As the Commanders played on Thursday Night Football against the Bears, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels spoke about the ongoing investigation involving Washington owner Dan Snyder, who was present at the game.
Snyder, who is facing various investigations regarding workplace misconduct allegations, reportedly told another executive he has enough “dirt” on other NFL owners, commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials where he feels things would “blow up” if he released the information, per ESPN.
Michaels spoke about this report, explaining how the NFL owners aren’t expected to vote Snyder out as owner and hope he will just sell the team. Michaels then offered his thoughts on the league’s desires.
“Just my feeling, I think what the league would love, is for [Dan] Snyder to sell the team, not have to go to a vote, but just sell the team,” Michaels said on the broadcast. “He’s just becoming a major problem around the league, obviously. And, we’ll see what happens. I think it’s got a long way to go, and Dan very well-known for digging his heels into the ground.”
Despite the various investigations and pleas for Snyder to sell the team from other NFL big names and fans, the owner reportedly doesn’t plan to sell the Commanders “without a fight that would end with multiple casualties,” per ESPN. Fans chanted, “Sell the team,” during running back Brian Robinson’s postgame interview after the Commanders’ 12–7 Thursday night win against the Bears.
Throughout his 23-year tenure as Washington’s owner, Snyder reportedly gathered information himself and through the use of private investigators, which was detailed in ESPN’s report. The tactics Snyder allegedly used within his own franchise—the ones used to scare employees seeking accountability for workplace misconduct and sexual harassment allegations levied against the owner and his team—have apparently spread to NFL owners and more than 30 league and team executives, as well as owners, lawyers and former and current Washington employees who spoke with ESPN said.
Snyder is currently facing investigations from the league and a congressional committee looking into workplace misconduct within the franchise. The NFL first launched an investigation into the team after a July 2020 report by The Washington Post detailed accounts from 15 former female employees alleging sexual harassment by various staffers over the course of 18 years. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is investigating Snyder, who testified in front of the committee in July ’22.
As a result of the initial investigation, Snyder was fined $10 million, and Tanya Snyder took over the team’s day-to-day operations. It also caused the House Committee to launch its own investigation into the organization and pressed Goodell to release the findings of the Wilkinson investigation. The House Committee’s findings caused the NFL to open a new investigation led by U.S. attorney and former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White.
The House Committee and NFL’s investigations are still ongoing.
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