The annual fall meeting of the National Football League (NFL) owners was held. The issue of what to do about Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Commanders, who has been accused repeatedly of sexual assault and workplace harassment in addition to financial misdeeds, was not on the written agenda. The Washington Post’s story this week that the office of Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine had finished its investigation against Snyder and prepared to take action heightened speculation. The timing of this information, just before the NFL owners meeting, has raised questions about whether the NFL will act against Snyder as well and what role Snyder’s fellow club owners will play in pressuring the NFL to act. More than 40 former Washington Commanders employees have spoken out against Snyder’s conduct. Before the owner meeting, their attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz wrote an open letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell demanding answers to questions about whether the NFL broke confidentiality agreements and gave Snyder direct access to witness information during the league’s own investigation into him. Banks and Katz indicated in their letter that if these claims were accurate, they would seek legal action against the NFL. This letter follows revelations by ESPN that Snyder had used the league’s probe as a “tip sheet” to construct a “enemies list.”
