Tag: washington nfl team

Report: Washington NFL team’s recent executive hires questioned

The Washington NFL team’s recent hires are being questioned with regard to the NFL’s Rooney Rule.

The splashy, recent hires by the Washington NFL football team and its owner Daniel Snyder are being questioned by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which assists the NFL in enforcing compliance of the Rooney Rule,  ESPN’s The Undefeated reported Wednesday

Terry Batemen was named executive vice president and chief marketing officer Monday. This is the third go-round with the team for Bateman, who was the president of Snyder Communications marketing services from 1994-97.

The franchise followed that Tuesday by hiring Julie Donaldson as senior vice president of media. According to the team’s news release, Donaldson “will be the first female to be a regular on-air member of an NFL radio broadcast booth.”

The question is whether the team followed the procedures outlined in the league’s Rooney Rule …

Per The Undefeated:

… approved by owners May 19, clubs and the league office are required to interview “minorities and/or female applicants” for positions such as team president and “senior executives in communications, finance, human resources, legal, football operations, sales, marketing, sponsorship, information technology and security positions.” Moreover, there must be a credible process in which owners, or those they empower to make hires, interview multiple candidates and deliberate before picking one.

In a text message to The Undefeated,  the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s top decision-maker, Rod Graves,wrote, “The Fritz Pollard Alliance has sent inquiries to the NFL and to the Washington Football Team regarding the hiring process for Terry Bateman and Julie Donaldson.”

The article states there are questions whether Washington conducted thorough hiring processes as required by the Rooney Rule, two NFL club executives told The Undefeated.

The team is in crisis mode as its corporate sponsors are among those that forced it to undergo a “thorough review,” which led to the decision to change its nickname from what is considered a racist slur toward Native Americans.

That was followed by a Washington Post report detailing the awful corporate culture, where 15 women who formerly worked with the organization detailed sexual harassment. within it.

 

Reports: CFL’s Edmonton team heading toward nickname change

Will the CFL team in Edmonton be changing its nickname?

The pressure from the business world led to the Washington NFL team retiring its offensive nickname. Now, there are reports from North of the border the CFL team in Edmonton will follow suit.

While Edmonton has not confirmed anything, and as recently as July 3, said it would keep its nickname, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported a change is coming possibly as soon as next week.

A spokeswoman for the Edmonton club, though, said the team had no update Friday. Pressure has mounted in recent weeks for sports teams to eliminate racist or stereotypical names.

The CFL season, meanwhile, has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its status is uncertain for 2020. It is unclear when Edmonton would play its first game with a new name, if the change goes through.

There have been repeated calls in the past for the Edmonton team to change its name.

Canada’s national Inuit organization in 2015 said it was time for a change.

“It isn’t right for any team to be named after an ethnic group,” said Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canada’s 60,000 Inuit. Obed has said that Inuit people are not mascots.

Although American Inuit continue to use the word Eskimo, Canada’s northern people left that name behind about the same time they began negotiating their land claim in the 1970s.

Aaron Paquette, a city councillor in Edmonton, tweeted that he met with the CFL club on Thursday and, was “very impressed with the potential coming out of our conversation.”

Per CBC.ca: 

Insurance provider Belair Direct said last week it is rethinking its premier partnership with the team. A spokeswoman said the company “will need to see concrete action in the near future, including a commitment to a name change.”

Boston Pizza, another sponsor, said “as part of a larger shift in our overall marketing strategy, Boston Pizza recently ended its sponsorship of Edmonton’s CFL team.” It tweeted the statement as a response to someone asking about whether it plans to follow the lead of Belair Direct.

A former club executive believes current management knows what it has to do.

“I am so proud that I took the initiative to launch consultations with the Inuit, I felt it was very important for me to head north to experience the culture firsthand,” former club president Len Rhodes, who accompanied the team contingent on various visits to the Canadian North beginning in 2018, told Postmedia on Friday. “It was one of the most enlightening experiences in my entire life. The trips that I made were important steps in building a long-term relationship based in respect and understanding. Inuit are very respectful people. I met with cultural, business and political leaders in Inuvik, Yellowknife, Iqaluit, and Ottawa. I spent time speaking with people everywhere.

“The decision is now one that is in the hands of the organization. I have the confidence that they will make the right one. The team has always been a community leader.”

Washington coach Ron Rivera has experience fixing a scandal-riddled organization

Ron Rivera worked through the scandal in Carolina and now has to do the same in Washington.

Talk about being in the wrong organization, not once but twice. That is how current Washington coach Ron Rivera has to feel.

In a text message to ESPN’s John Keim, first-year Washington coach Rivera said that the organization’s culture would change moving forward.

“Biggest thing is that we have to move forward from this and make sure everybody understands we have policies that we will follow and that we have an open door policy with no retribution,” Rivera said. “Plus my daughter works for the team and I sure as hell am not going to allow any of this!”

Rivera was coach of the Carolina Panthers when the scandal broke and original owner Jerry Richardson had to sell the team.

On December 17, 2017, Sports Illustrated reported that “at least four former Panthers employees have received ‘significant’ monetary settlements due to inappropriate workplace comments and conduct by owner Jerry Richardson, including sexually suggestive language and behavior, and on at least one occasion directing a racial slur at an African-American Panthers scout.” According to the anonymous sources which were the basis for the article, Richardson asked women in the team offices to “turn around so he could admire their backsides” on Casual Friday, among other “disturbing” office behavior.

Less than three years later, Rivera finds himself head coach of another team caught up in a massive scandal.

Former Washington Redskins employee Emily Applegate, and 14 other female employees who spoke on terms of anonymity, have alleged that the franchise has long worked under a toxic spell of serial sexual harassment and verbal abuse. More than one female sports reporter has added their names to that list.

Rivera was part of the process that righted the organization in Carolina. He seems to be an excellent person to be part of trying to rebuild what has become a disgraced Washington NFL franchise.

This comes days after the team announced it would find a new nickname despite controversial owner Daniel Snyder calling the current one a “badge of honor,” and saying he would “NEVER” change it. When companies threatened to pull millions out of their relationship with the team and Washington merchandise no longer being sold by massive businesses, that tune quickly changed.

 

Report: Washington NFL team plans to announce it will make nickname change Monday

Washington’s NFL team will announce Monday it plans to make a nickname change.

There will be a name change Monday for Washington’s NFL team, per a SportsBusinessJournal report.

However, the mystery will remain as the “the new nickname will not be announced immediately because trademark issues are pending.”

The previous nickname, which has been considered racist and offensive for years, will be “retired,” according to the SBJ report. Team owner Daniel Snyder stubbornly had stuck to the belief it was a “badge of honor” and he would never change it.

The report:

The Redskins intend to announce on Monday that the team will retire its nickname, two sources said, 11 days after naming-rights sponsor FedEx’s public statement asking for a change to the controversial moniker. The new nickname will not be announced immediately because trademark issues are pending, the sources said, but insiders were told today that the “thorough review” announced July 3 has concluded. The team felt it was important to remove any doubts as to the future of the name, one source said.

The timeline for announcing a new name was unclear, but the sense of urgency inside the organization is clear. In a private letter on the same day as its public statement, FedEx threatened to take its name off the team’s Landover, Md., stadium after the end of the season if the name was not changed. Pepsi, Bank of America and Nike later joined with their own public statements, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell also said he was supportive of the review. A Redskins spokesperson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Yahoo later added: In a sign that the NFL’s Washington franchise has committed itself to a new name, the league has asked partners to begin scrubbing “Redskins” from their platforms in anticipation of a change …

Reports: Washington D.C. team’s minority owners looking to sell

Reports indicated minority owners who have as much as a 40% stake in Washington’s NFL are looking to sell.

Minority owners of the Washington D.C. NFL team want out of their business relationship with Dan Snyder, Pro Football Talk, and the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Per the Post, three minority partners want out “in large part because they are ‘not happy being a partner’” with Snyder.

The Post says that the trio, who purchased their equity in 2003, owns roughly 40% of the team. Past reports have suggested that (Dwight) Schar and (Robert) Rothman own 15% each, and that (Fred) Smith has 5%.

Per the Post, the owners have hired an investment banking firm to conduct the search for buyers. It’s our understanding that, as to Smith and Schar, efforts to find a buyer have been ongoing but unsuccessful.

Earlier, PFT reported Smith, whose FedEx company has naming rights to the Stadium the team plays in and wants the nickname changed, is unhappy with Snyder.

Per PFT:

Thursday’s statement from FedEx, the company founded by Washington minority partner Fred Smith, opposing the name of the team stunned many around the league. However, the public assault on a name that Washington owner Daniel Snyder had said would never change wasn’t the result of an epiphany for Smith. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Smith had been trying to get Snyder to change the name for “years.”

Smith’s dissatisfaction with the name and other issues already had brought Smith to a point where he, along with fellow minority owner Dwight Schar, had actively been trying to sell their pieces of the team. However, both have to date been unable to find a buyer.

The fact the minority owners can’t find a suitable buyer could turn the tables on Snyder. What if someone or someones are willing to take the major stake in Washington’s team from the controversial and stubborn Snyder. Would he consider selling?

Or would he remain stubborn and obstinate as he has through the years when the issue of changing the team’s nickname has been raised?

The Post added: