There’s no dealing like self-dealing.
Earlier this week, the Washington Redskins and Red Zebra Broadcasting jointly trumpeted a new deal that will keep the team’s game broadcasts on WTEM-AM “through the 2015 season.”
In announcing the alliance, Chuck Sapienza, director of programming for WTEM’s parent company Red Zebra, said, “We are very excited to continue our partnership with the Washington Redskins and look forward to an exciting five years with Coach Shanahan.”
Oh, to be a fly on the wall during the negotiations that led to this extension!
Or not. Not mentioned anywhere in the press release touting the pact, but confirmed by Dan Snyder‘s spokesperson Tony Wyllie, is the fact that the broadcasting company and the radio station are still both owned by Snyder. And, of course, so is the team.
Snyder got a chance to master the art of the self-deal during his days as chairman of the board of Six Flags, days marked by various transactions between the theme park chain he controlled and private companies he owned, namely Dick Clark Productions and Johnny Rockets.
The arrangements would seem to mitigate the give-and-take that goes with less conflicted negotiations, a point some Six Flags investors raised in federal bankruptcy court—noting their disapproval of the tactics during the company’s Chapter 11 reorganization hearings.