As the investigations into Commanders owner Dan Snyder persist, some of his peers may be testing the waters about removing him from his post. Colts owner Jim Irsay floated that possibility at the owners’ meetings Tuesday.
Irsay said there is merit to removing Snyder as the Washington owner and added “there potentially could be” 24 votes from ownership ranks to oust the embattled leader, via the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala (Twitter links). No NFL owner has ever been removed from his post via vote.
Irsay added no vote is likely to take place at this week’s meetings but added that such a historic measure could occur once Mary Jo White’s written report from this latest NFL investigation — one centered around Washington’s alleged workplace misconduct and financial improprieties — emerges.
“I believe there is merit to removing him as owner of the [Commanders],” Irsay said. “There’s consideration that he should be removed. … I just think that once owners talk among each other, they’ll arrive to the right decision. My belief is that — unfortunately — that’s the road we probably need to go down. And we just need to finish the investigation. But it’s gravely concerning to me the things that have occurred there over the last 20 years.”
Irsay saying a Snyder removal is in play certainly suggests he is not alone in voicing support to boot the Commanders leader from his 23-year post — a tenure that has both reduced Washington’s competitive standing and brought numerous scandals. Snyder, as he has done for years, is not considering selling the team. A Commanders statement, via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo (on Twitter), following Irsay’s comments indicated as such.
Snyder is being investigated by the league and the House Oversight Committee. These investigations follow a previous NFL probe, which wrapped during the 2021 offseason and led to Snyder being fined $10MM and receiving what amounted to a de facto suspension. Snyder pushed back on the notion he was barred from day-to-day responsibilities with his franchise, and a recent report indicated he is back at work without restrictions.
The prospect of owners warming up to a Snyder removal vote has surfaced in a few recent reports, bringing this seminal topic to the forefront. Irsay’s remarks, however, run counter to Jerry Jones‘ take on this matter. The Cowboys owner does not appear to view a Snyder ouster as a front-burner issue.
“No, I don’t think that’ll be something discussed today,” Jones said, via USA Today’s Jori Epstein (on Twitter). “That’s more a media thing than it is an internal thing. … No, I don’t think that’ll be a highlighted item at all.”
Jones’ comments come after a bombshell ESPN report indicated Snyder was gathering dirt on a handful of NFL owners. That report also noted Snyder had “lost Jerry” regarding support. Contrary to that report, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds (video link) Jones still supports Snyder. Jones carries a great deal of weight among owners, so he certainly represents a vital ally for an owner who has lost support of select other owners.
Still, given Irsay’s comments, last week’s report appears to have moved the needle among ownership. Whether a Snyder vote happens in the near future or not, these past several days have brought the most smoke regarding his potential exit.
I have never liked Danny Boy! But really, of all people, an Irsay saying anyone should be ousted from anything is ridiculous. Jimmy and his Daddy Bobby Have both been the most embarrassing owners the NFL has ever seen
irsay opening a can of worms without realizing he’s dirt
They must’ve forgot about the dead hookers and pounds of opiates the owner was caught with…
We’ve been hearing “he will be removed” and “there is no way he gets removed” every other day in the news cycle for a month
An Irsay suggesting an owner be removed, lol. Father and son should have been removed many times.
Yeah, it’s hilarious. When Jim Irsay thinks you should be gone, you know you’re in hot water.
Well, in Irsay’s defense, there wasn’t a high profile newspaper owned by a prospective replacement based in the city where the team is that’s been calling for his removal daily…or is that in Snyder’s defense? Ehh, I’m not rich enough to tell.
In all seriousness, I don’t think anyone is in position really to know outside of the owners and the Commissioner. There is very little reason to believe that whatever truth or falsehood in the allegations against Snyder himself will be known by the general public. Well, barring some sort of trial where some or all of it gets submitted as discovery. If Snyder is removed, it’ll probably be due to that. Mike Florio has had an absolute obsession with this, meaning that NBC has had an obsession, which is sourced from his reports, which means that we don’t know anything of substance.
A lot of parallels are being drawn to Jerry Richardson, which also doesn’t work because Richardson was much older and much more senile than Snyder is. Richardson also, if memory serves, technically stepped down and sold. Snyder is not interested in doing that. While he seems slimy, there’s not much other than the word “allegations” thrown about right now. Unless there is some damning and demonstrable empirical evidence can be publicized, I doubt that the league will want to battle Snyder on his way out.
Whether Snyder’s “dirt” is actually morally reprehensible or just embarrassing league practices, I doubt that the NFL wants to have anything that could threaten the profit margin. If Snyder goes, it’ll be with some sort of settlement. I don’t know what the circumstances are, so I don’t have an opinion as to whether he “should” stay or go. I just know that between Florio and the Washington Post, Snyder really hasn’t been the beneficiary of any unbiased reporting. He may not really deserve kindnesses, but it’s not like the primary sources have been exactly fair, either.
My only real question that I am interested in where Bruce Allen is in all of these potential lawsuits. It certainly seems to me that, as the primary executive at the office everyday and the person to whom everyone reported, he’s the person by far who is the most responsible for whatever happened in Washington. Snyder likely wasn’t there as much as Allen was, and Allen did the other hiring. Why is Snyder receiving more blame than Allen?
Terrific comment as usual. The NFL has become so scandal ridden that I doubt any Snyder “dirt” could actually threaten the profit margin. As long as fans get their football “fix” they probably won’t care who is in an ownership position.
Is it more scandal ridden? Or are the owners no longer 1 big happy good ol’ boys club family..who now have unlimited access to burner accounts on dozens of social media outlets and/or “reputable” news networks who will report literally anything with or without a sliver of truth or evidence just because it sells?
Some scandals certainly have more substance than others but the net result is fewer fans are swallowing the kool-aid that Goodell is trying to sell.
@Ak185: Great comment. I’m here for maximum chaos, so I hope whatever dirty laundry Snyder has remaining gets aired out and he responds by leaking whatever he’s holding on the other owners and the league.
Question is, will fans care? I doubt it. People will talk, but at the end of the day, they’ll still tune in.
The dirty laundry is not the reason why the owners want him out, that’s just a high moral front strategy for getting him out. The real reason is about MONEY. Snyder has taken a once proud franchise with an impressive season ticket holder waiting list and run it in to the ground. Translation. Attendance continues to shrink. Thus so does the 40% take the league gets for each Redskins, err Commanders, home game. And on top of that, are the reports this spring with accusations of the franchise fudging those 40% takes. The owners are fed up. They are ready to move on from him.
Jeff, I think you have a point. The publicity is bad, and has been continuous, which bothers the league more than anything else. If a business has a chance to replace a publically unpopular asset with another, they’ll do it. I don’t think that the other owners like how Snyder has handled his controversies, from the name change, to the cheerleader accusations, to this entire debacle (and whatever they know internally regarding the Bruce Allen tenure and these other sexual harassment accusations). He’s too loud, and draws too much attention.
The terrible on-field product only enhances the unpopularity of the franchise. If this were an asset that they could lose, they’d have done so by now. I think they’re just waiting until they all agree that it’s best to treat Snyder as a special case and attempt to get rid of him, because in the back of their minds they’re certainly worried about setting a precedent. That’s how they did it with Richardson, which again, was technically not a removal and of an older owner who acceded to their strategy. The biggest difference here is Snyder’s willingness to fight this out.
That’s part of the reason that he’s being considered for removal-the guy doesn’t give a you know what. He doesn’t care what people think, at all. So if it gets public and nasty, he’ll be just fine with that. The owners I believe would secretly all jump at the chance to forcibly remove Snyder, but I doubt that they all or a majority would vote yes in the open without a public disclosure of some great piece of evidence that would exonerate them. Leaking that evidence on the NFL’s end, though, would set a bad precedent for future owner struggles, by allowing any future owner-owner disputees to say, “Hey, we’ll, we did it with Snyder, so it’s kosher.” I think that’s really what concerns them, even more than the theoretical “dirt” Snyder may or may not have. They’re just trying to find a way to move him into accepting an NDA.
Thanks for the compliments, rct and lemon. Rct, if the NFL tries to remove Snyder, I promise that you’ll get your wish lol.
Every major business corporation is concerned about it’s public image but how much financial damage will result when you essentially operate a monopoly as the NFL does? I think the owners are delusional if they think the wave of scandals will cease simply be replacing Snyder.
In all seriousness, I don’t think anyone is in position really to know outside of the owners and the Commissioner. There is very little reason to believe that whatever truth or falsehood in the allegations against Snyder himself will be known by the general public.
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Ever notice that certain NFL owners are great at giving quotes while others you never hear a peep from. The NFL gross revenue last year cleared double digits in the billions. Every owner brings something to the table to sustain growth. Jerry Jones is a genius mouthpiece that, according to Forbes, increased his net value 14% last year, same as Jim Irsay. Every NFL owner has a roll to play, and Danny Snyder is playing his roll perfect. (Dan Snyder increased his net value 20% last year — in case you were wondering)
@Rose_Bud; are u saying the 40% league take is an insignificant amount of the overall revenue pie? Hmm. Interesting. Got me thinking, err rethinking, my perception of what’s driving this issue. I’m chewing on it. Cheers!
Guys like Jones and Kraft are fellow weasels though that should also be removed from their teams.
That’s the difference between Snyder and the others. Kraft had a much more probable, much more open, and arguably more morally reprehensible activity (arguably). However, the way that he handles his controversies is much more corporate friendly. He didn’t, or at least isn’t known to have, sent acerbic letters or the other petty, small intimidating actions in the same way that Snyder. He did publically lambast the law enforcement agency who caught him, but wasn’t as aggressive as Snyder is for every other accusation. Lastly, he has a much better working relationship with other owners. So yeah. That’s how you go from possibly taking advantage of human trafficking for Deshand-jobs to ESPN covering your surprise and romantic wedding to a much younger woman within two years.
This is not a defense of Kraft. But he and Jones and others try to make their problems quiet. Snyder doesn’t care is the entire world hears him. That’s why they want him gone, from the owners’ perspective.
Get that energy sucking bottom feeding human piece of garbage owner out of the league. The NFL shoulda done this years ago
Netflix needs to acquire the movie rights to this juicy saga.
10 part series, hopefully. Though HBO Max would do a good job, too.
Alec Baldwin as Daniel Snyder
Ed Norton as Roger Goodell
Bruce Willis as Jerry Jones
some additional casting considerations:
William Shatner as Robert Kraft
Robert DeNiro as Congressional Sub-committee chairman
Joe Pesci as John (Chucky) Gruden
Ed O’Neil as Bill Belichick
Matt Damon as Tom Brady
John Malkovich as Mark Davis
Jack Nicholson as Stephen Ross
Ron Jeremy as Shad Khan
Cuba Gooding Jr. as Brian Flores
Chris Rock as DeShaun Watson
Gene Hackman as Andy Reid
Kevin Spacey as Bruce Allen
Samuel L. Jackson as DeMaurice Smith (NFLPA)
Mike Florio as himself
LOL – Mike Florio as himself
We know many owners doing wrongful stuff. I can only imagine what Dan has on them? Then add in Jon G’s email’s and all franchises will be negatively affected.
I’d watch that!
Would work great as a future season for the Gangster Capitalism podcast.
Why should Dan Snyder being a terrible person who has engaged in awful and predatory and potentially criminal behavior be held against him in any way?
He’s rich and this is America.
Why start now?
Let’s cut his taxes instead.
I’m not sure what you could cut them down to. I mean, you would probably not be able to touch most of it. Like you said, this is America…not the Caymans.
Ehh, who are we kidding. He’ll probably just stay on his yacht in the Atlantic until it’s declared a sovereign country where all citizens are known as “Snyderkins”.
Didn’t Snyder operate two books and shortened the NFL shared revenue pool by millions of dollar!? Should’ve been voted out immediately upon hear that.
Let the owner without any dirt cast the first stone.
Though I don’t really know the guy, what I am trying to get my head around is how the NFL Owners can just take a team away from someone legally, if they want him out that bad then the league should buy his team at the going market price and sell it to another potential buyer. It’s not like this league doesn’t have the money to do so.
Can’t wait for Snyder to expose all that stuff we don’t know about the NFL. Like how they’re all still racists. And how the refs really do influence games for Vegas. And how Gruden was a scapegoat. And how they all do coke off stripper’s buttox during halftime.
Irsay is an ungrateful bum to attack Snyder like this after the Commanders took Carson Wentz off his hands for a third round draft pick (2022) and second round draft pick (2023).
Dan Snyder (A Haiku)
Champion of none
Hired investigators
New name when he’s gone
…Thank you