Category Archives: Sports

Will You Be Paying Dan Snyder?

By Adam Pagnucco.

The Washington National Football League franchise is perhaps the only organization in America that could make Donald Trump’s White House seem like a smoothly running model of efficiency.  The club’s savage firing of its General Manager, the subsequent exodus of red chip starters like Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson and Chris Baker and the failure to sign star quarterback Kirk Cousins to a long-term contract have brought the franchise to its worst point in decades.  But here’s the kicker, folks.

One of these days, whether you want to or not, you could be paying for all this.

Daniel M. Snyder, the current majority owner of the Washington franchise, has often been described as the worst owner in pro sports.  Part of this is because of the team’s woeful performance on the field.  Snyder has owned the franchise for 18 years, over which it has compiled a 125-162-1 record, six winning seasons and only two playoff wins after winning three Super Bowls under the prior ownership.  The club just posted its first two consecutive winning seasons since 1991-1992 and the owner reacted by annihilating the team’s architect.  But it’s the franchise’s activities outside of the stadium, characterized by team President Bruce Allen as “winning off the field,” that are truly eye opening.  Consider this.

  • The team sued 125 season tickets holders between 2004 and 2009 to force them to honor their purchase contracts even though many were in financial distress. One of them was a 72-year-old retiree who claimed that the team’s judgment against her would force her into bankruptcy.
  • In 2006, the team tried to profit from 9/11 by selling “Pentagon Flag Hats” which featured “the team’s trademark curly ‘R’ in gold with a patch in the shape of the Pentagon and the colors of the American flag sewn on the side.” The club was the only one in the NFL to try to sell such merchandise.

  • Unhappy with negative coverage, Snyder has been buying up local media for years. It’s hard for journalists to criticize the team when they are on the owner’s payroll.  Snyder reacted to a harsh article by the Washington City Paper’s Dave McKenna by suing the newspaper and the journalist, an action he later dropped.

We could go on and on and ON.  But we know what you’re thinking.  I’m not a fan of the team, you might say.  Why should I care?

Because soon you could be paying for all this.

Dissatisfied with his twenty-year-old stadium in Landover, Snyder is now in the hunt for a new facility somewhere in the D.C. area.  The District of Columbia, home to the franchise in its glory years, is an iffy possibility given that the current Mayor has branded the team’s nickname as “offensive.”  Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, an enthusiastic dealmaker, is “in a hurry” to land the team before he leaves office.  And Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has said, “We will do whatever it takes to keep them.”  That could lead to a bidding war, and an expensive one at that.  NFL teams have extracted billions of dollars in public subsidies for their stadiums over the years.  Las Vegas has offered $750 million in tax money to the Raiders to entice them to move from Oakland.  And St. Louis, which just saw the Rams move out, still owes millions in bond payments on its now-empty football stadium.

Hogan loves corporate welfare, having approved millions in disbursements to Marriott and Northrop Grumman.  But those companies at least employ thousands of people in Maryland.  Snyder’s franchise is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia and his millionaire players are almost all Virginia residents.  NFL teams are dubious candidates for public investment at best since most of them play just ten home games a year, but the Washington team’s Virginia ties make subsidizing it even more questionable.

So what can you do about this?  Snyder is only 52 years old, so he could be the team owner for decades to come.  But Hogan is another matter.  If the Governor insists on throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at this poor excuse for a franchise, you will have the last word in next year’s election.

Just do what Dan Snyder does and fire him!

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It Doesn’t Get Better

Richard_MadalenoSen. Rich Madaleno comes out to a friend as a Capitals fan

The It Doesn’t Get Better Project’s mission is to communicate to Washington sports fans around the world that it doesn’t get better, and to inspire support for these brave individuals coping with the ongoing disappointment provided by Washington sports teams and the mockery that their fans endure.

This heartrending situation is faced by people in all walks of life. “It was harder for me to come out as a Caps fan than as gay” said Sen. Rich Madaleno in an interview earlier today. “I buy my son Ravens jerseys so people won’t think I’m trying to make him ‘that way.'”

Another fan would not be identified on the record but told 7S: “Between the name and their [bleep] team, I was just too ashamed to go see Washington play football on Monday. And I couldn’t even sell the tickets on StubHub. I had to give them away.”

Stalwart Nationals fan Jonathan Sachs says he has not deleted all of his Nats Ballpark pictures on Facebook but that it’s difficult: “I want to be open and not live a lie about who I am. I believe the Nats can go all the way but it’s hard when they crash in the first round of the playoffs, especially during the High Holidays.”

But the majority just doesn’t always understand their plight.

One partner of a Washington sports fan reported: “Normally, my husband is a mild-mannered guy but I stay away from his man cave when he starts yelling and pounding at the furniture that the Nats failed to score a basket. Again.”

Some are even less sympathetic. Former Chevy Chase Mayor David Lublin argued: “Why did Sen. Madaleno come out of the closet? Why can’t he keep that he is one of those people to himself?” Del. Neil Parrott agreed and has started a petition demanding that fans of DC sports teams “keep their cooties to themselves” in order to protect the children of the State of Maryland.

If you wish to donate to the It Doesn’t Get Better Fund, just send $250, $100, or even $25 to Dan Snyder. Every contribution helps make sure that It Doesn’t Get Better.

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