In a rare moment of bipartisan unity, the Washington metropolitan area erupted in shrieks of joy last Thursday afternoon when news broke that Dan Snyder, the embattled owner of the Washington Commanders, had agreed to sell the NFL franchise to an ownership group led by New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris. The final sale price is an awe inspiring $6 billion.
And while no one in Washington will be sorry to see him go, it’s clear that the feeling is mutual. Snyder’s mansion in Potomac, Maryland is for sale and there are reports that he and his wife Tanya, who had taken a front office role with the Commanders in the wake of an NFL investigation into the organization, are perhaps ready to decamp to England, where Snyder lived as a teenager.
When I think about Snyder’s near quarter century as owner, I think about it in three distinct spheres: the team’s performance on the field; the way Snyder ran the organization off the field; and the condition of the franchise as a business proposition.
The Washington Commanders' overall regular season record since Snyder purchased the team before the 1999 NFL season is 164-220-2. This includes a playoff record of 2-6. The team has not won a playoff game since 2005. They have had six winning seasons since Snyder took over, but have none since 2015. I could chronicle Snyder’s continual interference in the football side of the business, but it really doesn’t matter when the won-loss record tells the truth in stark detail.
I often contrast Snyder to another franchise owner who had his problems, the late George Steinbrenner. When “'Da Boss,” purchased the New York Yankees in 1973, Steinbrenner was just as obscure as Snyder was when he bought the Redskins in 1999. Steinbrenner meddled in the team’s operations, feuded openly with his managers, and chased away Yogi Berra, one of the most popular Yankees of all time. When he passed away in 2010, most of those moments were mere footnotes. Instead, Steinbrenner was played off to the sound of trumpets because he turned the Yanks back into winners. And you have to believe that if Snyder had experienced success on the field he might not have considered selling the team at all.
It was Hall of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells who said you are what you’re record says you are. And when it comes to Snyder’s team on the field, he’s a loser.
This the fans, who saw the team go to five Super Bowls between 1972 and 1992, could hardly endure. For decades, the entire region lived and died with the franchise then known as the Redskins. When I came to Washington, it was clear that there was something very different about being a Redskins fan, which felt more like the loyalty one would devote to a college football team than an NFL franchise. It was the one unifying element that cut across race, religion, politics and social class. When Snyder’s teams lost on Sunday, the region was united in misery on Monday. It’s something you can feel and you can only really know it until after you’ve lived here.
When it comes to the way Snyder ran the Commanders, it’s hard to know where to start. How about suing somebody’s grandmother when she couldn’t afford to pay for season tickets in the wake of the financial crisis? Over the years, I came to know a few people who had worked with the organization who told me the happiest day was the one when they walked out the door for the last time.
It’s probably best to tip your hat to columnist Dave McKenna, who covered Snyder with such a critical eye in the local weekly, The City Paper, that the owner sued him. McKenna’s 2010 column, “The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder,” was a seminal moment in Washington journalism when it came to holding the owner accountable for his misdeeds. It’s hard to believe that was more than a decade ago, considering everything that’s happened since. That includes accusations of sexual misconduct that triggered investigations by the league office and the U.S. Congress, details of which are so creepy I hesitate to link to the stories about the allegations. And in 2023, a survey conducted by the NFL Players Association found that the league’s players believed that the working conditions in Washington were the worst in all of football.
But what about the Commanders as an asset? The sale price, as previously mentioned, is $6 billion, a record price for an NFL franchise. Snyder purchased the team in 1999 for $800 million, so it’s safe to say that despite its failure on the field and accusations of malfeasance in the front office, Snyder hasn’t been hurt in his wallet.
Given that I’m not a fan of the team and, it’s easier for me to be objective about Snyder. As I wrote before somewhere else long ago, Snyder ought to be a hero. He is a native Washingtonian who wasn’t born to wealth. Yet he grew up to purchase the team he rooted for as a child, and put together a deal to buy it before his 35th birthday. He borrowed massive amounts of money to finance the purchase and then fully leveraged the team and its brand to pay it off. He bought the team at a record price and he’s selling it for a record price. Snyder clearly knows how to value an asset. And though it fetched what was a record price in 1999, even then Snyder determined it was undervalued and then unlocked the potential of hidden revenue streams late owners Edward Bennett Williams and Jack Kent Cooke never dreamed of or wouldn’t have ever considered.
But abject failure on the field has obscured that achievement and always will. And that’s how it should be. Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis has said that owning a sports franchise is a public trust, and it’s clear that for all his financial acumen, Snyder squandered that trust that Williams and Cook created long ago.
Just like Richard Nixon, Washington football fans won’t have Dan Snyder to kick around anymore. Snyder won’t turn 59 until this November. When you consult the actuarial tables, his life will have a third act and a shot at redemption. Given that his public failure as an NFL owner took place in Washington, DC, and has been chronicled so extensively, that will be a tough hill to climb. No matter how hard he tries, Snyder will never be able to combat the tyranny of the search engine algorithm.
So what’s next for the Washington football fan? Harris, who grew up locally in Chevy Chase, Maryland, has turned around both the Devils and the 76ers, so there is ample reason for hope. When it comes to repairing relationships within the community, NBA great Magic Johnson, who once owned a share of the DC-area’s Pepsi bottler, is a part owner of the LA Dodgers, and has his name on an area movie theater, is a member of the Harris group. Johnson is as universally loved as Snyder is despised in DC, and that will mean a lot, most of all with District Mayor Muriel Bowser.
They’ve got some work to do. Naming the team the Commanders was a step down from the interim moniker of The Washington Football Team. I think Harris will jettison the name as soon as the league allows. He’ll get to work on a deal to build a new stadium in the District, something Snyder couldn’t get done, and where Johnson’s reputation will help tremendously. And while it’s too late to replace Head Coach Ron Rivera and his staff before training camp, I can’t imagine them lasting for more than the upcoming season. Harris will want to put his stamp on the franchise and hiring his own head coach is the quickest way to get that done. As for the rest of the front office, including Team President Jason Wright and General Manager Martin Mayhew, something tells me that Harris will give them all a chance to save their jobs, even though it could very well be an uphill battle.
So if you’re a Washington football fan, brighter days are ahead. And be of good cheer. This is a franchise that has left behind ugly periods in its history before. After all, the Redskins carried the shame of being the last NFL team to integrate its roster. Decades later, it became the first NFL team to have a black quarterback lead it to a championship.
Let go of the ugly past. You have before. And I guarantee that Snyder will.
Eric McErlain lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area. He blogged at Off Wing Opinion regularly from 2002-2009. In addition to writing at Off Wing, his work has appeared at The Sporting News, AOL FanHouse, NBC Sports.com, Deadspin, The Hockey Writers, Pro Football Weekly and The Washington Post. In 1993, he wrote one of the first columns in a daily newspaper covering fantasy football for The Washington Times.