Dan Snyder has named his wife, Tanya Snyder, co-CEO of The Washington Football Team, a move that was made public in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday.
"Now, Snyder has named his wife Tanya as the franchise’s co-CEO, a move that has not previously been announced publicly," writes Andrew Beaton in the WSJ. "Sitting with her in a New York office, Snyder says he believes that, after entering last season in turmoil, the Washington Football Team heads into this next one having engineered a turnaround."
"Tanya has always been my closest confidant and most important advisor, but her role has outgrown such informal titles," Dan Snyder said in a press release announcing the change. "The perspective she brings to this organization is invaluable and I am incredibly proud to recognize it with a fitting title: CEO."
"This team is our family’s legacy," said owner and co-CEO Tanya Snyder (sic). "We are at a pivotal point in the history of this team as we work to become the gold standard of NFL franchises. The co-CEO titles reflect our approach to that effort. It is a natural progression, but it’s important to formally recognize the diversity of opinion and perspective that informs everything we do. In my new role, I’ll be positioned to ensure the core values that are central to our philanthropy permeate the entire organization and bring us closer to realizing our goals."
The organization seemed to be building toward this moment for some time. As Dan Snyder's franchise became embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal last summer, Tanya Snyder's name began appearing alongside her husband's with greater frequency in public statements.
All these many months later, it's far more common for statements — team-issued or otherwise — to include both Snyders, as opposed to only Dan.
"Tanya is one of the most important figures in this organization, and that has only become more true over the last 18 months as her involvement has deepened," said Dan Snyder. "Publicly, many know Tanya for her incredible and impactful work in breast cancer awareness and her leadership of our charitable foundation. But behind the scenes, she has had a profound impact on the direction of the Washington Football Team. She was instrumental in our decision to evolve the brand and modernize our fan experience – including the entertainment team."
The WSJ article broadly overviews the many organizational moves Dan Snyder has made over the past year, including the hiring of team president Jason Wright, disbanding Washington's cheerleader program after 59 years in favor of a co-ed dance team, and jettisoning former employees accused of sexual misconduct from the franchise. Also, it dovetails Tanya Snyder's new role in with another critical development that transpired this offseason: when Dan Snyder bought out his previously disgruntled former minority partners, Fred Smith, Dwight Schar and Robert Rothman, to gain complete control of the franchise.
What comes next may leave longtime fans of the franchise trembling.
"Before all of that could change," Beaton writes, "Dan Snyder acknowledges that he had to change himself and become more deeply involved than in the past, when he was often distant from the management of his franchise."
"We regret not being eyes-open enough," Snyder tells the WSJ.
"We need to be involved, we want to be involved," Tanya Snyder says. "And we need to look at the past, close the door, and do things different."
In the article, Snyder claims to have spent only 227 days in the team's offices between 2012 and 2019, "or fewer than 29 days per year," writes Beaton.
"He was blamed for the team's poor play and other organizational missteps," the author goes on. "But he thought one of his greatest mistakes was not being more active as the franchise rotted on and off the field."
Quite humorously, Snyder does address his awkward 'Happy Thanksgiving, everybody' slip-up, a verbal squib delivered on January 2 as he introduced Ron Rivera as Washington's next head coach.
"I didn't read the part where it said, 'We started this journey on Thanksgiving,'" Snyder now claims in the WSJ article.
Snyder also attempts to whitewash another bad mark for the franchise, this one not of his own accord but that of former team president Bruce Allen's. When, after firing Jay Gruden with an 0-5 record in Oct. 2019, Allen infamously responded to a question about the franchise's culture by saying "the culture is actually damn good."
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"At that very moment, it triggered us to say: 'We've got to fix our culture," Snyder tells the WSJ.
To Snyder's credit, he did fire Allen 12 weeks later, at the conclusion of a 3-13 season, and officially hired Rivera days later.
Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal.
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