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It seems like the tenure of longtime Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder is coming to an end. Snyder has been the team’s majority shareholder since 1999, and in that time the team’s results have been less-than-ideal.
In those 23 seasons, the franchise has won just two playoff games and has not advanced to a single NFC Championship game. It’s been embarrassing season after embarrassing season, with terrible contracts to players like Albert Haynesworth, Jeff George, Deion Sanders, and Jeremiah Trotter. And, it has been one controversy after another.
For much of the Daniel Snyder tenure, it was controversy over the former team name, which many saw as racist and offensive. Snyder famously swore to never change the name, but ultimately did, first to the Washington Football Team and then to the Washington Commanders. Lately, it’s been a multitude of things, from alleged financial improprieties to allegations of abusive workplace culture. These incidents sparked a congressional investigation.
But, Snyder has decided to explore selling the franchise, likely to avoid the wrath of law enforcement and fellow owners, who could remove him with a 3/4 vote. There were reports that he was hesitating to sell the team, and that drew the ire of owners, as talk of voting him out of ownership restarted.
But, according to Pro Football Talk, the talk of the owners removing Daniel Snyder has died down, as a sale looks likely again.
As the NFL prepares to meet in Arizona for their annual spring meeting, there will be no effort in the coming days to force Commanders owner Daniel Snyder out.
According to the Washington Post , the league’s owners will pause any consideration of voting to remove Snyder, giving the reality that Snyder is moving toward selling the team.
As PFT has reported, the word being used within the building regarding a potential sale of the team is “imminent.” The owners apparently are willing to let things play out.
It may not be simple, given that Snyder has been trying to get the league and the other teams to provide Snyder with a broad grant of indemnity regarding potential liabilities — possibly including those arising directly from the activities of the Commanders.
“The vote-out will happen if he insists on being indemnified,” a source with direct knowledge of the owners’ views told the Post. “If the deal [to sell the team] is just like Denver, that’s fine. But if he expects special treatment, that leads to trouble. The biggest thing that will lead to a vote is if he says, ‘Indemnify me.’ That’s the issue.”
I don’t think Daniel Snyder is going to get that legal indemnification he talked about. I think all of us just want to be rid of this guy, Commanders fan or not.