Dennis Greene, the Washington Redskins’ onetime president of business operations whose involvement in a 2013 photo shoot during a trip to Costa Rica with team cheerleaders became a public embarrassment, resigned and is no longer with the organization.
Greene had been in charge of selling luxury suites at FedEx Field, where demand for season tickets and high-end premium seats has fallen off as the team has struggled.
To meet his sales targets, Greene promised access to Redskins cheerleaders as an incentive, according to a former Redskins front-office employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Greene, along with another Redskins executive who left the team in 2015, included himself in the “perk,” joining several male sponsors and suite holders for the cheerleaders’ photo shoot.
“They’d send suite owners down there, and that’s how Dennis Greene got people to buy suites,” a former Redskins official told The Washington Post. “He’d say, ‘I’m going to give you a good deal, and you can go on a trip with the cheerleaders.’ ”
According to a New York Times report, the Redskins invited fans to watch the cheerleaders pose topless during that shoot, although those photos were not used in the calendar. The report cited five cheerleaders who said they were forced to attend a nightclub where they served as dates for suite holders and sponsors, all of them male. In response, Redskins President Bruce Allen issued a statement the following day calling the allegations “serious” and vowing “significant repercussions” for any employees found to have acted inappropriately.
The Redskins are expected to launch their campaign for a new stadium in the coming months. To that end, team owner Daniel Snyder has been taking steps to shed ancillary businesses, such as selling off his radio stations, and bolster the team’s business operations. On May 16, the Redskins announced the hiring of NFL executive Brian Lafemina, who was given Greene’s former title of president of business operations and was also named chief operating officer. Greene, in turn, was given the title president of hospitality, reporting to Lafemina.
Said Lafemina, in a statement released the day his hiring was announced: “Working with Dan and Bruce to develop a new dynamic stadium that matches the vibrancy of this organization and its fan base will be an exciting challenge and one of our top priorities.”
The Redskins’ lease at FedEx Field runs through 2027.
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