Snyder Becomes Youngest NFL Owner

ATLANTA - What do a Microsoft co-founder, credit-card mogul, Texas oil tycoon and communications executive have in common?

Other than lots of money, they are the newest owners of NFL franchises.

The intriguing question is: Why would they enter the professional football business?

"It's a challenge," said Daniel M. Snyder, the latest entry into the ownership fraternity.

After a unanimous vote among the league's 31 owners, the NFL approved the sale of the Washington Redskins to the multimillionaire communications executive from Bethesda, Md.

Snyder is the latest example of the new wave of NFL owners. They are rich entrepreneurs with no apparent ties to football other than a desire to own a team.

"The face of football ownership is changing," Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis said. "The families, the long-standing families that used to be synonymous with the game, are leaving. . . . And you have a new breed coming in."

Davis and the late Jack Kent Cooke, the former Redskins owner, were considered among the NFL's blue bloods. Seahawk owner Paul Allen, the Microsoft billionaire; Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs, who made his fortune in Texas crude; and Cleveland Browns owner Al Lerner, a credit-card magnate, are the new money.

So is Snyder. At 34, he is the youngest owner in the league. And his $800 million purchase price is the highest for a U.S. sports franchise, topping the $530 million Lerner paid for the expansion Cleveland Browns last year. Snyder's purchase includes the new Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

"For me, this is a lifelong dream," Snyder said. "This is just an unbelievable opportunity. I am a fan, a huge Redskins fan. It's that simple."

For his passion, Snyder will pay more than $100 million, and other members of his ownership group will pay about $300 million. The rest will be financed in loans from Paris-based bank Societe General. Snyder will receive $50 million in team funds to decrease the overall price to about $750 million, and he is expected to sell the naming rights to the stadium.

"I'm not really focused on the money," he said. "I'm focused on the opportunity and the dream. I can't describe how that feels."

Friends say Snyder ran out of hobbies. Soon after dropping out of the University of Maryland, he made $1 million in a venture that flew college students to spring break in the Caribbean.

Five years later, at age 25, he started a college magazine with the aid of media moguls Mort Zuckerman and Fred Drasner. That project failed, but Snyder maintained his relationship with the pair, who are minority partners in his ownership group.

They helped finance Snyder Communications Inc., whose stock market value was estimated at $2.5 billion earlier this year.

"Daniel Snyder is the perfect person," NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "He's proved his mettle in the business world at a very young age."

Snyder said he will retain Washington General Manager Charley Casserly and Coach Norv Turner for the season. He has not chosen a team president, although former Miami Dolphins Coach Don Shula is being mentioned.

Snyder's acquisition officially ends the Cooke family era after 25 years of control and 39 years as stockholders. Team president John Kent Cooke, who owned 10 percent of the team, will make about $60 million from the sale. However, he wanted much more. He finished second in the first round of bidding but withdrew his latest offer.

"This has been a long goodbye," Cooke said in a statement.

Said Davis: "I'm sorry to see the them (the Cooke family) leave like that. They were good for football."

NFL URGES L.A. MERGER

League owners were given two choices for restoring the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Plan A submitted by entertainment tycoon Michael Ovitz is big, splashy and expensive. Developer Eli Broad's plan is practical and cost-prohibitive.

For now, the NFL is undecided.

Tagliabue called the Ovitz plan "visionary," and spoke favorably of the design that would create a park-like setting around the stadium while maintaining the building's Romanesque architecture.

The divisive point is parking; there is no inexpensive answer.

"We've talked to both groups about unifying their efforts," Tagliabue said.

NOTES

-- The NFL awarded Super Bowl XXXVII to San Diego. The game will be played Jan. 26, 2003, in Qualcomm Stadium. San Diego, which has hosted two Super Bowls, the latest in 1998, replaces San Francisco, which will not have a new stadium ready for the game.

-- The owners were to discuss the New England Patriots' decision to stay in the Boston area after withdrawing a commitment to Hartford, Conn. Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci signed legislation this week that will provide $70 million to help the Patriots build a new stadium.

-- Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan seems to have a lot of support from owners if he chooses to pursue the New York Jets. Dolan, who failed in bids to buy the Browns and the Redskins, has not said whether he is interested. But Davis, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen all expressed interest in Dolan becoming an owner. The Jets were put up for sale by the estate of the late Leon Hess last week.

Material from The Associated Press and Newsday was included in this report.