In 1999, Daniel Snyder became the owner of the Washington Redskins, and he was hailed as a life-long fan who would inject a sense of excitement and victory-at-all-costs mentality, similar to that brought by Mark Cuban to the Dallas Mavericks.

On the balance sheets, Snyder has been an immense success. The team is beloved in D.C., the stadium is always filled, jerseys fly off the shelves, annual profit has increased nearly $100 million, and as of 2007, Washington was the second-highest grossing team in the National Football League behind only the Dallas Cowboys.

Yet despite that – after meddling in player personnel affairs, jerking around coaches, charging fans to attend training camp (no other NFL team does this), and no Super Bowls under Snyder – most Redskins die-hards would tell you that his ownership reign has been an abject failure.

Just this week, we were reminded why.

On Sept. 3, James V. Grimaldi of The Washington Post treated us to the tale of a 72-year-old D.C-area grandmother who bleeds the Redskins’ burgundy-and-gold. The team is suing her because she can no longer afford her $5,300-a-year contract for two season tickets.

The fan, Pat Hill, has had season tickets since the early 1960s and couldn’t afford a lawyer to fight the $66,364 judgment which was ultimately handed down by a Circuit Court judge.  And Hill’s not alone. She’s one of 125 season ticket holders who have asked to be released from multiyear contracts and were sued by the Redskins in the past five years.

The team offered up General Counsel David Donovan, who relatively seemed to say the right things, like the lawsuits are a last resort, yadda, yadda, yadda. But the damage was done.  The PR mess had ensued.

And even the team’s back pedaling two days later – notifying the fan that the team plans to ask the court to vacate the judgment (due to the pressure brought on by The Post’s story) – won’t mend the freshly minted Snyder-borne rift that the exposed gaffe has caused.

This, however, is the ultimate failing. Anyone who tells you they are not in business to make money is either lying to you or lying to themselves. Gordon Gecko of “Wall Street” reminded us that “greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” And while that might be taking it a bit too far – turning a buck is why businesses are in business.  Get over it flower children.

But along the way you have to carefully manage and nurture your brand. You must build a culture and relationship between the brand and its consumers.

That’s why two year’s ago when Target stiff-armed mom-bloggers, the collective PR world said, “Huh?” Moms, after all, are Target’s bread and butter (They’ve since started Momversation – a pretty decent recovery).

But in the Redskins case, due to a multi-year season ticket waiting list the team has the ability (and already had in many cases) to re-sell the tickets on which Hill and her peers essentially defaulted.

So the greed is fulfilled, no harm no foul, and it begs the question:  Why sue this woman who’s daughter once danced in your team’s halftime shows, knits team hook rugs, hangs pennants from two Redskins Super Bowl games she attended, and displays a music box on her dresser that plays “Hail to the Redskins?”

Other than damaging the team’s reputation, it’s hard to fathom a rationale.

Unfortunately, despite being a former communications executive, Snyder has forgotten this lesson.  Maybe he forgot that greed only gets you so far.

###