SI

Goodell, Snyder Called to Appear in Front of Oversight Committee in Commanders Case

The committee launched an investigation into the Commanders in fall 2021, looking into the franchise’s workplace misconduct.

Madeline Coleman

In this story:

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform has requested that Roger Goodell and Dan Snyder testify during a June 22 hearing in front of the committee concerning the investigation into the Commanders. 

The monthslong probe that began in October 2021 is looking into the franchise’s workplace culture, how the league handled misconduct reports, “the NFL’s role in setting and enforcing standards across the League, and legislative reforms needed to address these issues across the NFL and other workplaces,” according to the committee’s press release.

“For seven months, the Committee has been stonewalled by NDAs and other tools to evade accountability,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.) said in a statement. “Mr. Snyder and Mr. Goodell need to appear before the Committee to address these issues and answer our questions about the pervasive workplace misconduct at the Washington Commanders, and how the NFL addressed these issues.”

In a statement to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said, in part, that they “received the Committee’s invitation this morning and will respond directly in a timely manner.” He reiterated how the league has “cooperated extensively.” 

The Commanders reiterated a similar statement to Pelissero. 

The investigation was brought on after the Washington Post released an article in July 2020 that detailed workplace sexual harassment experienced by 15 former employees within the franchise. Snyder also faces several accounts of misconduct, some of which are as follows:

  • The Post released another article in 2020 reporting that a former senior executive instructed employees to create a behind-the-scenes video for Snyder. The video included videos of partially naked team cheerleaders from an ’08 team swimsuit calendar shoot.
  • The Post previously reported that “lawyers and private investigators working on Snyder’s behalf took steps that potential witnesses … viewed as attempts to interfere with the NFL’s investigation.” The numerous alleged attempts to interfere included reaching a $1.6 million settlement with a former employee who described sexual misconduct by the co-owner and filing petitions to identify employees who had spoken to The Post.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D., N.Y.) and Rep. Krishnamoorthi sent a five-page letter to Goodell in October 2021, asking for him to produce “all documents and communications obtained in connection with the investigation into the WFT, its management, its owners, and any other matter relating to or resulting from the WFT investigation” by Nov. 4. Then, in a letter on Nov. 5, the representatives called for the league and team to release all individuals from their nondisclosure agreements that prevented them from speaking out against Snyder or the Commanders about the work environment.

Come February 2022, the committee held a hybrid roundtable with several former employees of the franchise, and Tiffani Johnston detailed new allegations that directly implicated Snyder.

“I learned that placing me strategically by the owner at a work dinner after this networking event was not for me to discuss business, but to allow him to place his hand on my thigh under the table,” Johnston said in her opening statement. “I learned how to discreetly remove a man’s unwanted hand from my thigh at a crowded dinner table, at a crowded restaurant to avoid a scene. I learned that job survival meant I should continue my conversation with another co-worker rather than to call out Dan Snyder right then, in the moment.

“I also learned later that evening how to awkwardly laugh while Dan Snyder aggressively pushed me towards his limo with his hand on my lower back, encouraging me to ride with him to my car. I learned how to continue to say no even though a situation was getting more awkward, uncomfortable and physical.”

Snyder denied the allegations in a statement. 

A day after the roundtable, the committee released documents provided to them by the league, which included a Common Interest Agreement between the NFL and Washington and an engagement letter between lawyer Beth Wilkinson’s firm and the franchise. It revealed that not only did Washington agree to a written report being created of Wilkinson’s findings and recommendations, but the league would not be able to release the findings without the permission of franchise owner Daniel Snyder, according to the documents. Here is a summary of what was found in the documents.

But the problems Washington faces did not end there. The committee penned an explosive letter to the Federal Trade Commission in April, asserting that the Commanders and Snyder “may have engaged in a troubling, long-running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct that victimized thousands of team fans and the National Football League.”

The letter, a copy of which was sent to SI, included testimony from former Washington sales executive Jason Friedman. Some of the instances cited are as follows.

  • Alleged misappropriation of funds, specifically withholding customers’ security deposits on premium seating and using the money for other purposes, that totaled “approximately $5 million” from “around 2,000 accounts.”
  • Ticket revenue, which is supposed to be shared with the league, was underreported. Friedman said “the team maintained ‘two sets of books’—one that was shared with the NFL but underreported certain ticket revenue, and another internal set of books that included the complete and accurate revenue and was ‘shown to Mr. Snyder.’”

Here is more on the documents released by the committee, including details of the spreadsheet from Friedman, and how the former Washington sales executive said in his testimony that these financial practices began when things “started to get a little tougher for the team financially,” and noted they were encouraged by senior leadership, including Snyder.

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement to Sports Illustrated in April that former SEC chair Mary Jo White will “review the serious matters” and the league will “continue to cooperate with the oversight committee and have provided more than 210,000 pages of documents,” which include materials that have been shared since the committee first launched the investigation last fall.  

Days after the letter was sent to the FTC, three attorneys general from D.C., Maryland and Virginia released statements on the matter. Virginia and D.C. have announced investigations into the franchise’s conduct, per the committee. 

Snyder “has not been involved in day-to-day operations” during the investigation, Goodell said in March. He added, “Don’t believe he’s been at the team facility at all, and when we continue to have league matters, Tanya [Snyder] has represented the team as the CEO on both a day-to-day basis, but also here with the league.”

Recently, reports have surfaced that some NFL owners are “counting votes” to remove Dan Snyder from his position, which Goodell said on May 24 that he’s “not aware of that at all.”

More on the Problems Facing the League:

Published
Madeline Coleman
MADELINE COLEMAN

Home/NFL