KB24
04-02-2008, 08:33 AM
Transcript of conversation with Dan Snyder - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper (http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080402/SPORTS01/383651582/1005/SPORTS)
David Elfin, who covers the Washington Redskins and the NFL for The Washington Times, yesterday conducted the first unapproved interview with Redskins owner Dan Snyder since their last session three years ago. Here's the transcript of their conversation.
Q: It seems that you have had a real change of philosophy in two major areas this year: not spending in free agency and hiring an inexperienced head coach. What brought this on?
A: Let me start with the free agency. We're always going to be active.
The unusual aspect of this season is the fact that we felt that the free agent availabilities out there was thin. I think a lot of people felt that way. Having said that, we felt that when we graded our players, we were more comfortable within than ever. Over the past couple of years, we put together some pretty good depth. Vinny (Cerrato) deserves a lot of credit for that along with Joe (Gibbs). We had a lot of injuries last year. We were third or fourth in the league in games missed. We looked at a few free agents, but we feel very comfortable where we are. Having said that, we're never going to change our philosophy of being aggressive whether it's through trades of draft picks or players. ???
Q: So signing no free agents and having nine draft picks isn't a trend?
A: Not necessarily. It's a point of where we are. We're at a good place from a franchise perspective. We're at a place where the organization has a great deal of stability. The roster is on the younger side of football. Our starting running back is 26. Our quarterback just turned 26. We're by far not the oldest team anymore. We've got good depth coming up.
Q: There were places where you can use depth: outside linebacker, a big receiver, and you didn't do anything. Given your history in free agency, you can understand why people are shocked that you haven't signed anyone and only brought in one free agent for a visit. You haven't even signed a Jason Fabini-type.
A: This year's Jason Fabini was Jason Fabini because we re-signed him.
H.B. Blades is our fourth linebacker, and we thought we'd be better off with adding another linebacker in the draft than in free agency. We made a run at [receiver D.J. Hackett, who signed with Carolina] and tried to do some things. The backups generally come after the draft.
And we're fortunate that we have three compensatory picks in this draft, so we have a pretty solid hand of picks (nine). That's a big number for us.
Q: So what are you going to do with $7 million in salary cap space? You won't spend that all on the rookies.
A: We always use our cap space. We'll use it. We'll see what happens in the availability of trades. Our phones are always open. I think we're going to be active. I always want to get better. We're not complacent. We just feel comfortable in a lot of areas on the field.
Q: There are two ways of looking at your team the last couple of years. You can point to making the playoffs in two of the last three years. Others would say that you were just 10-18 before your 4-0 December last year. It has not been a consistent run of strained excellence and at the same time, half of your starters this year are going to be at least 30, so it seems like you have to strike while the iron's hot rather than building for the future with the draft.
A: You're always trying to win today. That's the NFL. With free agency and injuries, absolutely our goal is to win now. But from the standpoint of looking at the run of success at the end of the years, the New York Giants were on the verge of being 0-3 at FedEx Field. They should have been. They won 11 straight road games, which is amazing, but they struggled at home. There's an angle to everything you look at.
Even the games we lost, we were very competitive. In only one game (at AFC champion New England) did we really get pounded. The '06 year was an off year for Joe Gibbs and us. Joe would probably call it a bad event.
Q: What about the coaching change? It wasn't just that you changed coaches but that you went in a radically different direction from the people you had hired before.
A: I'd like to say yes, but Steve Spurrier had never been an NFL head coach or coordinator. What we were looking for was the best head coach for the Washington Redskins. That could have been someone who had coached before in the NFL. We didn't want get someone straight out of college. We obviously didn't have success doing that (with Spurrier).
We were really impressed with Jim Zorn from the moment we met him. We interviewed him for five hours or so because we knew we were going to need an offensive coordinator. All the chairs were moving quickly on the deck of the boat, and we didn't want to be left without a chair.
Things were shuffling. We were late because we were the only team looking for a coach that had been in the playoffs. We got started in mid-January. We were late. We were under pressure to make sure we had an offensive coordinator. We met Jim. Joe called me that night. I said, "That guy would make a terrific head coach." He was like, "Really? That's interesting. That's neat. I hear he's a good guy." We continued the process and circled back, and I said, "I'm more comfortable with Jim Zorn and interviewing Jim Zorn than some of these other candidates."
Q: So you came to think that maybe he was going to be your head coach after you hired him as offensive coordinator?
A: Yes. We were talking to coordinators and we said, "We really ought to look at Zorn." We kept coming back to that. The last interview we did was with (New York Giants defensive coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo, and afterwards we said, "We've really got to talk to Zorn." That was the first thing we said that night.
Q: When Joe left, which was obviously a shock to you, did you think Gregg Williams was going to be your next coach?
A: We put Gregg immediately on the list. We started with almost 100 candidates, including all the coordinators in the league. And Jim Zorn wasn't one of them. The night Joe retired, we put all their pictures on a wall along with their bios and started going through it. We narrowed it down to nine or 10 and said we were going to interview these guys. I did what I said at Joe's press conference I would do " be very thorough, very professional. One of those coaches was Steve Spagnuolo. We didn't know the Giants were going to make the Super Bowl. If that hadn't happened, the search wouldn't have been so long. The shame would be you don't do it and you wonder. I'm thrilled that we waited. It rests my mind at ease because I got a chance to interview everybody on the list.
Q: But what about Gregg?
A: I wanted to interview him. I wanted to see what he had learned from Joe Gibbs. That was the most important thing. Joe and I are very, very close. I just talked to him two or three days ago.
Q: I take it that Gregg's answers weren't sufficient?
A: I wouldn't say that. At the end of the day, he wasn't right for us.
Q: Did you feel that you really didn't know Gregg after he had run your defense for four years?
A: As an owner, you intimately know your head coach because that's the guy you spend so much time with. You know everyone else in the building, but I can tell you what Joe Gibbs eat at every meal, that his favorite movie is "Young Frankenstein." I can tell you everything about his wife, the grandchildren. Pat still texts my wife every couple of days.
Q: Did you know Marty (Schottenheimer) and Steve (Spurrier) that well, too, or was it just Joe that you had that special relationship with?
A: Absolutely, I got to know Marty and Steve. I like Steve very much. I like Marty. We've become friends after he left and his son got sick and I helped out.
Q: Are you disappointed that you had to get rid of a guy who had done so much for your defense?
A: Absolutely. It would've been easy to say, "Gregg, you're the head coach of the Redskins." But I promised everyone that I would do a thorough, professional job and hopefully make the right choice for the Redskins.
Q: Is that something that you've had to talk to the players about because they were so vocal about wanting Gregg to get the job?
A: Not at all, because the response has been overwhelming from the players to Greg Blache. They love him. We knew that. Of all the coaches, he might be top of the list with the players. Bringing in a defensive coordinator from the outside would've been a foolish move when you have a superstar. This guy's a stud. Look at his record in Chicago. He's solid.
Q: Was the public outcry over the possible hiring of Jim Fassel as your coach a factor in your decision not to hire him?
A: We tried not to pay too much attention to the outside. They wanted a quick decision, make a phone call and hire a guy. If the editor-in-chief leaves, how long does it take to replace him? Do they do that in 31 days? We worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week. I couldn't have been any more thorough. I spent 18 hours with each, including Jim Zorn.
What I really like about Jim is that he's similar to Joe in that he's a steady guy. One of the things I learned from Joe is that he's a steady man through the good times of winning and the bad times of losing. Jim Zorn feels very similar to me. There's no panic. He's just steady.
Q: Speaking of steadiness, where do you think Jason Campbell is at this point? Is he where you expected him to be?
A: Jason has performed good. We need to him to perform great. He's young, professional, intelligent, eager to learn. He's got all the attributes of leadership. He's the type of guy that you're thrilled to have. He's got plenty of upside. We feel good with Jason as our quarterback. There are a lot of teams that would like to have Jason Campbell.
Q: Has he grown as a person?
A: Absolutely. Even when he got injured, he learned from watching Todd Collins. He's a smart guy. I told Jason that he was going to love Jim Zorn, that he was going to have a coach with a quarterback background.
Q: Speaking of people learning things, can you believe this is going to be your 10th season as the owner of the Redskins?
A: A team was joking around with me saying that they hadn't won a playoff game since before I bought the Redskins. You can figure out who it is. They've been to the playoffs (the Cowboys).
We've made a lot of progress the last four years, and we're making a lot of progress now. I feel very, very comfortable with where we are and where we're going. There are a bunch of things I wish I would have done differently. I've made plenty of mistakes, but I've learned from my mistakes as a good entrepreneur, a good CEO would do. I've matured.
Q: Can you give me some examples of those mistakes?
A: I wasn't patient enough in certain areas early on. I didn't understand the game the way I do now. I didn't understand the agents, the contractual relationship with the salary cap, the importance of the age of players. Now it's easy for me, second-nature for me.
Q: Is the 2000 season the one you really look back on and wish you were the owner then that you are now?
A: Sure that was one of the years. We were a good team. As an owner, you want a coach that you hire. Inheriting a team is one thing. Inheriting a lot of problems is another. We had a lot of issues.
Q: The maturation you're talking about, is that just natural, or was it the result of your father's death or your bout with thyroid cancer or all of those things?
A: I was young. I was 34 when I bought the team. Now I'm approaching my mid-40s. There's something about just growing up.
Q: This is also not the same business as the ones in which you had made your money. The NFL is the biggest socialistic enterprise in this country. The other teams are truly your partners. In your other businesses, you're trying to put your competitors out of business.
A: Yes. It took me time to realize that. My drive to succeed, my energy, my passion hasn't changed. My experience, my professionalism and patience is starting to pay off for us. I was thrown in very quickly, and I did the best I could. I made a lot of mistakes and I learned a ton. Now, hopefully, I'm becoming a much better owner than I was when I was 34 years old.
Q: Are you starting to become part of the core of league?
A: Yes, I'm on almost every committee. Tomorrow morning I have a 7 a.m. Hall of Fame board meeting. I'm on the Hall of Fame committee, the broadcast committee, the digital committee, the business ventures committee.
Q: When Jerry Jones came in the league, he did a lot of things in marketing that ticked a lot of people off. You came in a decade later and people saw you as like souls. Do you think the league has come towards your philosophy?
A: Yes. They've asked me to be very involved in decisions from a business perspective and help lead the way in certain new areas. I've been very, very active. I've enjoyed it, and I think they've enjoyed me.
Q: What's your feeling on the CBA? Some of your fellow owners are very unhappy with it and we could see an opt-out in November.
A: I'm going to leave that to (commissioner) Roger (Goodell). I trust him. I feel very comfortable with whatever decisions he'll make. He's our leader.
Q: There are rumors that Coach Zorn will only have one minicamp because you don't want to pay to house the rookies a second weekend. Is that true?
A: That's silly. We're spending as we always have. We're in the midst of developing an indoor (practice) facility at Redskin Park. It will cost a lot of money. It will be in front of the building. It will be ready for next season. We're the same Redskins. Nothing we're doing or not doing has anything to do financially.
Q: The NFC East has been a great division for years. Does the Giants winning the Super Bowl give you inspiration?
A: It's the best division. We think we should've been that team. Joe and I thought if we get through Seattle, we were very much looking forward to going to Dallas, and then we were looking forward to the rematch in Green Bay. We owed them something. We were very, very comfortable with where we were. We just couldn't get out of Seattle. If that recovery by Anthony Mix had been a touchdown with the rule the way we'd like it to be, that game's probably over. I haven't brought it up this week because it looks like I'm a sore loser.
Q: How are you doing with your fans?
A: All of our (suites and club seats) renewed last year. Our waiting list is over 200,000. You can sign up on the Web site. (Smiles.)
Q: Mayor Fenty and Mayor Williams before him have wanted the Redskins to move back to the District. Do you ever see that happening?
A: We really haven't thought about that much. We're real pleased with FedEx Field. And the fans like it. We've done a lot of surveys. We've done so many improvements. We've worked really hard on the experience. I talk to the other owners and they tell me, "Your stadium is awesome." You heard that so much you realize that it really is.
Q: How are your non-football businesses doing?
A: Good. The only one that's a laggard is Six Flags because it's a longer turnaround because it was so messed up when we got there (in 2006), and we didn't know how bad it was. The CEO, Mark Shapiro, is terrific. I don't own it. We did a proxy fight and put a CEO in it. I'm the largest shareholder.
Q: How's the Hollywood venture?
A: Good. We've got a movie coming out this fall. It's called "Valkyrie." It's a historic thriller with Tom Cruise. I'm one of the executive producers along with Dwight Schar and Mark Shapiro. It's Tom's movie. We hear it's going to be a big one.
Q: How's Johnny Rockets?
A: It's strong. I think we'll have 300 locations by the end of the year up from 200 when we bought it.
David Elfin, who covers the Washington Redskins and the NFL for The Washington Times, yesterday conducted the first unapproved interview with Redskins owner Dan Snyder since their last session three years ago. Here's the transcript of their conversation.
Q: It seems that you have had a real change of philosophy in two major areas this year: not spending in free agency and hiring an inexperienced head coach. What brought this on?
A: Let me start with the free agency. We're always going to be active.
The unusual aspect of this season is the fact that we felt that the free agent availabilities out there was thin. I think a lot of people felt that way. Having said that, we felt that when we graded our players, we were more comfortable within than ever. Over the past couple of years, we put together some pretty good depth. Vinny (Cerrato) deserves a lot of credit for that along with Joe (Gibbs). We had a lot of injuries last year. We were third or fourth in the league in games missed. We looked at a few free agents, but we feel very comfortable where we are. Having said that, we're never going to change our philosophy of being aggressive whether it's through trades of draft picks or players. ???
Q: So signing no free agents and having nine draft picks isn't a trend?
A: Not necessarily. It's a point of where we are. We're at a good place from a franchise perspective. We're at a place where the organization has a great deal of stability. The roster is on the younger side of football. Our starting running back is 26. Our quarterback just turned 26. We're by far not the oldest team anymore. We've got good depth coming up.
Q: There were places where you can use depth: outside linebacker, a big receiver, and you didn't do anything. Given your history in free agency, you can understand why people are shocked that you haven't signed anyone and only brought in one free agent for a visit. You haven't even signed a Jason Fabini-type.
A: This year's Jason Fabini was Jason Fabini because we re-signed him.
H.B. Blades is our fourth linebacker, and we thought we'd be better off with adding another linebacker in the draft than in free agency. We made a run at [receiver D.J. Hackett, who signed with Carolina] and tried to do some things. The backups generally come after the draft.
And we're fortunate that we have three compensatory picks in this draft, so we have a pretty solid hand of picks (nine). That's a big number for us.
Q: So what are you going to do with $7 million in salary cap space? You won't spend that all on the rookies.
A: We always use our cap space. We'll use it. We'll see what happens in the availability of trades. Our phones are always open. I think we're going to be active. I always want to get better. We're not complacent. We just feel comfortable in a lot of areas on the field.
Q: There are two ways of looking at your team the last couple of years. You can point to making the playoffs in two of the last three years. Others would say that you were just 10-18 before your 4-0 December last year. It has not been a consistent run of strained excellence and at the same time, half of your starters this year are going to be at least 30, so it seems like you have to strike while the iron's hot rather than building for the future with the draft.
A: You're always trying to win today. That's the NFL. With free agency and injuries, absolutely our goal is to win now. But from the standpoint of looking at the run of success at the end of the years, the New York Giants were on the verge of being 0-3 at FedEx Field. They should have been. They won 11 straight road games, which is amazing, but they struggled at home. There's an angle to everything you look at.
Even the games we lost, we were very competitive. In only one game (at AFC champion New England) did we really get pounded. The '06 year was an off year for Joe Gibbs and us. Joe would probably call it a bad event.
Q: What about the coaching change? It wasn't just that you changed coaches but that you went in a radically different direction from the people you had hired before.
A: I'd like to say yes, but Steve Spurrier had never been an NFL head coach or coordinator. What we were looking for was the best head coach for the Washington Redskins. That could have been someone who had coached before in the NFL. We didn't want get someone straight out of college. We obviously didn't have success doing that (with Spurrier).
We were really impressed with Jim Zorn from the moment we met him. We interviewed him for five hours or so because we knew we were going to need an offensive coordinator. All the chairs were moving quickly on the deck of the boat, and we didn't want to be left without a chair.
Things were shuffling. We were late because we were the only team looking for a coach that had been in the playoffs. We got started in mid-January. We were late. We were under pressure to make sure we had an offensive coordinator. We met Jim. Joe called me that night. I said, "That guy would make a terrific head coach." He was like, "Really? That's interesting. That's neat. I hear he's a good guy." We continued the process and circled back, and I said, "I'm more comfortable with Jim Zorn and interviewing Jim Zorn than some of these other candidates."
Q: So you came to think that maybe he was going to be your head coach after you hired him as offensive coordinator?
A: Yes. We were talking to coordinators and we said, "We really ought to look at Zorn." We kept coming back to that. The last interview we did was with (New York Giants defensive coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo, and afterwards we said, "We've really got to talk to Zorn." That was the first thing we said that night.
Q: When Joe left, which was obviously a shock to you, did you think Gregg Williams was going to be your next coach?
A: We put Gregg immediately on the list. We started with almost 100 candidates, including all the coordinators in the league. And Jim Zorn wasn't one of them. The night Joe retired, we put all their pictures on a wall along with their bios and started going through it. We narrowed it down to nine or 10 and said we were going to interview these guys. I did what I said at Joe's press conference I would do " be very thorough, very professional. One of those coaches was Steve Spagnuolo. We didn't know the Giants were going to make the Super Bowl. If that hadn't happened, the search wouldn't have been so long. The shame would be you don't do it and you wonder. I'm thrilled that we waited. It rests my mind at ease because I got a chance to interview everybody on the list.
Q: But what about Gregg?
A: I wanted to interview him. I wanted to see what he had learned from Joe Gibbs. That was the most important thing. Joe and I are very, very close. I just talked to him two or three days ago.
Q: I take it that Gregg's answers weren't sufficient?
A: I wouldn't say that. At the end of the day, he wasn't right for us.
Q: Did you feel that you really didn't know Gregg after he had run your defense for four years?
A: As an owner, you intimately know your head coach because that's the guy you spend so much time with. You know everyone else in the building, but I can tell you what Joe Gibbs eat at every meal, that his favorite movie is "Young Frankenstein." I can tell you everything about his wife, the grandchildren. Pat still texts my wife every couple of days.
Q: Did you know Marty (Schottenheimer) and Steve (Spurrier) that well, too, or was it just Joe that you had that special relationship with?
A: Absolutely, I got to know Marty and Steve. I like Steve very much. I like Marty. We've become friends after he left and his son got sick and I helped out.
Q: Are you disappointed that you had to get rid of a guy who had done so much for your defense?
A: Absolutely. It would've been easy to say, "Gregg, you're the head coach of the Redskins." But I promised everyone that I would do a thorough, professional job and hopefully make the right choice for the Redskins.
Q: Is that something that you've had to talk to the players about because they were so vocal about wanting Gregg to get the job?
A: Not at all, because the response has been overwhelming from the players to Greg Blache. They love him. We knew that. Of all the coaches, he might be top of the list with the players. Bringing in a defensive coordinator from the outside would've been a foolish move when you have a superstar. This guy's a stud. Look at his record in Chicago. He's solid.
Q: Was the public outcry over the possible hiring of Jim Fassel as your coach a factor in your decision not to hire him?
A: We tried not to pay too much attention to the outside. They wanted a quick decision, make a phone call and hire a guy. If the editor-in-chief leaves, how long does it take to replace him? Do they do that in 31 days? We worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week. I couldn't have been any more thorough. I spent 18 hours with each, including Jim Zorn.
What I really like about Jim is that he's similar to Joe in that he's a steady guy. One of the things I learned from Joe is that he's a steady man through the good times of winning and the bad times of losing. Jim Zorn feels very similar to me. There's no panic. He's just steady.
Q: Speaking of steadiness, where do you think Jason Campbell is at this point? Is he where you expected him to be?
A: Jason has performed good. We need to him to perform great. He's young, professional, intelligent, eager to learn. He's got all the attributes of leadership. He's the type of guy that you're thrilled to have. He's got plenty of upside. We feel good with Jason as our quarterback. There are a lot of teams that would like to have Jason Campbell.
Q: Has he grown as a person?
A: Absolutely. Even when he got injured, he learned from watching Todd Collins. He's a smart guy. I told Jason that he was going to love Jim Zorn, that he was going to have a coach with a quarterback background.
Q: Speaking of people learning things, can you believe this is going to be your 10th season as the owner of the Redskins?
A: A team was joking around with me saying that they hadn't won a playoff game since before I bought the Redskins. You can figure out who it is. They've been to the playoffs (the Cowboys).
We've made a lot of progress the last four years, and we're making a lot of progress now. I feel very, very comfortable with where we are and where we're going. There are a bunch of things I wish I would have done differently. I've made plenty of mistakes, but I've learned from my mistakes as a good entrepreneur, a good CEO would do. I've matured.
Q: Can you give me some examples of those mistakes?
A: I wasn't patient enough in certain areas early on. I didn't understand the game the way I do now. I didn't understand the agents, the contractual relationship with the salary cap, the importance of the age of players. Now it's easy for me, second-nature for me.
Q: Is the 2000 season the one you really look back on and wish you were the owner then that you are now?
A: Sure that was one of the years. We were a good team. As an owner, you want a coach that you hire. Inheriting a team is one thing. Inheriting a lot of problems is another. We had a lot of issues.
Q: The maturation you're talking about, is that just natural, or was it the result of your father's death or your bout with thyroid cancer or all of those things?
A: I was young. I was 34 when I bought the team. Now I'm approaching my mid-40s. There's something about just growing up.
Q: This is also not the same business as the ones in which you had made your money. The NFL is the biggest socialistic enterprise in this country. The other teams are truly your partners. In your other businesses, you're trying to put your competitors out of business.
A: Yes. It took me time to realize that. My drive to succeed, my energy, my passion hasn't changed. My experience, my professionalism and patience is starting to pay off for us. I was thrown in very quickly, and I did the best I could. I made a lot of mistakes and I learned a ton. Now, hopefully, I'm becoming a much better owner than I was when I was 34 years old.
Q: Are you starting to become part of the core of league?
A: Yes, I'm on almost every committee. Tomorrow morning I have a 7 a.m. Hall of Fame board meeting. I'm on the Hall of Fame committee, the broadcast committee, the digital committee, the business ventures committee.
Q: When Jerry Jones came in the league, he did a lot of things in marketing that ticked a lot of people off. You came in a decade later and people saw you as like souls. Do you think the league has come towards your philosophy?
A: Yes. They've asked me to be very involved in decisions from a business perspective and help lead the way in certain new areas. I've been very, very active. I've enjoyed it, and I think they've enjoyed me.
Q: What's your feeling on the CBA? Some of your fellow owners are very unhappy with it and we could see an opt-out in November.
A: I'm going to leave that to (commissioner) Roger (Goodell). I trust him. I feel very comfortable with whatever decisions he'll make. He's our leader.
Q: There are rumors that Coach Zorn will only have one minicamp because you don't want to pay to house the rookies a second weekend. Is that true?
A: That's silly. We're spending as we always have. We're in the midst of developing an indoor (practice) facility at Redskin Park. It will cost a lot of money. It will be in front of the building. It will be ready for next season. We're the same Redskins. Nothing we're doing or not doing has anything to do financially.
Q: The NFC East has been a great division for years. Does the Giants winning the Super Bowl give you inspiration?
A: It's the best division. We think we should've been that team. Joe and I thought if we get through Seattle, we were very much looking forward to going to Dallas, and then we were looking forward to the rematch in Green Bay. We owed them something. We were very, very comfortable with where we were. We just couldn't get out of Seattle. If that recovery by Anthony Mix had been a touchdown with the rule the way we'd like it to be, that game's probably over. I haven't brought it up this week because it looks like I'm a sore loser.
Q: How are you doing with your fans?
A: All of our (suites and club seats) renewed last year. Our waiting list is over 200,000. You can sign up on the Web site. (Smiles.)
Q: Mayor Fenty and Mayor Williams before him have wanted the Redskins to move back to the District. Do you ever see that happening?
A: We really haven't thought about that much. We're real pleased with FedEx Field. And the fans like it. We've done a lot of surveys. We've done so many improvements. We've worked really hard on the experience. I talk to the other owners and they tell me, "Your stadium is awesome." You heard that so much you realize that it really is.
Q: How are your non-football businesses doing?
A: Good. The only one that's a laggard is Six Flags because it's a longer turnaround because it was so messed up when we got there (in 2006), and we didn't know how bad it was. The CEO, Mark Shapiro, is terrific. I don't own it. We did a proxy fight and put a CEO in it. I'm the largest shareholder.
Q: How's the Hollywood venture?
A: Good. We've got a movie coming out this fall. It's called "Valkyrie." It's a historic thriller with Tom Cruise. I'm one of the executive producers along with Dwight Schar and Mark Shapiro. It's Tom's movie. We hear it's going to be a big one.
Q: How's Johnny Rockets?
A: It's strong. I think we'll have 300 locations by the end of the year up from 200 when we bought it.