his personnel people. That you don't know this is why you are so limited when you talk on this board.

No question the false premise in which you base any number of statements here is meaningful to you and you believe it is a strong basis. And it would be. If only it were true. As it's not, that leaves you looking like you are grasping to make a point you can't make on merit, which happens to be precisely what you're doing.

A normal Art post. One paragraph tells me he has budded out the rest explains how he hasn't budded out in any way shape or form. You do understand the difference between budding out and "streamlining" don't you??? You do understand the difference between budding out and " breaking stalemates" don't you Art?? In your world making the final decision equals having nothing to do with the final decision.

Also we get the usual Art attitude of I know more than anyone else does. Snyder has no desire to be the general manager but Snyder has admitted he's not qualified to do the things he's done. Well what was his desire Art when he was doing all those things he's not qualified to do Art? Why don't you argue that out amongst yourself and get back to me Art. Maybe you can check with your boy Snyder because anyone that exhibits the amount of overbearing condescension that you constantly do in your long-winded posts has to have inside souces into the truth.

Oh and one has to love what a wonderful "closer" your hero Danny boy has become. It must be real tough to close a deal when your offering much more than anyone else. Maybe you didn't mean it that way. Maybe you meant he's a great closer in the sense his meddling has "closed" the door on any hopes the Skins have had on making the playoffs up to now. You know Art you've finally hit on a concept I can get behind.

[Art]

Pocono,

Knowing more than you doesn't necessarily mean I know more than anyone else. Just means you. Your complete lack of understanding of how our front office functions is amusing to see repeated as you do. You see, when our coaching staff and personnel people can't decide on who they should go after and come to an agreement, they present their cases to the owner who decides.

That's got little to do with making final decisions. The description of Snyder you've given is of a person with no knowledge who's decided to make choices for the team. He has his personnel people and staff make decisions and where they can't, they educate him on the merits of their ideas. This is not a sign of an owner acting on his own making decisions he's not qualified to make.

Snyder has long deferred to football people. He's long attempted to make himself closer to Jack Kent Cooke in that he would give his football people whatever they told him they needed. He's more qualified to do that than anyone else in the organization because, well, because he's the owner. That's what owners do.

I know you're not accustomed to this, but, that's cause your an Eagle fan and your owner tends to like pocketing as much of the profit as he can going so far as to create fictional bonuses to mask cap spending.

The stability in your organization and "hit" on a QB in McNabb goes a long way toward the success you've had in recent years. We've not had that stability or a certain "hit" at QB yet and until we have one or both, we're not likely to be very good.

There is where Snyder has made errors. Those are the errors Snyder has admitted to making. This is why Snyder would NOT have gotten rid of Spurrier under any circumstance. He was going to over correct.

But, that's beside the point.

The point is Snyder is not making decisions based on his own knowledge of the league. He may make some based on the knowledge of those around him. Knowledge that is vast at present.

Ultimately all owners have the final decision on all moves. Every one of them. Some, like Snyder, defer to their personnel people and coaching staff to direct those decisions and go get those people. Some, like Jones, do not.

The role Snyder fills works not because you, as an Eagle fan, need to believe we overpay for everyone. We don't. We have gotten guys are relative bargain prices in some cases and other guys at pretty hefty prices in others. It works because Snyder can finalize a deal while other teams have to go back for approval from the owner on the contract or specifically the bonus.

Snyder won't suddenly become a better owner if Gibbs starts winning. Snyder has done a fantastic job the last three years -- some might say four with Marty -- as the owner by making moves he's told by his people he needs to make. That success rates Snyder as a successful owner as that's the job of the owner -- to make sure his people have what they tell him they need.

If Gibbs remains an excellent coach and the Skins win 10 or 12 or 14 games in the next few years, it won't be a sign Snyder changed.

[Ernie5]

Honestly, I'll take Snyder for now, thanks. Modell was the lowest of the low and Bischotti, at this point, is just an extension of that corrupt ownership operation. Snyder has twice turned the reigns over. Cooke -- one of the best owners anywhere ever -- was never out of the scene and was always in on personnel moves, often on the field at practices, and a motormouth in public. I'd rather have an involved owner than a quiet owner who steals a franchise from a faithful town b/c a new town lines his pockets. Modell was a terrible owner, but he did luck out in getting Ozzie Newsome to run his front office & that's been the key to the Ravens' success. That and drafting felons.

[Yomar]

sounds like a nice guy, but I'd rather compare Joe Gibbs and Brian Billick

or Dan Snyder and Ozzie Newsome....on second thought, scratch that last one, lets just talk about Gibbs and Billick