Autumn brings cooler temperatures to the DMV, but for Daniel Snyder, the underfire owner of the Washington Commanders, the temperature continues to go up and up. But this time, the source of the heat is not external, but from within the close-knit community of NFL owners.
One week ago, ESPN published an extensive report about Snyder's dealings, alleging the Commanders owner had gathered dirt on fellow NFL owners and even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with enough secrets to "blow up" several of them. (Snyder vehemently denied the story's reporting.) The report included owners, speaking under the condition of anonymity, indicating those around the league would like to see Snyder sell the franchise he has owned for the last 23 years.
Yesterday, at the NFL owners meetings in New York, Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, became the first owner to publicly say removing Snyder is something that must "be given serious consideration" and there is some "merit to remove" him as an owner. (A statement the Commanders called "highly inappropriate" and "based on falsehoods in the media.")
In between, Al Michaels said during a Commanders broadcast he believed the league would love to see Snyder sell, fans chanted over the postgame show "Sell the team!" and, on the field, the Commanders lost starting quarterback Carson Wentz for about four weeks to a broken finger.
"The temperature, very clearly, has been turned up," former NFL executive Albert Breer wrote. "And now it’s come to the point where a standoff seems to be looming—with Snyder more or less daring the owners to vote him out."
The question becomes: How many owners feel the same as Irsay and how many who feel that way are willing to go to the extreme measure of voting Snyder out of the NFL?
Irsay believes that after the conclusion of the ongoing investigation by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, his fellow owners will look at the evidence thoroughly and "talk amongst each other they'll arrive at the right decision."
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However, voting Snyder out may be more difficult as the Commanders owner has shown in the past a penchant for litigation and no interest in backing down from a fight.
Last week's ESPN report said that one way owners could attempt to encourage, but not force, Snyder into considering a sale would be denying him a debt waiver to build a new stadium to replace FedEx Field after Snyder appears to be striking out among local governments while seeking public money. Snyder has seen a new stadium as a potential silver bullet, per ESPN, to revive the fledgling franchise, other owners appear to see it the same way, and perhaps this could be the only way Snyder retains whatever support he has among other owners.
The owners could also withhold the $200 million loan available for teams to build new stadiums. (The Tennessee Titans appear to be getting such a loan for their recently announced stadium.) "The league's only real tool is to starve him from the funds to build a stadium," a team president told ESPN.
The ESPN report also raised the possibility that even if 24 other owners vote to remove Snyder, there is the possibility the Washington owner may refuse to leave.
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Yesterday, Irsay did address the other owner's authority, saying, "serious consideration has to be given to the removal and we have complete authority to do that."
However, a longtime executive told Breer Tuesday that he doubted the owners would vote Snyder out. Instead, the executive suggested that if the White investigation proves too damaging to Snyder, “the NFL would have to have Cowboys owner Jerry Jones go to Snyder and essentially say, ‘It’s time, I’ll get you your $7 billion. You gotta leave.’”
There is no timetable for when the White investigation into Snyder will conclude, Goodell said Tuesday, but he said the report's findings would be shared with owners and made public.
But how public the report will be, what the report will say, and how the other NFL owners and Snyder and, co-CEO Tanya Snyder, will react to what is in the report is still unknown.
Irsay has raised the heat, and winter may be coming for Snyder, but it seems Washington fans are stuck waiting for yet another report from yet another investigation into Snyder and the team to get any answers about the future of the franchise.
Follow @BenKrimmel and @Team980 for the latest.
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