Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder "is counting on" the team
-- the second-richest in the league after the Cowboys -- to
"become even richer," according to Clarke & Heath in a
front-page report in the WASHINGTON POST, who wrote that
Snyder's decision to charge admission for training camp this
summer is the latest in a series of steps the team "has
taken to parlay the buzz of last year's success ... into
lucrative new ventures." Clarke & Heath noted that Snyder
has initiated the addition of 3,000 seats and 12 luxury
suites at FedEx Field, raised ticket prices in some sections
by more than 35%, "hiked" parking fees, launched two new
Redskins TV shows and a newspaper, as well as "staging
major" concerts to "create new sources of revenue." Snyder:
"I think it's premature to put us in the class of the
Lakers, Yankees and 49ers. We aspire to be there someday;
right now, we're trying to put together a winning
organization." But Clarke & Heath wrote that reaction by
the fans "has not been all positive" since Snyder took over,
though team officials say that more than 98% of season-
ticket holders have renewed for the 2000 season. In
addition, four VPs Snyder hired have resigned in recent
months: VP Sales & Ticket Operations Dan Cohen, Senior
VP/Broadcasting Mark Burdett, VP/Public & Community
Relations John Maroon and VP/Marketing David Cope. All four
VPs declined to comment, but longtime Snyder spokesperson
Karl Swanson said, "It's not unusual turnover" (WASHINGTON
POST, 5/29). CBS SportsLine's Len Pasquarelli cited a
league policy stating that if a franchise charges admission
to its practices, personnel from other NFL teams "may attend
the session, provided they pay the same fee as the general
public" (CBS SportsLine, 5/30). But Redskins coach Norv
Turner said he was not bothered by scouts attending team
practices: "It's not a concern" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 5/31).
LAST CALL: In Baltimore, Thomas Waldron noted that as
part of a "handshake agreement" between late Redskins Owner
Jack Kent Cooke and MD officials, Cooke had agreed to move
the team's training camp to the district of MD House Speaker
Casper Taylor Jr. So it "was a nasty blow" when Snyder
announced last week the team was moving its training camp to
VA. MD officials said that the "insulting part" was neither
Snyder nor his execs "called to apologize" or to explain the
decision. Taylor: "I certainly can and do fault the bush-
league manner in which they carried out this bush-league
decision." MD Gov. Parris Glendening Press Secretary
Michael Morrill said that the Redskins' decision "could put
a crimp in future dealings" between the team and the state.
Morrill, on the relationship between the two: "We can
consider ourselves once-burned" (Balt. SUN, 5/30).
