Say hello to Mr. Harris, everybody

July 24, 2023

by Steve Thomas

Welcome to the dawning of a new age, one hopefully marked by professionalism, competence, respect, and most of all, winning.  Josh Harris’ takeover of ownership of the Washington Redskins Washington Football Team Washington Commanders Washington franchise is truly a momentous occasion in the history of once-proud organization.  The questions now are the pathway Harris will take to achieve success and how long it will take to achieve those goals.  To get that answer, we first need to define what success may look like.

Obviously, winning a Super Bowl is success, but that’s a rare event even for the best organizations.  From an on-field perspective, I’d define success as the team being consistently competitive on a yearly basis – being legitimately in the hunt for the division title every year, regular playoff appearances, and some playoff victories.  “In the hunt” to me is success, with anything above that, such as occasional participation in a conference title or, heaven forbid, a Super Bowl, is more icing on the cake than a reasonable expectation.  Also, every team goes through a down year every so often, but the quality organizations bounce back, while the dregs of the league such as Washington under Dan Snyder wallow in it year after year.

But what about off the field success?  This is a bit of a nebulous concept, but we can start with a professionally-run franchise that avoids embarrassment and scandal is a good start.  That’s a low bar, but given the circumstances Harris is walking into, that needs to be the baseline.  Then, throw in some positive community interaction, and solid relationships with the local business world and we’re getting somewhere.

I give my It’s Just Business partner Chris Larry the credit for mentioning on this week’s It’s Just Business show a good framework for this effort: short-term goals, mid-term goals, and long-term goals.  Short-term goals are the items that Harris and company are able to get done very quickly.  The easy hill to climb is to improve the game-day experience.  A little bit of money will cure things like raw sewage being dumped on fans and lives being endangered by falling rails.  Also, management can make other changes to help such as improving the quality of food and drink, albeit probably not at a reduced cost.  Furthermore, the team can start treating fans with respect and running public events in a competent manner.  Day one went well in that regard – the opening press conference and subsequent events had a good look and were successful, without screw up or embarrassment.  There was an air of competence, professionalism, and an upbeat atmosphere that hasn’t existed with this franchise for a very long time.  More fan and community events should follow, especially with training camp getting ready to start in earnest.  Those are your short-term goals – everything else is going to take time.

For the mid-term, goal number one should be to change the nickname from “Commanders” to something that isn’t awful.  For one thing, the c-word brings up memories of Snyder and years from which everyone would be better off moving on.  The current nickname does not bring up any connection to the past or memories of better days.  Yes, at this point, this franchise is essentially an expansion team, but they’d be wise to do a better job of connecting to the team’s history, and the nickname is the place to start.  It takes time and money to do this, and it can’t be done for the 2023 season.  A name change is probably a one year process at best, so 2024 is the earliest this could happen.  The team could certainly solicit some fan input, but they’d be wise in skipping the full-on struggle session routine that Snyder and company did, and instead, just quickly pick one of the fan favorites.  The best name, Redskins, is unfortunately gone forever, but a myriad of options far more acceptable than the c-word are there for the taking: Warriors, Redwolves, Redtails, Hogs, or Red Hogs, just to name a few.  If Harris and company want to bury the past and start off on a new and better footing, this is the best way to do it.

The other mid-term goal is the coaching and front office staff.  Harris needs to get the people he wants in place, but that isn’t going to be a quick fix.  Harris has indicated that he’s going to take a slow, cautious approach to organizational changes, that most likely means he’s going to basically leave everything alone for the 2023 season, then make incremental changes as necessary.  I can’t envision Ron Rivera sticking around for much longer given his age and health, and 2023 will be year four of his original five year contract; plus, most NFL coaches don’t play a lame duck season, and that’s what 2024 currently will be.  If Rivera leaves after this season, whether via voluntary or involuntary means, Harris’ first choice is probably going to be the structure of the football operations side of the team.  The typical organizational structure is to have a general manager in charge, with the coach working for him.  In a bid to normalcy, I expect Harris to use that strategy going forward.  Therefore, once Ron leaves, Harris will most likely select a new general manager first, early in the 2024 offseason.  On the business side, Jason Wright’s face isn’t yet sealed.  He’s clearly going to get a chance to show what he can do without the insane conditions of the past few years.  The point is, expect changes to the front office, but it’s highly unlikely that this is a short-term fix.

The principal long-term goal will be to replace the stadium.  Any NFL stadium is a multi-year project, probably at least four at a minimum.  Unsurprisingly, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia have each all of sudden become far more open to a potential new Washington stadium.  The District will certainly have far less money available than Maryland or Virginia, but those sorts of decisions will have to be made in time, along with a stadium site, design, and other financing.  Plus, construction itself is going to take two years – hence, the long-term nature of this goal.  Just get ready for higher ticket prices and personal seat licenses, because they’re coming.  Billions of dollars don’t pay for themselves.  Harris needs to make money, and lots of it, just to pay off the debt, let alone make a profit.

That’s my basic plan: short-term = gameday experience and community building; mid-term = front office and coaching staff; long-term = stadium.  I have a good feeling about him.  Better days are here.  Welcome to the future, kids.