A USA TODAY Sports report over the weekend by Jarrett Bell stating the NFL owners were “counting votes” to potentially force Washington owner Daniel Snyder to sell the team sent shockwaves around the NFL.
At this point, Washington fans understand not getting hopes up for a potential new owner. It was shocking to hear other owners say they were considering forcing the controversial owner out as Washington’s owner.
On Tuesday, Mark Maske of The Washington Post released a story saying multiple NFL owners would consider a significant suspension of Snyder if the current investigations into the owner prove to be substantiated.
However, unnamed owners told Maske that the league had taken no meaningful steps to remove Snyder as Washington’s owner.
“There’s certainly concern,” one owner told Maske. “There’s anger. But there’s quite a difference between wishing he was gone and taking steps to force him out.”
That statement is telling. Regardless of how much other owners may dislike Snyder, they are fearful of the precedent it would establish if they made a move to force him to sell.
For other owners to force Snyder out, it would take 24 of 32 votes. In response to the previous report saying owners were counting votes, another owner responded:
“If that’s happening, no one has asked for my vote,” the owner said via Maske.
Commissioner Roger Goodell also said he was unaware of owners attempting to force Snyder out.
“I’m not aware of that at all,” Goodell said. “I don’t respond much to speculation, particularly one that I don’t know has any fact basis.”
Snyder has vehemently denied the accusations against him personally, and the team has denied any of the financial improprieties levied against them by a former employee.
Regardless of the outcome of the investigations, it seems unlikely other NFL owners would force Snyder out unless there were some overwhelming evidence they couldn’t ignore.