Likely the main reason for Washington’s decision to change its name to the Washington Football Team this past summer has finally come to light.
According to a post from The New York Times, team owner Dan Snyder deferred paying annual dividends to three shareholders who collectively hold 40 percent of the franchise, leading to a “bitter boardroom brawl” that prompted a legal firestorm, a fight over the club’s name and mudslinging among former friends.
At the center of the legal fight were Snyder, as well as minority owners Fred Smith, Dwight Schar, and Robert Rothmann.
Days after the N.F.L. arbitration was set into motion, the legal counsel for FedEx, where Smith is chairman, sent the team a letter saying the company would demand that its name be removed from the stadium, where it has been displayed since 1999, if the team’s name was not changed. FedEx pays about $8 million a year for the naming rights to the team’s stadium in Landover, Md. Less than two weeks later, Snyder announced that the name and logo would be replaced.
According to the report, the missed dividend payment might have had a direct influence on the team’s decision to change its name, which came after several minority owners publicly asked Snyder to sell the team.
The legal battle over financials is nowhere close to finished, and Snyder has made it known that he has no intention of selling his share of the team, which accounts for approximately 60 percent, which is held by either himself or his family.
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