Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is such an adept pitchman that last year he goaded fans into spending $300 million to cheer on his team–more than doubling the squad’s total ticket and concession sales of 1999. Not bad for a National Football League squad that finished the season with a 5-11 record, earning third place in a four-team division.
Now Snyder thinks he can apply his sales alchemy to an entirely new business: amusement parks. The 39-year-old Snyder has been acquiring stock in Six Flags Inc. since mid-August and now controls just under 9 percent of the company’s shares.
In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Snyder said he hoped to “influence management” to better maximize the company’s value. The filing also indicated that Snyder may seek a seat on the company’s board and try to take a controlling stake of what is the world’s second-largest theme-park operator. Last year, Six Flags’ 31 locations had 35 million visitors.
Snyder’s surprise move comes as Six Flags hits a vulnerable patch. In July, the Oklahoma City company, valued at about $415 million, reported a 3.3 percent drop in attendance compared to a year ago, and warned Wall Street it would miss its full-year sales projections. Its shares are skimming near an all-time low.
The theme-park industry generally has been in a rut for more than three years. The business already was suffering the effects of a broad economic slowdown in 2001 when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused a big downturn in travel. Big theme park operators such as Walt Disney Co. and Universal Studios, now owned by General Electric Co., have recovered some since then, but they have at times resorted to more aggressive discounting and promotions to lure people back.
So what does Snyder know about roller coasters and wild-safari exhibits? Snyder, who has no previous history as a hostile dealmaker or shareholder activist, declined to comment. But people close to him laid out the rationale for his move Monday.
These people describe the theme-park business as fundamentally related to professional sports. Both rely on entertaining and pitching products to masses of people at outdoor venues. Snyder can help turn the Six Flags business around, they contend, by entirely revamping its marketing.
More Top Picks Best Gifts For Woodworkers
A spokesman for Six Flags declined to comment Monday. If the company’s executives are like most management teams, they aren’t likely to condone the idea of an outsider telling them what to do.
The company’s board is also equipped to block a takeover attempt should Snyder try one. Six Flags management has said it has already begun to boost marketing and promotion, according to recent public statements.
People close to Snyder lay out a more sponsor-driven approach. They describe a scenario in which the parks serve as a backdrop for prominent logos, videos and product displays. These people say that Snyder also envisions putting Six Flags coupons on everything from boxes of big-name video games to candy-bar wrappers.
Another possibility: striking a deal with the Super Bowl’s most valuable player to announce “I’m going to Six Flags” at game’s end, borrowing an advertising gimmick first created by Disney World.
———-
Edited by Lara Weber ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])