Redskins franchise held captive by Dan Snyder’s greed, ignorance

It is a trickle-down effect of monstrous proportions.

Traditionally, in football, we view the front office and the on-field product as two entities that are, while connected in some way, ultimately separate. But there is always a degree of trickle-down relation. How a team conducts itself at the very top can be a barometer for what can be expected on the field, come Sunday.

Thus, it’s no surprise that the Washington Redskins have failed one more time.

In May of this year, there was hope, as Dan Snyder, who had shown an impressive and terrifying propensity for ignorance and naivety in his twenty years as the Redskins owner, brought in the nemesis of Bruce Allen: Brian Lafemina.

While Allen has shown an outright tone deaf relationship with the fans, his customers, Lafemina was regarded as one of the best public business executives in the NFL. In his short time in the nation’s capital, we saw the effect he had. The Redskins social media performance improved. They earned respect with their handling of several local happenings, including the death of longtime Redskins reporter Rich Tandler. Lafemina himself traversed the tail gates on Sunday, connecting with the fans. Immersing himself in the experience, so that he had the knowledge to better it.

But, in the very time in which Lafemina endeared himself with his new community, the devastating and irreversible impact of Snyder’s reclusive reign in Washington was magnified to the masses. Turnouts at home games were as low as they’d ever been. Visiting fans lined the rows, sometimes almost filling half of the stadium. Fan morale was buried in an endless abyss, and team morale followed. So too did consistency of performance.

No rational person could have expected Lafemina to turn around a dying franchise in merely a year: Snyder and Allen have done too much damage for that. But in his short time in the nation’s capital, Lafemina’s fan-based approach contrasted starkly with Snyder’s shrewd model, based on the latter’s own greed. Snyder, in the pursuit of profit above all else, catalyzed the decay of a once-great organization. It is a decay Snyder has been blind to, as he sits inside the walls, beyond the reach of fans’ howling voices. He has chosen not to care. But in contrast, Lafemina showed his care from the start.

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It was a contrast that pitted the two schools of thought against one another. It was a contrast that, per Chris Russell of 106.7 The Fan, drove Lafemina to prepare his resignation after just seven months, and it was a contrast that coaxed Snyder and Allen to fire Lafemina before he had the chance to control anything, even his own destiny.

D.C. Sports reporter Craig Hoffman said it best on The Junkies radio: Brian Lafemina showed Dan Snyder reality. And when Snyder didn’t like it, he fired Lafemina, and shrunk back into his soundproof cocoon.

Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen, in their time with the Redskins, have always operated as if their word trumps all. That they are the not only the senior members of Washington’s organization, but the senior, superior thinkers. That their way is right. And that the world is their enemy.

Lafemina showed Snyder and Allen that there is another way, a better way, to conduct a public job, in a public organization. Lafemina showed Snyder and Allen that there was a way, if given time, to resurrect the fan base, and bring life back to D.C. Snyder and Allen took offense, as if their sacred way had been challenged. And they shut the doors again.

Thus, the Redskins franchise has been taken hostage by Daniel Snyder’s greed, and his ignorance. He continues to employ a president who is given too much power, but incapable of building a winning roster, and thus, incapable of winning back fans who only lose faith, never to gain it back. He continues to separate the Redskins football team from his high castle, the Redskins business, but in turn, he only causes more direct harm to the body as a whole. He continues to disregard his loyal customers, whose loyalty is tested more and more every day.

Snyder profits off of the misery of the fans, and such a business structure will never sustain success in the NFL. But if there is a silver lining, it is this: In time, the stands might be empty. In time, the accounting records might go dry. In time, Snyder might open the doors. He might venture outside, and see everyone walking away. And he might find that his way was wrong.

There’s no telling when the collapse of Snyder’s regime will happen. But when it does, it will be swift. It will be unforgiving. And it will be relentless.

Just as he has been.