MIKE BURKE
Allegany Radio Corporation Sports
On Thursday, Dan Snyder will finally be gone. Or, so they say.
Without getting into the particulars of what a miserable human being he has given us every reason to believe he is, the reason he was finally shown the door by his #NFLTheTVShow brothers (fellow billionaire owners) is because he failed to get a new stadium for the Washington Commanders; and the reason he couldn’t get a new stadium is because not Maryland, not Virginia, nor the District of Columbia wanted to help him build a new stadium in their backyard, because they couldn’t stand him and wanted nothing to do with him because … he is a miserable human being.
This, of course, is well documented, and I’m quite sure we haven’t heard the last of that; which, I suspect, might be a reason he spends his time sailing on the Mediterranean on his yacht. But I digress …
The new owner of the Commanders, barring any last-second shenanigans, is scheduled to be Josh Harris, an experienced sports owner with majority ownership of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils. His partner, D.C.-area billionaire Mitchell Rales, built the Danaher Corporation, which is considered the gold standard for corporate responsibility and consciousness, as well as Glenstone, a private contemporary art museum in Potomac.
Then, of course, there is minority owner Magic Johnson. Everybody knows about him — Basketball Hall of Famer and five-time NBA champion. Johnson owns pieces of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the MLS Los Angeles Football Club and the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks, and since 1979 has tended to be in places that seem to experience shifts of positive karma whenever he is in the picture.
That is no coincidence, of course, and if any sports franchise in the world could use a shift to positive karma, it is the NFL franchise that represents Washington, D.C. that doesn’t play, train or headquarter in Washington, D.C.
That is something, though, the NFL will do its best to change, even though Harris reportedly has current issues with stadium funding, given he is the majority of two other professional sports franchises. Still, the NFL was more than willing to take the old Scarlett O’Hara approach of “I’ll worry about that tomorrow,” since they just wanted Snyder out.
We all know the story: Snyder bought one of the most valued and prestigious sports franchises in all of the world, the pride and joy of the capital of the free world for $800 million, then proceeded to run it into the ground for 24 years, which, itself is offensive, but due to even more offensive behavior on his part has now agreed to sell it to the Harris group for over $6 billion.
Credit Snyder for that if you must and credit #NFLTheTVShow for the Drink the Kool-Aid hold it has on the minds of the average sports fan (and Congress) to allow one of its fraternity-brother owners to destroy something once so good, yet see its value increase over six-fold in the past quarter century despite his vile behavior.
Snyder, by the way, gutted, then profited from the same franchise that less than a decade removed from three Super Bowl championships when he took control 24 years ago has since gone 164-220-2 and has had more team names — 3 — than playoff wins — 2.
Conversely, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had as many stadiums — 3 — as they have had head coaches in the last 54 years.
Off the field, the work of Daniel Snyder is even worse, but that’s for a higher court than this one to determine.
Thing is, when Snyder bought the team from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, fans of the Redskins (the team name then in case you don’t remember) were pulling for him, and why not? He was a self-made billionaire who grew up in the lower-middle class wearing a Redskins belt buckle who realized his childhood dream of owning his favorite team. What’s not to like about that?
Him, that’s what; and it didn’t take the most open-minded and giving fans of “HIS” franchise to soon realize that. It wasn’t Snyder’s fault the team didn’t play in the District anymore. It wasn’t his fault the dying Cooke (at one time the greatest team owner in sports) built that monstrosity on the Beltway as a monument to himself, but everything else that happened after that was his fault.
Why? Because Dan Snyder has the ability of taking a bad situation and making it immediately and infinitely worse.
Unless it involves making money … for him.
Ding-dong, the witch is nearly dead.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MikeBurkeMDT