Bears fans over the years have had their gripes about the McCaskeys, the family that owns Chicago’s beloved, storied football franchise. Many fans never forgave George Halas’ grandson, Michael McCaskey, for firing Da Coach, Mike Ditka. There’ve been perennial complaints about McCaskey family stinginess, icy December Sundays at a dome-less Soldier Field, and hiring decisions like the one that gave us former GM Ryan Pace, the culprit behind the Mitch Trubisky draft dud.
At least, however, Bears fans can take solace in this. Their team isn’t owned by Dan Snyder.
Fortunately for football fans in the nation’s capital, the Washington Commanders will no longer belong to Snyder, who bought the team in 1999 and became one of the NFL’s most controversial owners. Snyder has agreed to sell the team for a record $6 billion to a group led by Josh Harris, an owner of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball franchise and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
Americans have many reasons to view the NFL with disdain. There’s the league’s reluctance to deal with the ravages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, its long history of looking the other way when players have abused women, and its indefensible treatment of Colin Kaepernick, essentially blacklisted simply for expressing himself through protest.
You can add Snyder to the list.
The league tolerated Snyder for far too long. During his tenure, the 58-year-old marketing magnate ran one of the NFL’s oldest and most venerated franchises into the ground, turning it into a league laughingstock. Perhaps the biggest stain on Snyder’s years as owner involves accusations from dozens of women that he, along with other top executives, sexually harassed female employees.
In 2021, the NFL ordered Snyder to keep away from the team and fined the club $10 million after its investigation concluded that a widespread culture of sexual harassment existed for more than 10 years at the team, perpetuated by its executives. The league also determined that Snyder did nothing to intervene.
Later, a new wave of allegations of sexual harassment of women by Snyder and team executives arose, prompting a second NFL investigation into the owner and his team. That probe is ongoing. Last November, federal prosecutors began a criminal investigation into allegations of financial wrongdoing by the team.
Snyder also came under fire for his longtime refusal to drop the offensive nickname Redskins, considered a slur against Native Americans. He finally relented in 2020 after team sponsors threatened to take their business elsewhere.
On the field, his team has been largely a disaster — just six winning seasons in more than two decades under Snyder’s stewardship. That helps explain near rock-bottom attendance at Commanders’ FedEx Field during the last few seasons. Even his players are less than enamored with Snyder. Earlier this year, a report by the players union, the NFL Players Association, rated the Commanders as the league’s worst team to play for.
Late last year, talk surfaced of a possible move by other NFL owners to force Snyder out — a drastic but possible step that three-fourths of the league’s 32 owners can take. That’s when Snyder began fielding offers for a possible sale.
Forced removals of owners in major sports leagues should be looked to only as a last resort, but the step should nonetheless be in the toolbox. There’s nothing wrong with team owners being brash, bombastic or even a bit loopy (the Yankees’ George Steinbrenner comes to mind). But when they impose a toxic workplace culture on employees or violate basic norms of human decency, it’s right to hold them accountable.
In 2014, the NBA banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life after he was recorded making racist remarks. Our only complaint back then was that NBA owners didn’t show him the door much sooner — Sterling had a long history of making ugly, offensive statements.
Ultimately, sports is entertainment. It’s a diversion from world conflicts, hand-wringing about the economy and caustic American politics. But the grist should come from the baseball diamond, the gridiron, the rink and the court — not from scandals and ignominy tied to players, coaches or owners.
It’s likely that Snyder’s departure will be greeted with glee from Commanders fans, who can turn their attention away from front office turmoil and toward contending for a spot in the playoffs, and maybe even one day a return to the Super Bowl.
That’s what fans in Washington, Chicago or any other NFL city want — and deserve. What they don’t need are toxic owners like Snyder.
