It’s been a really bad year for Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington NFL franchise.
And it could get much worse.
First, Snyder came under intense pressure from Nike, FedEx, and other corporate sponsors to finally change the team’s racist name and offensive logo after 87 years. He was later roundly criticized for announcing the name change in a press release that used the word “redskins” no less than seven times.
Now comes a powerful Washington Post article that quotes 15 female and former employees who say they were sexually harassed by team officials. Three accused employees in the room, including professional personnel director Alex Santos and radio voice Larry Michael, abruptly left the team this week.
Although Snyder was not directly accused of harassment, he is in the room as an accomplice in creating a toxic culture and allowing a pattern of abuse within the organization that lasted for years.
Snyder issued an apology and announced that an outside law firm would investigate the claims. The NFL released a statement calling the allegations “disturbing.”
But all this raises the question of whether or not Snyder should be forced to sell the franchise after more than two decades.
Certainly, in Washington, the sentiment seems to be in favor.
A local television station, WUSA, conducted a Twitter poll that showed that 85 percent of people responded in favor. Numerous national and local columnists have asked Snyder to sell the team. A national women’s advocacy group called UltraViolet released a statement on Friday saying: “If the NFL is serious about cleaning up its act, it will force Snyder to sell the team.”
Two years ago, Jerry Richardson was forced to sell to the Panthers after a Sports Illustrated article described Richardson’s alleged sexual harassment of team employees.
This is different because Snyder is not being directly charged with the harassment, he is only tacitly allowing it.
But honestly, it’s almost as bad. There is no way that the owner of a soccer franchise, an owner who is directly involved in the day-to-day operation of a team, did not know exactly what was going on.
A few years ago, Snyder would have gotten away with it. I’m not sure if it does now, as public and corporate sentiment is very anti-Snyder.
We are living in a different time, a time with a renewed focus on racism, social justice, human rights.
And when enough people, and billions of dollars companies, refuse to associate with entities that seem racist or abusive, that’s when the change happens.
Snyder is already in trouble with big-money sponsors due to his firm refusal to change the team’s name and the challenging way he finally did.
How does all this affect the Eagles? From a purely footballing point of view, the Redskins have been no match for most of Snyder’s tenure.
Snyder, 55, bought the Washington football team and FedEx Field for $ 800 million in May 1999 from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, who died in 1997. At the time, it was the highest price ever paid for a professional sports team. The team is now worth $ 3.4 billion, according to Forbes.
Also according to Forbes, Snyder is worth $ 2.6 billion.
In the 21 years that Snyder has owned the team, he has a record of 142-193-1 for a winning percentage of .424, ranking 28th out of 32 NFL teams during that span, ahead of only the Jaguars, Raiders, Lions and Browns.
The franchise has won just two playoff games during its ownership, and only the Bengals, Lions, Bills, and Browns have won the least (none) since 1999.
The team’s last postseason victory was in 2005 with Mark Brunell as the quarterback and he has not won more than 10 games since 1991.
Washington has gone through eight head coaches under Snyder, and its last consecutive winning seasons were in 1990 and 1991.
The Eagles have finished ahead of Washington in the NFC East 15 of the 21 years since Snyder bought the team.
What happens next?
The NFL commissioner has the power to compel an owner to sell a team for “conduct detrimental to the welfare of the league,” if his recommendation is approved by at least 24 of the 32 owners.
It is hard to imagine what will happen here.
Not yet.
But if there isn’t a substantial change in the Ashburn, Virginia, offices and the rest of the NFL agrees that Snyder is a disgrace the league doesn’t need, it may not be far behind.
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