In his letter to Commanders fans in the Washington Post this week, one of the hardest-hitting lines Josh Harris penned was that the new ownership group “hopes we can earn your trust.”
Grant & Danny played a clip of Harris from his Friday press conference, leading Grant & Danny to wonder if those were already more words spoken publicly than Dan Snyder did in 24 years as owner…but the real question is, how can Harris earn your trust while the process of building a winning team and culture plays out?
Here’s one idea: continue what he started over the last four days.
“The initial part is easy, and I don’t expect Josh Harris to write in the Washington Post, or call into a radio station and buy people beer, or whatever every week,” Danny said. “But maintaining some of that transparency and accessibility is essential to keeping peoples’ trust. They’re killing it right now, but there’s only so much that can be done. It has to be sustained effort.”
That’s something that we haven’t seen in the Dan Snyder era.
“How many times has your season ticket rep told you this is going to be different or they’re going to make it worth your while, but has anything changed for the better?” Danny asked. “There hasn’t been any follow-through.”
“This is the first time it feels like there could actually be a change,” Grant replied, “but what I don’t know is if they can do it in that stadium, without the ability to make sweeping changes in terms of who is in charge of what. Establishing a culture takes time, and it doesn’t happen overnight.”
Grant then invoked Bill Walsh’s book in the principles of establishing culture, and how that takes time – but so, too, do even the cosmetic changes of sorts, which may mean nothing will change until FedEx Field does.
“My point is that when Josh Harris was actually suggesting we need to make sure that things look good, I mean that ripping out all the seats in that place that are broken…that’s going to take time,” Grant said. “Can they do that by Week 1? The fact that the food in that stadium is cold and not particularly good, that’s not an easy, touch-a-button fix. A lot of people have come through with good ideas and know things need to change, but what are you going to do this time?”
Grant’s wife, a season-ticket holder, has told him that lines for food last year were the worst they’d ever been, and as Danny pointed out, that’s with fewer people in the building than ever.
Not a good look in any way, shape, or form – but how fixable is that?
“My point isn’t that no one is trying, it’s can they fix it at this stadium, or is this a logistical issue there?” Grant asked. “I have a hard time thinking they can fix things by Week 1.”
“Me either, but here’s the point about earning my trust: I want a report. Call it a review or whatever, but say, here’s why we think it hasn’t worked, here are the problems,” Danny said. “Tell me everything from supply chain upgrades are needed or whatever, or the card processing machines take too long for line efficiency. Whatever it is, tell us. That’s the thing you can really do for a while, because we all know who is responsible for letting that place turn dilapidated. Just get people to understand you’re aware of it, and keep telling us how aware of it you are.”
“That’s a good idea,” Grant shot back, remembering the Harris prospectus sent to other minority owners about how they plan to spend nearly nine figures on stadium improvements right away.
The question, then, is this: how and when will THAT happen?
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
Keep up with 106.7 The Fan via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
