NFL must get tough on owners too - starting with Dan Snyder

Fans increasingly fed up as Washington franchise jumps from one controversy to the next

Washington owner Dan Snyder has not brought much success to the NFL franchise. Picture: Will Newton/Getty Images

NFL rookies are expected to show up for training camps early this week with the veterans next week, but after a co-ordinated Twitter blitz there are some serious question marks over which players will return and when they’ll return.

The players union stated that it didn’t plan the series of tweets, but officials knew it was coming after a conference call with senior players last week. The NFL stars are not happy about the perceived ignorance of medical professionals and the inadequate planning involved in the players’ return.

The NFL differed from other US sports during the pandemic
because it always had time to put a robust plan in place before the football returned. But what has emerged over the last week is that the league has failed to put anything consistent enough in place to assuage the players.

It’s not an ideal situation for the NFL, although it has done a great job of moving the news cycle on from the Washington DC franchise yet again generating negative PR.

I’ve devoted plenty column inches to the DC team over the last few months, and I figured I’d leave the chaotic franchise for a while. Then the Washington Post published a shocking article in which 15 former female employees discussed a series of sexual assaults.

What’s more shocking is the allegations include claims against owner Dan Snyder’s supposed inner circle. While no one has named the majority owner directly, the list of names is still a collection of high-level associates.

The names include a former director of pro personnel, a sales director and a chief operating officer, amongst other high-level posts at the centre of a system of abuse that had female members of staff meet for regular consolation sessions in the bathroom.

In the meantime, Snyder has also had to deal with the continued pressure of minority shareholders wanting to sell, having had enough of the owner’s continued mismanagement of the team.

The owner has hired a law firm to investigate the allegations and the NFL has stated that it won’t act until it has had a chance to review the legal team’s findings. Whatever the outcome, this is another mark against the Washington owner who must surely be on a standing ten count with the fans.

The fight he put up against a name change dates back to him taking ownership and last week’s announcement only came about because the infamous moniker was about to affect his profit margins.

As owners go, Snyder hasn’t given the fans much to cheer either. Since 2000, the organisation has only appeared in three post-season games and languishes in the bottom five teams for victories recorded.

Owning an NFL team is a license to print money. The Green Bay Packers, the only publicly-owned team, made a gross profit of £28.5 million in 2018. But that’s all Snyder seems interested in. The team’s record shows he can’t be too bothered about winning.

Not only has his blasé approach to winning been detrimental to the team, but he must be held accountable for the way the organisation is run. Snyder hired the people at the centre of the allegations. They are his responsibility, the same way they would be if he were director of any other big corporation.

Just look at the NBA and the action it took after Donald 
Sterling, the then owner of the Clippers, was caught making 
racist comments: the team was sold within eight weeks.

The NFL has long been the gold standard of player standards, and commissioner Roger Goodell has often been told he is too strict with them – so now is the time to show it’s the same rules for the owners.

Forcing the sale of the team would be a big step, but it would also be the right step and a shot across the bows of every single person in the league.

Washington fans must be sick of losing, sick of being in the news for the wrong reasons and begging for change.

A sale would be a rebirth for the organisation. It would be the fresh start the US capital’s football team need. A chance to set an example, not just for sport but for the whole of America.

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