It's Beyond Time to Sell

In a long overdue move, Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder has begun the process of exploring selling the team.  This doesn't mean he necessarily will, but I don't think you explore the process if it isn't your intention to ultimately sell.  And, frankly, he should sell.  Because he's taken a once-proud franchise and driven it completely into the ground.

Where do I start with how bad an owner Dan Snyder has been?  Maybe I should start with the obvious.  For years, he insisted that he would never change the team's name.  Even as the criticism and pressure continued to mound, he held firm.  His stance was obviously not the right one, but I admired that he was at least willing to stand by it, regardless of public opinion.

Of course, Snyder eventually caved.  But only because he was left with no choice.  Sponsors were pulling out, and retailers were refusing to even offer team merchandise.  There was even a chance that FedEx would refuse to allow their name to be used on the outside of the stadium.  Faced with the tremendous financial hit that would've come with holding firm, he did what he had to do and agreed to change the name.

But the way they went about the rebranding was so rushed and lazy that you can tell it wasn't something that had been planned in advance (unlike the Indians' rebranding as the Guardians).  They didn't start the process until the summer of 2020 and adopted the ridiculously dumb temporary name of "Washington Football Team" while they rebranded.  There was also absolutely no thought put into the uniforms, which it looked like they stole from a high school team.

Finally, after two nameless years, they were born again as the "Commanders" right after the Super Bowl.  And, I must admit, I do think they did a good job with the actual renaming process...they just should've started it before they were forced into the name change, thus avoiding the whole "Washington Football Team" debacle! 

They still found a way to screw it up, though!  The new team seal with the championship years on it initially had the year of the Super Bowl, not the year of the season before fixing it a few weeks later.  I get that it's a simple thing, but how did everyone who was involved in designing and approving that logo not notice it?  And how could they not realize it was a big deal?

Once the name thing was finally settled, the Commanders were back in the headlines over the summer with the controversy over their workplace culture.  The workplace concerns were so severe that there was a Congressional investigation and Snyder was ordered to appear in front of the House Oversight Committee.  The NFL cooperated with the House Committee.  Snyder did not.  Instead, he stonewalled for nearly eight months (which is a pretty clear indication you're trying to hide something).

The NFL ultimately produced a six-page report after its investigation and determined that the Commanders' workplace culture was "unprofessional and unacceptable."  The league found that Washington's office environment featured "bullying, widespread disrespect towards colleagues, use of demeaning language, public embarrassment, and harassment.  Moreover, for a prolonged period of time, the Commanders had a woefully deficient HR function, particularly with respect to reporting practices and recordkeeping."

There are plenty of examples of inappropriate behavior mentioned in the report, the most disturbing of which was the claim by a former Washington cheerleader that Snyder "suggested" she go up to a hotel room with one of his friends at a 2004 team charity event.  If true, that alone would be enough to warrant a league-imposed suspension.  Snyder was suspended from running the team's day-to-day operations (with that responsibility transferring to his wife) and the team was fined $10 million.

As if all that wasn't enough, there's more.  The U.S. attorney's office has opened a criminal investigation into the Commanders' potential financial improprieties.  This investigation is a direct result of the Congressional hearing, which led to some questions about their business practices.

Most of the illegal things the Commanders are accused of doing involve the misreporting or underreporting of ticket revenue.  They allegedly defrauded their own season ticket holders by making it difficult to recoup supposedly refundable deposits, at one point in 2016, keeping as much as $5 million from 2,000 season ticket holders.  Washington also, evidently, withheld the opponents' share of revenue from ticket sales and moved money from NFL games to other events at FedEx Field so that they wouldn't have to share it with the league.

According to testimony, the Commanders had two sets of financial books--one for the league and the actual books.  As owner, Snyder would be privy to the actual numbers.  Thus, he would also be aware of the manipulation.  Beyond being highly unethical and a violation of league rules, that's fraud.  Which is a federal crime!

And I haven't even mentioned their complete lack of success on the field during the Dan Snyder Era yet!  Since he bought the team in 1999, the Redskins/Football Team/Commanders have only made the playoffs six times (and one of those was as a 7-9 division champion when the entire NFC East sucked in 2020).  They haven't been to the NFC Championship Game since winning the Super Bowl in 1991 (or is it 1992?).  In the 22 seasons since Snyder bought the team, they've lost double-digit games 10 times and had only six winning records.  So, it's not like they have a winning culture on the field either.

When you look at all of those things together, something that's been pretty obvious for a while becomes even more clear.  Dan Snyder doesn't belong in the NFL.  He's caused nothing but headaches for the Commanders since he bought the franchise.  And the team, frankly, will be better off without him.  (Assuming he actually does sell, of course!)