DeMaurice Smith Wants WFT Investigation Released, Calls NFL 'Feudal, Oligarch System'

NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith appeared on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday night to discuss the NFL's investigation of the Washington Football Team and his relationship with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. 

The NFLPA's executive director noted he wants the NFL to release the 650,000 emails and any other findings it has regarding its investigation into the Football Team. Smith, the NFLPA, and the lawyers representing 40 former Washington Football Team employees are among those who are calling for transparency. 

“To be precise, I’m calling on or we’re calling on and I think the country should call on the release of any information within the league’s possession that is evidence of racial animus, sexism, misogyny, bias, homophobia,” Smith told Gumbel.

Smith was then asked if he thinks Goodell has the courage to do the right thing. 

“Yes,” Smith answered. “Yes. I do. And does that mean the right thing is going to occur? I don’t know. Because the National Football League is less a corporation than it is a feudal, oligarch system.

"And the decision, the ultimate decision, I believe about what will happen with the direction that this league will take will fall to the 32 [owners] more than it will fall to the decision of the Commissioner.”

In an Oct. 8 Wall Street Journal report, 10-year-old emails from former Raiders coach Jon Gruden to then-Washington general manager Bruce Allen revealed Gruden described Smith using racist language. Days later, The New York Times uncovered more emails from Gruden where he used misogynistic, racist and anti-LGBTQ language. As a result, he resigned from his coaching position. 

The NFL has yet to release the findings of its investigation, and the league said it has no plans on doing so. The league's investigation stems from a Washington Post report detailing the sexual harassment of numerous female WFT employees in 2020. Later, WFT cheerleaders claimed to have been secretly videotaped while getting undressed and reached a settlement with the team. 

The investigation was finalized during the summer and found “the culture of the club was very toxic and fell far short of the NFL’s values.” The NFL didn't request a written report, and it instead heard an oral one. Additionally, Gumbel highlighted that the only reason Gruden was even held accountable for his actions was because of a leak, not because the NFL released the emails. 

“That’s a problem,” Smith said regarding the NFL's knowledge of the emails. “I love football, and I love the game. But we should be aspiring to the best nature of ourselves and in our sport and in our business, and I don’t understand how the critical party of that business can be aware of these emails for so long and do nothing about it.”