With the $6.05 billion sale to Josh Harris, Dan Snyder’s tenure in the NFL came to an end. The league agreed to the deal yesterday.
After twenty plus years of ownership, Dan and wife Tanya took one last opportunity to prove that they just don’t get it.
Here is the prepared statement that they issued:
We congratulate the Harris Ownership Group on yesterday’s unanimous League approval of their purchase of the Washington Commanders. We are proud to have built the most diverse leadership group of any NFL Team, including having the highest representation of women, underrepresented groups, and the first full time black female coach in League history.
We are immensely grateful to the best fans in football, the Commanders’ faithful, for the passion and unwavering support they have shown for this team and those who represented it on and off the field. From the players who battled every week for that extra inch, to those who worked behind the scenes to enhance every facet of the organization, we thank you for your hard work, dedication and commitment to our team, fans, pursuit of excellence and most importantly, to each other.
Being stewards of this historic organization for the last quarter century has been the privilege of a lifetime. When we purchased the team nearly 25 years ago, Dan was quoted as saying “I’m a fan. A huge fan. It’s that simple.” That is as true today as it was then. During our next chapter, we are looking forward to spending time with family and devoting our energy to the causes that matter very much to us, including furthering our long-standing support of breast cancer research.
– Dan and Tanya Snyder
Blech.
Don’t fall over trying to pat yourselves on the back.
They couldn’t just go out quietly?
Okay, obviously they have to release some sort of statement. The whole thing would have been near palpable if they had just left out the second sentence. But they just couldn’t help themselves.
The highest representation of women?
Seriously?
NFL Record Fine
After all, this does all come on the heels of Dan Snyder receiving the largest fine ever levied by the NFL just yesterday on his way out the door.
The Mary Jo White report came with a $60 million price tag.
Some of that $60 mil was for Snyder sexually harassing former Commanders employee Tiffani Johnston.
The highest representation of women.
Some of it was for concealing $11 million from the NFL so that it wouldn’t be subject to revenue sharing. Snyder also improperly withheld security deposits from the fans.
Whatever way the fine shakes out, Dan’s final stroke in the NFL will be to pay the biggest fine in league history.
There’s a certain poeticism in that.
However, it’s basically just the “.05” of the 6.05 billion price tag that Snyder just fetched. A mere blip on a billionaire’s radar.
But it does at least guarantee that Daniel Snyder leaves the NFL the way that he should – hanging his head in shame.
If holding on to a false sense of grandeur to what he accomplished in Washington is the most that he can accomplish, then his legacy is secure.
A legacy of conniving, back-handedness, and deviance.
A legacy of being a loser.