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NEW YORK — Following an investigation and an inquiry by the House Oversight Committee over allegations of a toxic workplace at the Washington Commanders organization, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said there is “merit” to remove Daniel Snyder as the owner of the team.
Irsay spoke Tuesday afternoon at the Conrad Downtown Hotel in lower Manhattan, where the NFL is holding its fall league meeting.
“I assume we’re going to get into more and more discussion on that,” Irsay said. “It’s a difficult situation. I believe that there’s merit to remove him as owner of the (Commanders). I think it’s something that we have to review. We have to look at all the evidence and we have to be thorough in going forward. But I think it’s something that has to be given serious consideration.”
His comments present the harshest rebuke any NFL owner has publicly made about Snyder and his standing in the league.
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The NFL has appointed Mary Jo White, the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to investigate claims of financial misconduct and allegations of sexual assault against Snyder, both of which he has denied.
“I believe in the workplace today, the standard that the shield stands for in the NFL, that you have to stand for that and protect that,” said Irsay, who was suspended in 2014 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after a DWI.
“I think that once owners talk amongst each other, they’ll arrive to the right decision. Unfortunately, I believe that’s the road we probably need to go down and we probably need to finish the investigation, but it’s gravely concerning to me the things that have occurred there over the last 20 years.”
A recent report from ESPN indicated that Snyder had collected dirt on fellow owners and league executives and would potentially publicly expose them if he faced the pressure of removal.
“I don’t know about that,” Irsay said when asked if he thought Snyder had damaging information on other owners. “I could care less. You can investigate me until the cows come home, that’s not going to back me off. Private investigators or any of that stuff, to me, I just shrug it off. It’s irrelevant to me. I don’t know about any of that stuff, I just focus on the issue of what’s happened in Washington, and to me, it’s gravely concerning.”
Irsay said that owners would not put Snyder’s removal up for a vote Tuesday, but rather that this is something that would likely get consideration at future league meetings.
According to league policy, there would need to be 24 votes from the other owners to approve Snyder’s removal through a sale of the team.
When asked if he thought there was enough support to get to the 24 votes, Irsay said he thought “potentially there will be.”
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