WASHINGTON — Washington is a city which is no stranger to change. And that’s exactly what I hope we’ll be seeing now with the Washington Football Team.
The NFL wrapped up its investigation into the team Thursday – for fostering a workplace culture built around sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation.
We’ve been hearing whispers about this for months now, thanks largely in part to the reporting from the Washington Post.
But now, there are repercussions.
Washington was fined $10 million, and Dan Snyder will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operations of the team.
In a statement – Snyder said he had just learned in the past few months about the problems at his workplace… and that ultimately he is responsible for it.
He also promised that nobody who works there will ever have that kind of experience again.
So you might be thinking, 'Great. We can finally move past the Snyder era and finally get some of that change.'
Not so fast.
The new CEO of the team will be his wife, Tanya Snyder.
Hear me out:
I truly hope Tanya Snyder can continue the culture change happening in the organization. She’s respected and well liked. But I can’t help but wonder if it would have been better to bring in someone from the outside, who has a fresh set of eyes. Something like how the hiring of coach Ron Rivera and team president Jason Wright has helped this team.
As for that fine… While $10 million is a lot of money – it’s really a drop in the bucket for the team.
Don’t forget, even after that gets taken, the team’s revenue is valued at well over $600 million
But perhaps the biggest issue with of all of this is the NFL won’t release any details or address any of the allegations in the report. In fact, apparently there was no written report. That certainly seems odd and even suspicious. Where’s the transparency?
If we truly want to see some of that real change, the best thing we can do is shine a light on the truth, look it in the eyes and truly address each concern head on.