Reactions To Dan Snyder Full Ownership

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April 1, 2021

by David Earl

Skepticism Over Snyder Full Ownership

When the reported sexual harassment scandals broke out last year simultaneously with the relentless and unprecedented push for Redskins name to be retired, Dan faced heavy scrutiny from the media.  The fans doubled down on him to finally sell the team. The push wasn’t quite at the unified level as the #FireBruceAllen movement but you saw the frustration and fatigue over his ownership come to a head. During the course of last offseason and after every damning report against Dan since, fans took to social media with pitch forks and torches begging for the league to force him to sell. Once last week’s news broke of the resolution of Snyder’s battle with his minority owners, the initial wave of comments were as expected:

 

The media response wasn’t favorable – the idea of the NFL allowing a $450M debt limit exemption for Dan was poor optics. Combining last year’s scandals with the unverified reports from 106.7 The Fan (The Junkies) in which the Beth Wilkinson report supposedly recommended Dan Snyder’s removal, this debt limit waiver appeared to be a way of burying the sexual harassment problem entirely. Essentially, the league’s action is a great example of how to assist an owner who has been a stain on the NFL in acquiring more power and enabling his behavior, when logic and reason seems to dictate otherwise. Plus, as Thomas Lovero mentioned, it also begs the question what are the owners afraid of happening if they force Dan out. Regardless of your opinions of Thom you can’t help but wonder just how true that could be too.

 

An Overarching Theme

The idea of the league allowing Dan Snyder to gain more control over the team by buying out his minority owners certainly did not sit well with anyone. Regardless of where you stand, the scandals around this organization under Dan’s ownership should have resulted in far more push back from the NFL. Maybe there is something to the idea that league owners fear backlash from Dan Snyder after forcing him out would result in revelations of problems ongoing among other owners that aren’t publicly known. Regardless of the Rhiannon Walker story with The Athletic regarding the abuse of the cheerleaders, the NFL appears to be essentially enabling his behavior while hoping his full ownership will sweep this under the rug. Some media members have expressed that opinion, but the views of the fans were even more negative as hopes of the league forcing him out appear mute today:

My Final Thoughts

Football decisions aside, the environment produced by Dan Snyder over the better part of 3 decades has truly culminated into a volatile and abusive condition at Washington Football Team facilities. Regardless of whether Dan personally orchestrated any of these scandals or claims ignorance through plausible deniability, it was allowed under his leadership. Of the many things I’ve learned through my 22 years in the military, team attitudes reflects leadership. In my eyes his arrogance and self-righteous mentality as majority owner only laid out this path of progressively horrible behaviors. This is not a condemnation of Dan as a horrible human being; sometimes, power comes with a certain level of blind ignorance and complacency over the years that produces odious executives such as Bruce Allen. While a column could be written on just how toxic a person like Bruce Allen really was when given unchecked authority, we cannot allow excuses for this current owner either. At the very least Dan Snyder has been so far over his head in owning a NFL franchise that he has been an absolute PR disaster for the league and the city of Washington. So when fans and media alike show great displeasure over the league’s actions, it’s hard for the “Dan Snyder Truthers” to defend him and his actions. I understand his involvement was never proven but whether you agree or not he is solely responsible as majority owner.

With all that said I do also believe Dan has a genuine side which has been recognized by Ron Rivera and Jason Wright.  I truly believe neither would abandon their own ideals to lie about Snyder’s character. Sometimes absolute power corrupts one’s mind and ideals, especially when one is surrounded with high level executives who encourage such behavior. Part of the reasoning for trusting Ron and Jason’s assessments of Dan is what he allowed to happen once he hired Ron Rivera. Last offseason wasn’t just a simple regime change – it was a complete cleansing of the organization led by Ron Rivera, which saw all of Dan’s trusted personnel (also those associated with Bruce Allen) removed. There no longer exists a whisper in Dan’s ear to undermind Ron’s decisions, and is only true influencers now are Ron and Jason. Is that enough to forgive and move on? That speaks to the efforts Dan is making to flip the culture of this organization. Whether his recent strides are too little, too late, and in 3 years the old Dan returns remains to be seen. He absolutely needs to be on a short leash with the NFL and the fans, although that could ultimately mean very little to Dan down the road. Now is the time to truly commit to change and a scenario where this once heel of an owner could turn baby face of the league and his fans could happen (wishful thinking I know).