The Redskins have "become even more prosperous"
financially under Owner Daniel Snyder, as the team "can
finish this year with cash flow of about" $60M, an increase
of about $15M over last year, according to Thomas Heath in a
front-page report in today's WASHINGTON POST. Heath cites
sports finance "experts" saying that the Cowboys generate a
pretax profit of about $80M, but financial analysts say that
the Redskins "might challenge" the Cowboys as the
"wealthiest team" in the NFL. Projections showed that the
Redskins had a cash flow of about $45M last year, according
to documents that accompanied the team's sale, and Heath
writes that the Redskins can earn enough money this year to
"easily cover" Snyder's $495M debt. Since Snyder purchased
the team, he has "tripled the amount" of local advertising
in the stadium to about $7M, sold the "remaining 3,000 or
so" club and loge seats for about $3.5M, sold the nine
"vacant" luxury suites for $1.35M and signed a $205M naming
rights deal with FedEx. Snyder has a waiver from the NFL
exempting him from "sharing the proceeds" of premium seat
revenue with other teams so he can pay off the debt on his
deal. The team also receives about $70M annually from the
NFL TV contract and about $3.5M from local broadcasts of
preseason games and team shows (WASHINGTON POST, 12/17).
