Ahead of the Washington Commanders (1-4) introducing their particular brand of unwatchable football to a national audience on Thursday Night Football against the Chicago Bears (2-3) in what will surely be a terrible game, ESPN dropped a story about team owner Daniel Snyder that contains a number of notable nuggets.
Among ESPN’s findings on Snyder…
- Snyder believes the NFL can’t “fuck” with him because he has “dirt” on fellow owners, coaches and executives that’s been collected from sources including private investigative firms: “He never says exactly what he knows, only that in his 23 years as owner of the Washington Commanders, he knows a lot. And that in the zero-sum world of billionaires, this is how you survive. Snyder recently told a close associate that he has gathered enough secrets to ‘blow up’ several NFL owners, the league office and even commissioner Roger Goodell.”
- Snyder has told associates he won’t give up his franchise without a fight: “The NFL is a mafia,” the 57-year-old recently told an associate. “All the owners hate each other.” (Another owner’s response: “That’s not true. All the owners hate Dan.”)
- Goodell wants Snyder out: “Goodell is always taking the temperature of owners, and his main job is to protect them. He won’t put Snyder’s fate to a vote unless he knows the result wanted by three-quarters of the owners, says a team executive close to Goodell: ‘But I know Roger wants this off his plate — he wants Snyder gone tomorrow.’”
- Even Dallas owner Jerry Jones is sick of Snyder: “In recent weeks, Snyder has personally and repeatedly asked Jones to have his back and to persuade fellow owners not to throw him out. But a source says Jones told Snyder he might not be able to help, indicating that support for Snyder has slipped.”
Speaking to The Athletic, a Commanders spokesperson strongly disputed the veracity of ESPN’s report. “It’s hard to imagine a piece that is more categorically untrue and is clearly part of a well-funded, two-year misinformation campaign to coerce the sale of the team, which will continue to be unsuccessful,” per the spokesperson.
ESPN also got a rebuttal from the team: “Owners have a shared love of the game, mutual respect for each other and our organizations, and a strong working relationship.”
That relationship will be put to the test next week when the NFL’s owners gather in New York for a quarterly meeting.
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