Redskins owner Dan Snyder has previously espoused an “all caps/over my dead body” stance toward his controversial nickname, but one of his old lieutenants thinks there are some things that could make him reconsider.
Former Redskins General Manager Vinny Cerrato told Boston’s The Sports Hub (via Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post) that Snyder’s resistance goes back to his father.
“I know Dan Snyder very well,” Cerrato said. “And he is fighting this, and he’s against this, and he doesn’t believe what people are saying, . . . It goes back to his childhood. It goes back to his dad. It is deep with him, why that name means so much. And then with Bruce Allen, his dad was the coach, so it means something to him. So I think they will fight it to the end, and Dan has made those comments, . . .
“It almost now is like Dan vs. the politicians. It’s not the fan base; it’s a fight amongst the politicians and Dan Snyder.”
When asked about the potential of making or losing money with a change, Cerrato said that wasn’t a motivator.
“It’s not about the money,” Cerrato said. “Dan’s got a ton of money. He’ll fight this. I said this when this first started a year ago or whatever, I said the only way I see him eventually changing the name is if — IF — he gets a new stadium out of it, downtown, where old RFK was. And he builds a stadium bigger than [Jerry Jones’s], which he would do, bigger and better than Jerry’s. He gets a Super Bowl. All that. I said that’s the way that maybe he would change the name. Getting the property, getting the land, getting a good deal from the city to make concessions to change the name.
“I don’t know. But to me, he’s going to continue to fight this.”
That part is clear. What’s curious is that this may be the first time anyone who has been close to Snyder at any point mentioned an exit strategy.
Frankly, we’d expect a quick denial from the team’s spin team on this one. But it makes you wonder what the price tag on Snyder’s principles actually looks like.
