NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday he does not have any “expectations” regarding a potential sale of the Washington Commanders franchise.
“(Commanders owner) Dan (Snyder)’s statement that he put out (in early November) was that he was exploring that,” Goodell told reporters from the December League Meeting in Irving, Texas. “We’ll continue to work with him on that.”
Goodell added that there was no discussion among ownership on Wednesday regarding a potential sale of the team.
Dan and Tanya Snyder previously announced on Nov. 2 that they had hired Bank of America Securities to “consider potential transactions,” but did not specify whether they were considering a partial or full sale of the franchise.
NFL Network Senior Columnist Judy Battista reported from Wednesday’s league meeting that she spoke to multiple people who expect that the sale would be for the full franchise.
Goodell’s comments Wednesday were his first since the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform published a report on the Commanders and how Dan Snyder allegedly had a role in what was described as a “toxic work culture” that included “ignoring and downplaying sexual misconduct” by men at the top levels of the organization.
The House committee opened its investigation after the NFL did not release a written report of attorney Beth Wilkinson’s review of the team’s workplace culture in the summer of 2021 that resulted in a $10 million fine and Snyder stepping away from day-to-day operations of the team.
When asked about the House’s report, Goodell affirmed to reporters on Wednesday that “changed has occurred in the Washington Commanders organization” following the league’s imposed discipline.
“As it relates to the House Oversight, I think we’ve been very consistent on this from Day 1,” Goodell said. “We fully cooperated, we think we handed over 500,000 documents that we submitted, I personally spent two-and-a-half hours in testimony, I think someone told me it was 120 questions during that time period, so I really feel from the standpoint of cooperation we obviously know that because we have audits going on with the club that because of the discipline, because of the terrific investigation led by an independent counsel in this case, that the change has occurred in the Washington Commanders organization. That’s verified by audits, so that’s the outcome we were seeking, so I think that is the outcome we all wanted, so I don’t have anything further to say about it.”
The Commanders remain subject to an on-going league investigation being led by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White concerning allegations of workplace misconduct. Goodell said he did not know when White’s investigation would conclude.
“Mary Jo has not been given a timeline,” Goodell said. “She’s got to do an awful lot of work on both of these investigations, and I’m not going to press her to do that. So knows that she has our full support, and she’s continuing to make progress. But when she’s done she’ll let us know.”