Lafemina’s Presser May Mean Much More Than You Think
June 19, 2018
by Steve Thomas
The Redskins’ new President of Business Operations and Chief Operations Officer, Brian Lafemina, held his first press conference as a senior staff member for the franchise this past week. Taken by itself, this development isn’t overly remarkable – a football team hired a new head business guy, and that business guy spoke to the press. Under normal circumstances, that would hardly constitute cause for a call to arms or to raise any alarm bells. As we all know, though, this is the Washington Redskins and it therefore actually may just mean quite a bit for the future of the franchise. Let’s discuss.
The most obvious issue is that this presser – which dealt with ticketing and the team’s relationship with the fans – wasn’t given by Bruce Allen. The man who Lafemina replaced as President of Business Operations, Dennis Greene, to my knowledge never gave a single press conference. Without fail, all of the press conferences that were not game or player personnel-related have always been given by Allen. The simple fact that Lafemina was even talking to the press seems to be a signal of at the very least, change, or perhaps even a marginalization of Allen’s role in the organization. After all, back in early June, 2017, after the departure of former general manager Scot McCloughan, Allen was running the player personnel department and, despite Greene, seemed to be in charge of business operations as well. In other words, he was running everything. Now, just one year later, Doug Williams is the Senior Vice President of Player Personnel and the team made the point to put Lafemina in front of the press right away to discuss important issues. If Williams is running player personnel, Lafemina is heading up business operations, and Senior Vice President of Football Operations/General Counsel Eric Schaffer is running the rest of the football ops side of the team, what exactly is Allen supposed to be doing? On top of that, the Redskins press release made it clear that Lafemina reports directly to Snyder (read more about my thoughts on that here). That doesn’t leave a very broad-based job description for Allen.
Lafemina even mentioned the possibility of a new stadium in his comments, which has always been Allen’s domain. It’s really been a remarkable transformation of the front office over the last month, and it appears as though Allen’s stranglehold over team operations has been greatly reduced over the past year. At this point, particularly coming on the heels of self-inflicted public relations disasters such as the manner of McCloughan’s dismissal, the handling of former quarterback Kirk Cousins’ free agency, and the recent stories regarding the team’s cheerleader program, I wouldn’t be tremendously surprised if Allen finds his way to another team sometime soon – maybe not immediately, but soon. Keep in mind that the NFL’s quiet period on the football side just began and runs mid-June through training camp at the end of July, but that isn’t necessarily true for the business side. Not only does the business of football not stop in the same manner as the football side, but is actually in full-go mode right now preparing for the new season. Allen was originally hired by the Redskins in December, 2009, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he leaves around the same time of year, just in time to guide a new team into the 2019 offseason. That’s just sheer speculation on my part – I have no inside information on this at all – so take that for what you will. Reports recently creeped out into the media that the Raiders were interested in Allen. It’s possible that the Redskins are finally headed towards a more traditional front office structure, and that’s a good thing. We’ll have to wait and see.
As to the substance of the Lafemina presser, the biggest revelation was that the long-vaunted season ticket waiting list will be no more. This is a stunning admission – after all, the team’s mythology is practically built on the idea that fan interest is so high that it’s virtually impossible to get season tickets except on the secondary market. True story: I put myself on the waiting list in 1995 and didn’t get offered regular season tickets by the team until the 2007 season (although the ticket office tried to sell me premium seats every year. My father tried to put his name on the list in 1983 and was told that the list was so long that the team wasn’t taking more names at that time. I’m sure many of you have similar stories. The last 10 years have been rough, though, and despite my experience, we all know that the list has been a myth for many years now.
The decision to change such an important part of its marketing strategy wasn’t done on a whim, and it wasn’t to improve fan relations, as Lafemina insinuated. It was done because there’s no longer a waiting list and the team needs a new strategy to sell tickets. In the golden era through, apparently, 2007, there was no need to spend time and money marketing ticket sales. Now that need exists, and the team’s implicit acknowledgment of that need is a good thing. It’s a reorientation of the team’s focus from the past golden era and towards the future.
Lafemina made it clear that the team intends to improve both the team’s relationship with the fans and the in-stadium gameday experience, to include concessions discounts for season ticket holders and other as of yet unannounced improvements. It’s no secret that Redskins games at Fed Ex Field are consistently rated as one of the NFL’s worst gameday experiences. We’ve all probably experienced the insane traffic, expensive parking and concessions, spartan stadium amenities, and legions of opposing fans taking over the lower bowl because the stadium is too large and the team is consistently too poor to excite local fans into attending the games.
Look, winning has a tendency to cure all ills, and Fed Ex Field isn’t going anywhere for another decade or so, but at the same time, you shouldn’t roll your eyes at this press conference and treat it as just more of the same ‘ole nonsense that’s been coming out of Redskins Park for years. Lafemina is not only a breath of fresh air; he’s a long-time, experienced sports executive with stadium experience and 8 years in the NFL front office. He’s not a Redskins legend or team or Dan Snyder sycophant. This is a man who, if given the reins, can bring the Redskins into a new era. No, I don’t know exactly what that means, and if the team doesn’t start winning on some sort of a consistent basis, this new change of corporate attitude isn’t going to result in much regardless. Lafemina isn’t the under illusion that concessions discounts are all of a sudden going to invigorate a city, but he does appear to realize that limiting the team’s continued reliance on past glory while trying to enter into a new era of respect for fans and providing some incremental logistical improvements will at go a long way to improving things. It can at a minimum drag the Redskins kicking and screaming from the bottom of the fan experience rankings into something that isn’t the bottom. It’s a start.
So what’s the conclusion here? It most certainly isn’t that the Redskins have boldly ushered in a new era. It was just one press conference by one guy. But all the same, the signs pointing to a major shift in team philosophy are there: new senior executive, the lack of public presence of the marginalized team president, talk of improved fan experience and a new stadium. Only time will tell if these are just words or if something good will come of it. I choose to believe the latter.