Snyder Considers Sale, Sued By DC AG: Commanders Year In Review

ASHBURN, VA — 2022 was a busy year for the Washington Commanders and team owner Dan Snyder.

In the past year, the embattled NFL team announced its new name and branding, bought land for a possible stadium in Northern Virginia, faced a lawsuit from the D.C. Attorney General, and was the subject of a congressional investigation. Snyder was also accused of sexual assault and announced that he would look to sell the team.

Patch has covered each story as it broke. Here is a round-up of the Commanders off-field stories in 2022, in case you missed any.

Name Change: The Washington Football Team Becomes the Washington Commanders

On Feb. 2, the franchise announced its long-awaited new name and branding after playing for two seasons under a placeholder name. The franchise that began as the Boston Braves would enter the 2022 season as the Washington Commanders, with a new logo and new uniforms.

At the time, fan reaction was mixed. Some fans who attended the naming ceremony at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, were excited for a new era.

Read more: Washington Commanders: WFT Unveils New Team Name

"At the end of the day, it’s not about the name,” self-proclaimed super fan Road Warrior told Patch. “It’s about the people.”

Rev T, another fan who attended the ceremony, embraced the new name with open arms, and expressed optimism about the team’s 2022 season. “We’re going to take command of the NFL. Because we believe.”

Read more: DC Fans React To Washington Football Team's New Name

Another lifelong fan of the team was more emphatic about his dislike for the new Commanders name and used social media to highlight his concerns.

"It's awful. It's militaristic. There's no ring to it," Donny tweeted. "It doesn't mean anything inspiring or exciting. It's overly long. It doesn't roll off the tongue. It just seems like a generic, disattached thing ... that we're supposed to just like and move on with."

Commanders Consider Building A Stadium In Virginia

In February, the Virginia General Assembly proposed a bill to create a statewide football stadium authority. The bill to approve the authority would have allowed the state to sell up to $1 billion in bonds to support a new football stadium.

In May, ESPN's John Keim reported that the Washington Commanders purchased 100 acres in Woodbridge, Virginia. A source told Keim the land was the Commanders' preferred site for a new stadium.

See also: Commanders Buy Land For Preferred Stadium Site In NoVA

The franchise did not immediately commit to building a new stadium. ESPN reported that Commanders officials were waiting to see how much money the state and Prince William County would commit before finalizing plans for the new stadium.

In June, the bill to establish a stadium authority died in the Virginia legislature. Talks among state Senate and House of Delegate members to determine the amount of taxpayer support received by the Commanders to build a stadium in Virginia got bogged down in controversies around the team and Snyder.

Read more: Lawmakers Give Up On Bill To Bring Commanders Stadium To Virginia

State Sen. Bryce Reeves, a Republican from Fredericksburg, said in a tweet that the stadium bills never should have been considered.

"The Washington Commanders stadium deal should have been dead on arrival from the start," Reeves said. "I voted no on this back in January. Dan Snyder doesn’t need our tax subsidies and government-funded stadiums have proven to benefit the rich and not the average hard-working Virginian."

Still, legislation could be reintroduced in 2023 to try to get the team to build a stadium in Virginia to replace the existing stadium in Prince George’s County, Maryland, where the team has played since 1997, according to Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Springfield).

Congressional Committee Investigates Snyder and the Commanders

Throughout 2022, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform delved into the Washington Commanders organization and its workplace culture.

The committee opened its investigation after a 2021 report from the NFL found that Snyder and the franchise fostered a hostile workplace. The NFL fined Snyder $10 million.

The committee released its report in December. The report claimed that Snyder tried to avoid a subpoena by staying on his yacht and "failed to provide full and complete testimony" when he sat for a deposition.

Committee members claimed Snyder knowingly fostered a hostile workplace, interfered with an NFL investigation, and intimidated witnesses through his own shadow investigation.

Snyder refused to appear at one of the committee's public hearings. The committee report alleges that Snyder stayed aboard his yacht to avoid being served a subpoena. Snyder eventually testified during a private, remote deposition.

Read more: Snyder Avoided Congressional Subpoena, Dodged Questions

"Over the course of the deposition, he claimed more than 100 times that he could not recall the answers to the Committee’s questions, including basic inquiries about his role as Team owner and multiple allegations of misconduct," the committee report said. "Mr. Snyder also gave misleading testimony about his efforts to interfere with the Wilkinson Investigation," which was the NFL's investigation into Commanders workplace misconduct.

Snyder, Commanders Announce Potential Sale

In November, the Commanders announced that Snyder hired Bank of America Securities to consider a potential sale of the franchise. The team's statement said Bank of America would consider "potential transactions." This could include selling a minority stake of the Commanders or the entire franchise.

"We are exploring all options," a Commanders spokesperson told several reporters.

Dan Snyder and his wife, Tanya, have owned 100 percent of the Washington Commanders since they bought out the minority owners in 2021.

"The Snyders remain committed to the team, all of its employees, and its countless fans to putting the best product on the field and continuing the work to set the gold standard for workplaces in the NFL," the team statement said.

Fans and sports writers approached the news of a possible sale with elation. Jake Russell is a writer for The Washington Post.

"For the fanbase, the Snyders selling 100% of the Commanders would essentially be the next best thing to winning a Super Bowl given the state of the franchise," Russell wrote in a tweet.

Al Galdi is a podcast host who focuses on D.C. area sports, including the Commanders. "Maybe the single greatest piece of news in Washington, D.C. sports history," Galdi wrote after the news of a possible sale broke.

Potential New Owners Emerge For The Commanders

Since Snyder and the Commanders announced the possible sale in November, several celebrities have announced that they would be interested in purchasing the team.

The Washington Post reported that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and music mogul Jay-Z, both billionaires, may combine for a bid. Meanwhile, Byron Allen is building his own group of investors to bid on the franchise.

Allen came to prominence in the 1990s as a television host. He would later become the founder of Entertainment Studios, which owns the Weather Channel and regional Fox Sports networks. Forbes estimated that Allen's media empire is worth several billion dollars.

Bezos has several ties to the Washington, D.C., region, while Jay-Z and Allen have experience bidding for professional sports franchises.

Bezos owns the Washington Post, space exploration company Blue Origin and Amazon. Amazon is working on building a second headquarters in Northern Virginia under his leadership.

Jay-Z was previously a minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets before selling his shares in 2013. Allen bid on the Denver Broncos when the team was up for sale earlier this year.

Famous fans of the Commanders Matthew McConaughey and Kevin Durant have also had rumored interest in joining an ownership group. The New York Post reported that McConaughey would join a bid alongside Bezos and Jay-Z.

In November, Durant told ESPN that he would love to be part of a Commanders ownership group. Durant is a Maryland native and NBA star who currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets.

"In a perfect world, I would be a part of it," Durant told ESPN of his interest in a team stake. "I would love to do it. I would love to give a little bit of my money to be a part of the Commanders, but we'll see."

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported the Commanders could sell for up to $7 billion. Glazer noted the sale could be completed early in 2023. The sale could be finalized at the NFL's annual league meetings beginning on March 26, 2023.

D.C. Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Snyder, NFL

In November, shortly after Snyder announced that he may sell the team, the D.C. Attorney General filed a consumer protection lawsuit. The lawsuit named Snyder, the NFL, and league commissioner Roger Goodell.

Attorney General Karl Racine alleged that Commanders owner Dan Snyder and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell colluded to bury the results of the NFL's investigation into the franchise's toxic workplace culture. Racine said Snyder and Goodell intentionally deceived D.C. residents about the investigation to protect the league's image and profits.

Read more: Snyder, NFL Interfered In Harassment Investigation: DC Lawsuit

Racine claimed that the NFL and Snyder lied about what they knew regarding the franchise's toxic workplace, and what they were going to do about it following an investigation. The official complaint states that Snyder was responsible for his organization's culture and lied about it.

"What we're concerned about with the NFL is that they told the public they were coming in to conduct an independent investigation," Racine said. "We know that there was no accountability. We know that pursuant to an agreement with Mr. Snyder, Mr. Snyder was given access to the information."

Under D.C. law, the NFL and the Commanders could be fined $5,000 per law they violated.

More Commanders stories:

• Removing Dan Snyder Should Be Considered, Fellow NFL Owner Says
• Commanders Owner Dan Snyder Accused Of Sexual Assault
• Dan Snyder Has Dirt To 'Blow Up' NFL Owners, Commissioner
• FedEx Field, Home Of The Priciest Beer, Ranked Worst Stadium In NFL
• Maryland, Virginia Leaders Compete To Be Commanders' Home Turf