The amusement park business has been a real roller coaster ride for Redskins owner Dan Snyder.
Back in 2005, Snyder waged a brutal proxy war to take over Six Flags, one of the largest amusement park chains in the world. We have one in Prince George’s County. The company leaders at the time didn’t trust him. Six Flags was bleeding cash. They were in the process of selling it.
Snyder spent a year buying shares. He forked over about $50 million to amass more than 10 percent of the stock, according to Amusement Business, a publication that covers the sector. He said the parks were poorly run. He convinced a majority of board members that he had a better way to make the parks profitable. Snyder mounted a successful revolt, forced out the corporate heads and took over.
Last week Six Flags went belly up. Weighed down by debt, the company filed for bankruptcy.
Snyder’s investment went poof. The value of his stock and everyone else’s “gets zero value,” one analyst said. It’s hard to determine how much Snyder lost, but it must be close to the original investment of $50 million, since he kept buying shares to prop up its value.
Keep in mind that bankruptcy is the American way of giving businesses a second chance. Snyder might be out a bunch of money, but he’s still running the company. He said in a statement, “I’m confident Six Flags will emerge as a stronger corporation.”
Redskins fans might look at the owner’s setback a few ways.
Since Snyder will have less money at stake in Six Flags, he might have more time to devote to his favorite pastime, running
Washington’s professional football franchise. Depending on whether you like the way he’s handled the Redskins since he bought the team in 1999, more Dan could portend disaster or success. By some measures — winning games, for example — Snyder’s decade at the helm has been horrible.
One devoted fan and longtime season ticket holder put it this way: “He’s got his heart in the right place and wants to win, but he seems to be playing fantasy football with a real team.”
In other words, he plucks and discards players on a whim.
On the other hand, his marketing prowess has increased the Redskins’ value. It is now the second-most valuable franchise, after the Dallas Cowboys.
Heading into this season, with Jim Zorn in his second year as coach, Snyder undercut his young quarterback, Jason Campbell, by shopping for another QB. He dropped a record $100 million on defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. In other words, he’s continuing his tradition of destabilizing his team in the offseason; owners of winning teams — Steelers, Patriots, Eagles — run steady franchises.
Imagine if football teams were subject to the same takeover rules that allowed Snyder to get control of Six Flags. Fans — as stakeholders — could organize and throw the bum owners out.
It would be messy and unstable, but some might say the Redskins have been both under Snyder.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
