Bob 0119 wrote:Or then again, maybe the company they had fix it the first time misdiagnosed the problem and they thought they had fixed it.
That's much more likely. But I like CLL's Oliver Stone-esque take on Snyder cheaping out on a few hundred dollars. I mean, this is the same guy who routinely matches raised funds for one of his charities, in the realm of 250k a year.
Snyder asked researchers at his communications company to find out what other NFL teams did on the charitable end. The employees reported that most teams gave money to other charities, such as United Way, or donated team jerseys or hats and tickets. “I think I know what to do to raise money,” Snyder told Swanson.
His idea was to set up a leadership council of business leaders. It would be a club. Membership cost at least $10,000 a year. Twenty executives quickly signed up. The number is now 28, including developer Adam Bernstein, FedEx chair Fred Smith, and TV talker Larry King, and rates go to $60,000. The council raises more than $250,000 a year. Snyder matches their contributions.
In exchange, the members get to spend a day at Redskins training camp and lunch with Snyder and the coaches. Just before the NFL draft, Snyder hosts a dinner at FedEx Field, where coaches discuss prospects.
“Pretty soon we’d raised over $1 million,” Swanson says. It’s now close to $2 million.
The foundation has renovated football fields and erected scoreboards throughout the region, including at DC’s Spingarn, Anacostia, and Ballou high schools. The Fourth and Life program brings senior high-school players to talk to pro players about life after football. The Rookie Reading Program sends first-year pros into local schools.
Or...
“My first daughter was born at 27 weeks,” he says. “My wife lived for three months at George Washington hospital while she was in treatment.”
His daughter has thrived. When she came home, Snyder called Ned Zechman, CEO of Children’s National Medical Center. “Come see me,” he said. “I want to do something for kids.”
That something turned out to be $6 million for an emergency wing.
He has helped build a communications center for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria.
Snyder stops there, but Swanson says the Snyders wrote checks totaling $1 million to help victims of the September 11 attacks. He contributed close to $600,000 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. When the tsunami hit Indonesia in December 2004, a community group got together a planeload of food but ran out of money to finance the flight. Word got to Snyder. He called the shipping company and said, “Ship it.”
If he's spending millions a year on charity, do you really think he's cheaping out on IT equipment for his beloved Redskins?
Seriously, read this
article. It's a way different spin on Snyder than you probably have read to date. Look at what he says when he reviews the various things he did:
Snyder took over the Washington Redskins on July 14, 1999. He inherited Norv Turner as coach and Charley Casserly as general manager.
“They were fighting like cats and dogs,” he says. “We were in trouble. I couldn’t have these two guys sniping at one another.”
So he fired Casserly in September.
“You fired the wrong guy,” Casserly told him.
“If you’re right,” Snyder shot back, “you’ll be one of the first to know.”
<snip>
Snyder stuck with Norv Turner through the 1999 season, which was lackluster. With three games left in the 2000 season, the Redskins had a 7–6 record, and Snyder lost patience. He called Turner into his office at 11 am on December 4 and let him go.
“It was one of my worst moves,” he says. “It was plain stupid. I was a new owner pissed about losing.”
After Snyder fired Turner, he says, he called Casserly and said, “You were right.”
In 2003 Snyder moved training camp from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to Redskins Park in Loudoun County. He opened it to fans. He charged admission. And a parking fee.
“That was another mistake,” he says. “Charging fans to see training camp. Dumb move.”
