The Washington Commanders are being sued. Again.
This time it’s not by disgruntled fans or employees subjected to a hostile, allegedly predatory workplace. Instead, it’s by the Washington D.C. District Attorney’s office.
On Thursday, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine unveiled a lawsuit against franchise owner Dan Snyder, the team itself, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league for “colluding to deceive District residents—the heart of the Commanders’ fanbase—about an investigation into toxic workplace culture.” It’s a response to the allegations the team suppressed an investigation by independent attorney Beth Wilkinson that examined the team’s workplace culture, effectively allowing the Commanders and the NFL to control the release of the investigation’s findings and allowing Washington the opportunity to prop itself up in the face of what was likely an overwhelmingly negative report.
BREAKING: My office is suing Commanders owner Dan Snyder, the Commanders, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and the NFL for colluding to deceive District residents—the heart of the Commanders’ fanbase—about an investigation into toxic workplace culture.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) November 10, 2022
Racine’s announcement — preceded by a ghoulish official team statement that used rookie tailback Brian Robinson Jr.’s preseason shooting as a prop in hopes of distracting Washington D.C. with claims of whataboutism — wasn’t a revelation. It didn’t leak any new information about the creeping virus that’s spread to every tendril of the Commanders’ management and overall structure in two-plus decades with Snyder at the helm.
Instead, it took aim at a conglomerate that gave itself a slap on the wrist when pressed to take action and a league that shrugged off these minor sanctions as though they actually mattered.
That was all a lie.
Instead, the NFL turned a blind eye to Snyder’s extensive efforts to silence or intimidate witnesses, and the NFL and Commanders entered into a secret agreement that gave Snyder power to veto the release of any results.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) November 10, 2022
The suit alleges that maintaining a positive profile in the eyes of Washington D.C. residents is paramount to the team’s marketing success. By papering over the most negative aspects of the investigation, the Commanders hid a “severely broken culture” from the customers it needed to keep buying tickets, jerseys and everything else that comes with rooting for an NFL team.
Racine’s announcement didn’t go as far to officially call it fraud. Instead, the complaint refers to the act of burying the investigation as a series of “public misrepresentations, omissions, and ambiguities of material fact, all of which violate the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA).”
It’s unclear what the longterm outcome of such a suit would entail, but the short-term goal is obvious. Racine’s office wants to depose Snyder and various members of the Commanders’ front office and dig into the Wilkinson Investigation that has been, to date, distilled into morsels of actual findings and a whole bunch of empty promises to do better.
"The depositions will not be on a yacht. They will be in a conference room in DC." Ouch. #Snyder
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) November 10, 2022
Thursday’s announcement didn’t tell us anything new about the Commanders’ terrible working environment. There weren’t any bombshells in Racine’s announcement. Most reasonable football fans are fully aware of Snyder’s crapulence. They didn’t expect even the bare minimum of rehabilitation or reparation or self awareness because this franchise has never risen to that incredibly modest standard in the past.
This lawsuit could change that. It could lay the Wilkinson Investigation bare, assuming Racine can out-maneuver a Commanders’ legal team whose first instinct upon hearing the mere threat of action was to tastelessly use Robinson’s shooting as a distraction. It could be an inciting moment that convinces Snyder to sell the franchise. It could be the final straw that convinces a majority of the league’s other owners this is one embarrassment too many and spur a vote to remove him from the league.
Until that happens, this is just one more strike against a franchise that does nothing right and the owner that steers it toward disaster every chance he gets. Washington D.C.’s suit against the Commanders isn’t a “gotcha” moment — it’s just taking everything we knew was wrong with Dan Snyder’s leadership and putting it under a brighter spotlight.
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