New Redskins Senior VP Tony Wyllie is going to have his hands full in Washington.
The Redskins’ rocky relationship with the local media had another embarrassing day on Tuesday. Redskins owner Dan Snyder had to apologize to a local news affiliate (ABC) for preventing them from covering a story that the network originally pitched to the team.
Here’s the backstory, courtesy of Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post: A Marine lieutenant called the local ABC affiliate, wanting to surprise his Redskins cheerleader wife by coming home from a combat tour early, with cameras in tow.
Nice local story, right?
The Redskins thought so too, but barred ABC from telling the story. Instead, the local NBC affiliate was allowed to cover it. (And presumably tipped off by the Redskins.) NBC is the broadcast partner of the Redskins.
Here’s where the story gets especially troubling. A television executive said that the Redskins threatened to fire the cheerleader if she later spoke to the ABC station.
The Redskins deny that claim, but did apologize, essentially admitting they stole the story. Snyder said he plans to make “many changes in personnel and policy”
The Washington Post reports that longtime VP Karl Swanson’s departure from the team was in the works before the cheerleader story broke.