The son of a legendary Redskins coach and brother of a former Virginia governor, Bruce Allen’s ties to football and politics will be put to the test as he helps Daniel Snyder’s efforts to broker a new stadium deal for his team. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
RICHMOND — Sports programming blares on every TV screen at the Southern Railway Taphouse, a bustling gastropub near downtown Richmond’s old canals and former tobacco warehouses, where Virginia state legislators and lobbyists, worn down by six weeks of committee meetings and floor sessions, munch chicken wings and meatballs while jockeying for an audience with the president of the Washington Redskins.
“That’s embarrassing!” Bruce Allen guffaws when state Sen. J. Chapman “Chap” Petersen confesses that his Senate basketball team recently lost a game despite having a Hampton University tight end and legislative intern, whom he has just introduced, in its lineup. “That’s embarrassing!”
A moment later, a lobbyist’s young son sporting a Ryan Kerrigan jersey and carrying an autographed Redskins football approaches and starts telling Allen why quarterback Kirk Cousins deserves a big contract. Allen replies with a good-natured laugh and tousles the boy’s blond hair.
The Redskins Pride Caucus, as the gathering is called, is at a Richmond bar each February as the General Assembly session winds down, giving Allen a chance to thank legislators for their support. In turn, Virginia lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists get to talk football with their heroes.
Even without his title, Allen probably would own this crowd. A bottle of Budweiser in one hand, he wears a dark blue suit with an American flag pin on the lapel and boasts as his guest the ultimate show-and-tell of a man’s man: Redskins linebacker Will Compton. This is how Allen works the room, never staying in one group too long, fielding Redskins advice with a smile but grimacing anytime someone mentions the University of Virginia or William & Mary or any college other than the University of Richmond, his alma mater.
From the moment Daniel Snyder bought the Redskins in 1999, he has tried to restore the glory of his childhood passion, only to cycle through eight head coaches and compile a 125-162-1 record. Coaxing former coach Joe Gibbs, architect of Washington’s three Super Bowl championships, out of retirement in 2004 represented Snyder’s first attempt to reconjure the gilded past. Hiring Allen as his general manager in December 2009 was his second.
Allen is not only a son of Hall of Fame Coach George Allen, who led the Redskins to their first Super Bowl after the 1972 season, he’s also the youngest brother of a former Virginia governor and U.S. senator. Twin strands of DNA — NFL royalty and political animal — lie at Bruce Allen’s core.
Despite a tumultuous seven-year tenure in which the Redskins fired coach Mike Shanahan and benched would-be franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III, Allen has steered the team through a volatile chapter in the long-running controversy over its name. He has beefed up the team’s charitable efforts and resurrected ties with former players. And he has forged relationships with Washington-area politicians, particularly in Virginia, which led to a lucrative, eight-year deal to hold training camp in Richmond each summer beginning in 2013. The Redskins in 2012 also received a $4 million grant from the state and $6 million from the Virginia State Lottery toward an expansion and renovation of the team’s headquarters in Ashburn.
But Allen’s biggest challenge lies ahead: brokering a deal for a new stadium, a billion-dollar-plus project expected to open by 2027, when the team’s FedEx Field lease expires.
Renderings for the 60,000-seat, semitransparent venue ringed by a moat were aired in March 2016 as part of a CBS “60 Minutes” segment on its Danish architect. The vision for the project remains the same, Allen said in a recent interview at Redskins Park, although its location isn’t settled. Nor is the projected cost or financing plan.
If Allen can deliver a successful stadium deal, he’ll impact the franchise in a way his father never could — increasing revenue and ideally, if it’s a high-tech venue with millennial appeal, energizing and replenishing an aging, weary-of-losing fan base for decades to come.
“We see this decision as one of the biggest decisions this franchise is going to make,” said Allen, who’s taking the lead in the negotiations. “This is about a stadium that the Redskins will be playing at through 2050. We’re on schedule. It’s an exciting process.”
Whether it’s built in Northern Virginia, on the site of RFK Stadium in the District or remains in Maryland, the Redskins’ next stadium will be Snyder’s legacy — not the hand-me-down venue he acquired from the estate of the late Jack Kent Cooke. For Snyder, it would be an opulent monument to his clout and stature as an NFL owner — an owner whose team is worth $2.95 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s September 2016 valuation, nearly four times the $800 million he paid for it in 1999.
Allen enters the most critical phase of the effort — negotiations for a site — on unfamiliar and uncomfortable ground, regarded as a villain by many longtime fans for the ugly way in which Scot McCloughan, his hand-picked general manager, was fired March 9, barely two years into his four-year contract.
[Redskins fire GM Scot McCloughan after two seasons]
For a fan base that has proven near impossible to alienate despite profligate free agent busts and foolish coaching hires, the public disparagement of McCloughan that accompanied his firing was a step too far. While Allen never referenced alcohol as a reason for dismissal — as former Redskin Chris Cooley alluded to on the team-owned radio station and a Redskins official detailed to The Washington Post the day of the firing after requesting anonymity — many fault Allen for not publicly defending his general manager.
Allen now says that he spoke privately to Cooley about his on-air speculation, with McCloughan present. Asked why he never publicly countered the disparagement of his general manager, Allen said: “There was someone who said on the radio that there was jealousy. Then, there was somebody who said we were trading Kirk Cousins for Tony Romo and giving the Cowboys draft picks. Then Chris said what he said. Then somebody said ‘X, Y and Z.’ I can’t keep up with sports-talk radio; I don’t ever want to keep up with sports-talk radio. If I had Twitter, maybe I would say, ‘This is false! This is false! This is false!’ . . . Every time somebody throws something against the wall to speculate, we’re not going to respond to all that. That’s what the media does. It’s impossible to answer all of the foolishness that’s out there.”
If the backlash against Allen has shaken the team president, there’s no evidence. He insists that he loves and understands the passion of fans.
[Bruce Allen says it was in Redskins’ best interest to fire Scot McCloughan]
But for the Redskins to seal a deal for a stadium site, Allen must win over lawmakers who answer to many of those angry fans as well as taxpayers who care little about the NFL or the fortunes of Washington’s team. If he succeeds, he may prove himself to be the best hire Snyder has made since buying the team.
At 60, Allen is the corporate face of the Redskins, the most important person between Snyder and the rest of the world. In many ways, he is the yin to Snyder’s yang.
Elder by eight years, Allen is Snyder’s football adviser and trusted confidante, his gatekeeper and elbow’s-length companion, accompanying him to and from practice at Redskins Park, training camp and most team functions. In social settings, he compensates for Snyder’s reticence and largely self-imposed isolation. And in NFL affairs, Allen’s gregariousness compensates for the brusqueness that often proves a liability for Snyder in transactions that require diplomacy over bullying.
“Within the four corners of Virginia, he’s very much the public face of the team,” said Petersen, the state senator, a Fairfax Democrat and passionate Redskins fan. “I love Bruce. Even when the team was taking a lot of grief, he never said an unkind word. He’s just a very positive person. Clearly, his brother was a big-time Republican governor and senator, but Bruce is a guy — people like him on both sides of the aisle.”
Allen’s impact on the field hasn’t measured up to the “proven winner” Snyder proclaimed him to be when he was introduced as general manager in December 2009. Since then, the Redskins’ record is 45-66-1. Still, Allen has not only kept his job — no small feat given the turnover of coaches and front-office executives under Snyder — but he has expanded his power, promoted to team president in 2014.
“One of the most tremendous, instinctive political animals I’ve ever known” was how one NFL front-office executive who has worked closely with Allen characterized him.
“Bruce both insulates and softens Snyder. Having Bruce by his side gives Snyder a degree of credibility,” the executive added, requesting anonymity so as to speak more openly. “But make no mistake: Bruce is going to make sure Bruce takes care of Bruce, above all.”
Allen and Snyder hired Mike Shanahan as head coach in 2010, but the relationship ended acrimoniously three years later when Shanahan was fired. (Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post)
The Redskins negotiate the stadium deal from an enviable spot, with three jurisdictions — Maryland, Virginia and the District — to play off one another.
No doubt, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) would love the distinction of landing the new stadium for his state before his term ends in January 2018. A tireless dealmaker and a voluble promoter of his adopted home state, McAuliffe has a close relationship with Snyder and describes Allen as “a very straight shooter.”
“I can always have an open, frank conversation with him, never have to worry that what we say would get leaked out in the negotiations that we’ve had,” McAuliffe said. “I think he clearly has the confidence of Dan Snyder.”
Every summer during Redskins training camp, McAuliffe hosts the team at the Executive Mansion. After the players leave, Snyder and Allen stay for dinner and drinks, talking late into the night, said McAuliffe, well known for his party stamina. Sometimes, for kicks, they’ll ring up Allen’s brother, former governor George Allen, a Republican.
“Oh, we have fun with it,” McAuliffe said. “We’ll call his brother when we’re sitting around, just to goose him a little bit, yeah.” He laughed. “Yeah, we have fun with George and everybody.”
Allen says a Danish architect’s model of a Redskins stadium, with its semitransparent exterior and surrounding moat, remains the team’s vision for a new home. (CBS News/60 Minutes/CBS News/60 Minutes)
Despite the cozy relations, a Virginia stadium deal isn’t a certainty.
The District’s RFK site is much in the running, business and political insiders say, particularly under a pro-business Trump administration that has no qualms about the team’s name. RFK offers the iconic backdrop of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, perfect for national TV broadcasts. For Snyder, Allen and longtime fans, the site rekindles memories of triumphant Super Bowl runs. Plus, it’s easily accessible by Metro.
Virginia offers cheaper land and labor, as a right-to-work state, and the area around Dulles International Airport, a likely site for a venue, is scheduled to be served by Metro well before a stadium would be completed. But the Dulles area might lack appeal for the young, urban fans the Redskins want to attract. Maryland’s logical candidate, the vibrant National Harbor development, has no prospects for Metro service.
D.C. Council member Jack Evans, as circumspect as McAuliffe is bombastic in beating the business-development drum, declines to comment on the chances of the Redskins returning to the RFK site, where the bulk of that and surrounding land is owned by the federal government and controlled by the National Park Service. But he speaks cordially of Allen, calling him “a stand-up guy.”
“I find him very personable, very knowledgeable and somebody I could do business with,” Evans said.
With a full head of slightly graying hair, Allen isn’t as tall as George, his eldest brother. But he has the comportment of a former athlete, resolute about staying within a pound or two of his college playing weight as a punter for the Richmond Spiders.
And he exudes the confidence of someone who, from birth, was welcome everywhere. A bon vivant who never doubted that he belonged, whether keeping score as a child on the Los Angeles Coliseum sideline when his father coached the Rams or visiting the Oval Office as a Langley High teenager, guest of President Richard Nixon, the Redskins’ No. 1 fan during George Allen’s years as coach.
“Mom said, ‘Don’t steal any ashtrays! Don’t take anything!’ ” Allen recalled with a laugh of the family’s White House visit.
Allen, here greeting former Redskins coach Raheem Morris in Atlanta, is gregarious in public, often compensating for the more brusque Snyder. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Among Redskins fans, however, the team’s on-field performance matters far more than Allen’s distinctive pedigree. And on that point — restoring the burgundy-and-gold’s winning tradition — Allen can’t claim success.
Allen’s tenure has been marked by a welcome, more restrained approach to free agency. And his hiring of McCloughan, signed to a four-year contract and promised total control of the roster as general manager, heralded a coherent plan for building a team for sustained success. But the relationship ended early and badly amid reports of infighting, petty jealousy and claims of excessive drinking.
Rather than shoulder responsibility for the failed hire, Allen has let stand the implication that McCloughan torpedoed his own career. The effect of the silence, whatever its motive, placed blame for the failed relationship on McCloughan.
McCloughan has not responded to multiple requests to comment since his dismissal.
To some in the NFL, Allen’s handling of the firing smacked of a pattern associated with his rise in management ranks in Oakland and later in Tampa Bay. More than once, and on matters of less consequence, Allen was suspected of undermining rivals in subtle ways, such as an offhand comment or well-placed tip to the media. Congenial toward all, Allen was regarded by some as deft in shifting accountability when things went wrong — the unseen hand that left no fingerprints.
But among NFL players’ agents and fellow executives, Allen is warmly regarded.
“Bruce is very bright, very well-informed, and his personality is so charming and ingratiating — I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who doesn’t like Bruce Allen,” said Leigh Steinberg, a veteran NFL agent. According to Steinberg, Allen’s “all-star sense of humor” in his days handling player contracts as an Oakland Raiders executive leavened a particularly tough negotiation over terms for defensive tackle Darrell Russell.
“Each offer he emailed he had a different name in the subject line: The ‘Double-Scoop’ offer, the ‘Take-It-Or-You’ll-Die Offer’ or the ‘Two-Minutes-to-Midnight’ offer,” Steinberg recalled, laughing. “Then it would be followed by a droll or funny introduction that had me laughing. Bruce was able to defuse what normally would be a tense moment. His people skills are off the map.”
These days, according to agent Peter Schaffer, Allen’s Redskins contracts include performance incentives he names for the team’s greats. A quarterback’s contract might include “the Billy Kilmer clause;” a running back’s deal, “the Larry Brown incentive.”
Allen, shown here delivering Thanksgiving meals at the Redskins’ annual Harvest Feast food distribution program in 2011, was criticized for his remark that the losing team was ‘winning off the field.’ (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)
Face-to-face negotiations in Allen’s office are typically preceded by a challenge to sink a putt on a miniature putting green that looks flat but breaks right. “He’s the best in the game, but he wants everyone to play,” Schaffer said. “It’s his way of breaking the tension.”
Despite his stature in the Redskins organization and respect around the NFL, Allen has often proved tone-deaf during the controversies that frequently surround the team.
As the Redskins sought to counter mounting public sentiment against the team’s name, regarded by some as a racial slur, Allen in May 2014 called on fans to voice their support for the moniker via a social media campaign using a #RedskinsPride hashtag on Twitter. The initiative instead triggered a new wave of mockery and disparagement.
His stabs at humor amid the Redskins’ on-field struggles often have fallen flat, whether it was the reference to a successful Harvest Fest promotion when asked about Griffin’s benching in 2014 or a season-ending boast that the 4-12 Redskins were “winning off the field” through community service projects.
At the NFL’s annual spring meeting last month, owners, executives, head coaches and spouses of all 32 teams gathered at Arizona’s posh Biltmore Hotel for four days of meetings, golf and evenings on the town. It was the sort of setting, mixing business and pleasure, in which Allen thrives.
One morning, Allen was seated at a cafe table on a walkway out back, overlooking the resort’s meticulously landscaped lawn and lavender-hued Camelback Mountain beyond. Sipping an iced coffee, he launched into the first in a series of media interviews. In each, he offered the same, scripted rationale for firing McCloughan and the same rosy outlook for the upcoming season.
“Aloha!” Allen said, extending a handshake to an NFL general manager who walked by. He’d say “Aloha!” at least a half-dozen times in a 30-minute span, greeting longtime friends and associates while disregarding his cellphone’s jaunty ragtime ring (Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer”) to continue the conversation.
At an NFL meeting five years earlier, Allen erupted in a profanity-laced tirade behind closed doors, lashing out at owners and the league’s legal counsel over a $36 million salary-cap penalty assessed the Redskins for the way they structured contracts in the 2010 season. According to two people present, Allen stalked the room like a lawyer making an impassioned closing argument, as Snyder looked on bemused. Both were ultimately asked to leave the room, and the penalty stood.
Allen with Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones in 2013 during a groundbreaking ceremony in Richmond for the Redskins’ new training camp site in the state capital. (Daniel Sangjib Min/AP)
According to one NFL official, Allen lost a measure of respect that day for what was viewed as epic performance-art designed to show Snyder he could be a pit bull in the Redskins’ defense and to deflect attention from a financial gambit that was too clever by half.
New York Giants owner John Mara, then chairman of the NFL Management Committee that imposed the penalty, insists today that no long-term damage was done.
“We obviously had a sharp disagreement about that and exchanged some words at the time,” Mara said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s ancient history, and we’ve moved on from that.”
Asked about the incident today, Allen said he’s still angry, convinced the Redskins did nothing wrong — nor the Cowboys, for that matter, who were penalized for much the same thing.
“When something is unjust, I get angry,” he said. “Anything that hurts my team, I’m not going to be at peace with!”
At the cocktail reception that kicked off this year’s spring meeting, reporters mingled with the league commissioner, league staff, coaches and billionaire glitterati who own the teams. As dusk settled on the main lawn, liquor flowed freely from multiple open bars. Huge platters of outsize chilled shrimp and crab legs were replenished every few minutes, as were the prime-rib stations, tables of sushi and made-to-order taco bars. Daniel and Tanya Snyder, flanked by Bruce and Kiersten Allen, and Coach Jay Gruden and his wife, Sherry, made a brief appearance before departing for dinner.
In this setting, it was easy to ask how Allen and the Redskins are perceived by their NFL peers.
Within the NFL, the challenge of working for Snyder is well known. If Allen is culpable for actions others frown on, he is viewed through the prism of his job as Snyder’s right-hand man. Succeeding in that role means insulating the mercurial Snyder from criticism, as one person familiar with the team’s workings pointed out. It means delivering unwelcome messages and taking bullets as needed, all the while projecting a likable corporate face.
In this role, Allen is playing to an audience of one. And if he delivers the next Redskins stadium — a billion-dollar building project that would define Snyder’s legacy as an NFL owner and serve as an economic engine to the Washington region — Allen will take a bow to all the applause a man needs.
