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Roger Goodell says Dan Snyder has been 'held accountable,' won't release report due to anonymity

jack baer
Staff writer
·3 min read
108

Roger Goodell has no plans to release a report on the Washington Football Team's reportedly rampant workplace misconduct, but he wants the world to believe him that Dan Snyder has been suitably punished.

The NFL commissioner addressed the fallout of the league's investigation into Washington with reporters on Tuesday, standing by the league's handling of one of its most reviled team owners. Goodell claimed Snyder has been "held accountable," per video from The Washington Post's Nicki Jhabvala.

Goodell's answer:

"I do think he's been held accountable for it. I think the organization has been held accountable and I think we've given an unprecedented fine. Dan Snyder has not been involved with the organization now for almost four months.

"We obviously focus more on making sure that policies that they had, many of which they put into place prior to this investigation, but also coming out of it, were put into place and that they will be maintained, and that we can ensure that won't happen in this organization."

Following the NFL's year-long investigation, the Washington Football Team was fined $10 million. Snyder would later step down from overseeing day-to-day operations for the team, though you could hardly say he is not involved, as Goodell claims, when it was his wife who took control in his stead.

Washington's punishment was blasted by Lisa Banks, an attorney representing 40 former Washington employees who claimed to experience sexual harassment while working with the team. In a statement, Banks accused the NFL of protecting one of its club owners, calling the fine "pocket change" for Snyder (estimated net worth: $4 billion) and "a slap in the face" for her clients and other accusers.

One of the reasons many have taken issue with the NFL's handling of Washington is the league's decision to not have investigator Beth Wilkinson produce a written report on her findings. Instead, the league had her deliver an oral presentation behind closed doors.

In response to the calls for an actual report to be produced, Goodell said the league would not do so out of concern for the anonymity of those who came forward.

Goodell's answer:

"We are very cautious of making sure that we're protecting those who came forward. They were incredibly brave, incredibly open and we respect the pain that they probably went through all over again to come forward, so that was a very high priority for us.

"Second would be our focus, and our focus remains is make sure that all of our clubs operate at the highest level as far as workforce and workplace and making sure that we set the highest standard. We actually spent some time talking about that today, and we'll continue those discussions going forward because it's an important thing for us."

While Goodell claims to be protecting the team's accusers, quite a few of them have publicly called for a report to be produced. The league is also facing calls from Congress for a report.