When Daniel Snyder, at 34, became the youngest person to buy an N.F.L. franchise in 1999, he ushered in a wave of optimism and promise for the Washington franchise, a bedrock of the league.
Coming off a 6-10 season, the team still raked in revenue from an ardent fan base that flocked in droves to the suburban Maryland stadium named for its late owner, Jack Kent Cooke. The franchise’s biggest worry back then was how to finance parking that would accommodate them all, a concern that didn’t seem to trouble Snyder, a lifelong fan who called buying the team “the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me.