Washington Commanders implicated in ticket fraud scheme by U.S. Congress
The Washington Commanders can change their name but the NFL organization can’t change their mounting legal issues. The latest involves an investigation by the U.S. Government. The House Oversight Committee reportedly received information regarding a scheme by the Commanders to withhold ticket profits from visiting teams, according to A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports.
NFL rules dictate that all teams share 40% of their ticket sales revenue with the visiting opponents.
“At least one person gave information in recent weeks to Congressional investigators that alleges the Commanders didn’t pass along the full 40%,” FOS reported. “It is not clear how long this alleged scheme ran for or who authorized it.”
The NFL and the Washington Commanders reportedly learned about the Committee’s investigation in recent weeks.
Commanders under investigation for workplace violations
The organization, recently known as the Washington Football Team, is also under investigation by the NFL for their workplace environment and front-office behavior. The team received a $10 million fine for workplace violations, including sexual harassment, in July.
Speaking last week at the NFL owners’ meetings, commissioner Roger Goodell provided an update on Commanders owner Dan Snyder. He said Snyder “has not been involved in day-to-day operations” of the team. Goodell also said “that (his status) will continue for at least the foreseeable future.”
Snyder potentially on the chopping block
The NFL and Washington Commanders agreed in January not to disclose information involving the investigation of sexual harassment claims against owner Daniel Snyder, per a report.
“The NFL has kept the result of that investigation completely secret. In fact, the league didn’t even ask Attorney Beth Wilkinson to prepare a written report,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said on NBC Sports’ pregame show. “I’m told that if she had, one of her recommendations would have indeed been that owner Daniel Snyder be required to sell the team.
“More recently, Congress has been pushing the league and the team to provide more information publicly. In fact, earlier this week, the league and the team were scrambling over which documents would be given to Congress. 10 days ago, a former employee named Tiffany Johnston spoke to Congress and made allegations directly against owner Daniel Snyder. New allegations that had not been previously investigated. The league is now going to investigate those. I’m told that for the first time ever, there is a sense among ownership that the time may have come for Daniel Snyder to move on.”
On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this report.