Commanders Dan Snyder ‘Toxic Workplace’ Investigation Final Report Released; What's Next?
The Dan Snyder investigation has come to an end.
After 14 months, the House Oversight Committee has released its final report on Dan Snyder's "toxic workplace" allegations.
The report claims Snyder "permitted and participated" in creating a toxic workplace environment, obstructed a congressional inquiry, intimidated witnesses and acknowledged over 100 times where he "could not recall" an answer.
The report also claims that the NFL "knew about" the Washington Commanders' toxic workplace environment and "took no responsibility."
"The NFL's ongoing failure to take workplace misconduct seriously is compounded by its own policies that are designed to protect the interest of club owners," the report says.
So, what happens now?
Given the fact that the Democrat-led House will now be headed by Republicans when the new year begins, the investigation will no longer continue. A Republican memo regarding the investigation stated that it was an "egregious waste of taxpayer-funded resources."
The recommendation given by the Committee is that Congress should "demonstrate compliance with state and federal employment laws as a condition to continue to benefit from federal antitrust exemptions as well as tax-exempt bonds used to finance construction and renovation of sports stadiums."
But with the House flipping at the turn of the new year, the new lawmakers will likely not take the recommendation of the opposing party.
As for Snyder, there are still rumors surrounding a potential sale of the Commanders, which could happen within the next few months.
Following the release of the report, the Commanders issued to Commanders / SI the following statement:
“These Congressional investigators demonstrated, almost immediately, that they were not interested in the truth, and were only interested in chasing headlines by pursuing one side of the story. Today's report is the predictable culmination of that one-sided approach.
“There are no new revelations here. The Committee persists in criticizing Mr. Snyder for declining to voluntarily appear at the Committee's hearing last spring, notwithstanding Mr. Snyder's agreement to sit, at a date chosen by the Committee, for an unprecedented 11-hours of questioning under oath. The only two members of Congress who witnessed any part of that deposition, one Democrat and one Republican, both made public statements in the wake of the deposition characterizing Mr. Snyder's answers as truthful, cooperative, and candid. As is typical of the Committee, they have refused, despite our repeated requests to release the full transcript of Mr. Snyder's deposition.
“The Committee suggests that Mr. Snyder prevented witnesses from coming forward yet does not identify a single witness who did not come forward or who suffered a single adverse consequence for having done so.
“And, ironically for an "investigative" body, supposedly engaged in an "investigation," the investigators actually criticize the team and Mr. Snyder for providing evidence to the Committee -- such as e-mails former team employees sent from their workplace accounts -- that reveal the actual causes of the formerly dysfunctional workplace environment at the team.
“Today's report does not advance public knowledge of the Washington Commanders workplace in any way. The team is proud of the progress it has made in recent years in establishing a welcoming and inclusive workplace, and it looks forward to future success, both on and off the field."
You can follow Jeremy Brener on Twitter @JeremyBrener.
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