NFL owners are an extraordinarily exclusive subset of capitalism’s leechlike ownership class. Their collective hatred and hostility towards Dan Snyder is a known phenomenon in the league and to the fans. In a story published by ESPN, a veteran owner has anonymously remarked that “All the owners hate Dan,” because of his adamant, entitled and vengeful nature that brings shame and embarrassment to the entire NFL ownership group.
Now that Snyder is under investigation on multiple fronts and has run out of powerful allies, he’s resorting to the dirty work more than ever. Snyder, now 57, has informed associates that he will not give up his beloved franchise without a fight that will result in several casualties.
Snyder is throwing dirt on other owners and going on to tell the media that he has enough on all of them to blow them up! He has even went ahead and told that the “NFL is a mafia,” and “the league owners cannot f**k” with him. Snyder is accused for hiring private investigators for spying over owners and league executives.
ESPN talked to more than 30 owners, league and club officials, lawyers, and current and former Commanders employees. They all said that the fear of retaliation that Snyder has created in his business has spread to some of his fellow owners and hurt the team both on and off the field.
“I’m the f**ing owner, and if you don’t do this, I’m going to kill you,” he’d sometimes tell high-level football staff half-jokingly, a former team executive says. A veteran owner describes Snyder as “Arrogant. Obnoxious. Standoffish. Selfish,” in an interview with ESPN.
Apart from that, dozens of former Washington employees accused Snyder of leading a hostile, misogynistic workplace in team offices and the NFL botched its inquiry and punishment so badly that Congress is now looking into the matter.
Because of public outcry over giving taxpayers money to a man with his long list of alleged offenses, Snyder is now regarded as being so toxic that a bipartisan stadium proposal from two of Virginia’s highest-ranking state lawmakers was shelved. With Snyder backed into a corner, some owners are now considering creative ways of pushing him aside.
The NFL is a billion-dollar organization and cultural powerhouse not because of its wise and moral owners, but because the demand for professional football in North America is practically limitless. The threat posed by Snyder’s dossiers is insignificant in comparison to the business of professional football. How far do you think the internal conflict among the owners will affect the state of the league?
