The ugliness that is the Washington Commanders franchise continues to fester. The organization is now accused by Congress of having broken financial laws. The details point toward visiting teams and season-ticket holders.
The information, according to the House Oversight Committee, came from Jason Friedman, a sales executive who spent 24 years with the team.
“Even though we sold $811,800 worth of tickets, we reported that sale to the NFL at a total of $721,600, leaving $162,360 of juice, of money that would just go right into the owner’s pocket and didn’t have to be exposed to the NFL revenue sharing program,” Friedman told the committee, according to an excerpt of his interview included in the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
In a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, the committee said that as part of its ongoing investigation into a toxic workplace culture within the Commanders’ organization, it obtained evidence that the team might have underreported some of its ticket revenue, a portion of which should have been pooled with the NFL’s other teams as part of the league’s revenue-sharing agreement.
The committee also informed the FTC, which investigates deceptive business practices, that the team might have intentionally withheld “approximately $5 million” in refundable ticket deposits that it owed to fans and corporations.
“This new information suggests that in addition to fostering a hostile workplace culture, Mr. Snyder also may have cheated the team’s fans and the NFL,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
“While the focus of our investigation remains the Commanders’ toxic work environment, I hope the FTC will review this troubling financial conduct and determine whether further action is necessary. We must have accountability.”