Full accounting, please
This year’s Super Bowl saw some historic firsts for women in the National Football League. On the field were a record-breaking three women—two coaches and a referee. Nearly half of the NFL’s fans are women, so it’s good that it finally took some steps toward equity. But the real test of the league’s treatment of women will be what it does about the credible but unresolved allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against the Washington Football Team.
For the past eight months, the team and its owner, Daniel Snyder, have been the subjects of an investigation by an outside law firm. Snyder hired Washington attorney Beth Wilkinson in July 2020 after a damning report by The Post detailing allegations by 15 former female employees of the team and two female sports reporters that they were sexually harassed and subject to verbal abuse from male executives. The NFL took over the investigation in August after another alarming report from The Post revealed how the team’s broadcast department secretly produced tawdry videos of outtakes of a cheerleader photo shoot, allegedly for the enjoyment of Snyder and other male executives.
In the past, the NFL released the full reports of investigations into its handling of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s assault on his now-wife and into alleged cheating by the New England Patriots. By contrast, the NFL never released the findings of its 2018 investigation, led by former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White, into then-Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson regarding allegations of sexual harassment and racist language. With no advance notice, it issued a terse news release that the probe “did substantiate the claims that have been made” and announced a fine of $2.75 million. Richardson was spared embarrassment and later sold the team.
No doubt there are some Washington Football fans who are so sick of Snyder and his serial mishandling of the team that they might welcome a similar outcome. A slap on the wrist and leave to slink away. That must not happen here; there must be full disclosure of what Wilkinson discovered and what she recommended.