Dan Snyder Is Just The Beginning, Sports Is Full Of Rotten Team Owners

At this point, it feels like Dan Snyder’s days are numbered.

For years he was adamant that his franchise would always be named after a racist slur. We now know that Washington’s football team will unveil a new name in the days to come, as the combination of public outrage and pressure from corporate sponsors have forced Snyder to bend the knee.

And on Thursday, the kill shot was delivered when the Washington Post dropped a report detailing the reports of 15 women that experienced sexual harassment and verbal abuse by former team employees. According to the story, “The allegations raised by [Emily] Applegate and others — running from 2006 to 2019 — span most of Snyder’s tenure as owner and fall into two categories: unwelcome overtures or comments of a sexual nature, and exhortations to wear revealing clothing and flirt with clients to close sales deals.”

Mind you, Snyder’s franchise just dealt with a 2018 scandal in which it was reported that cheerleaders were used as escorts to appease clients and sponsors.

And while it’s never been reported that Snyder has ever actively participated in any of these incidents, whatever he’s doing has allowed these types of things to go to unchecked, creating a culture of hate, harassment, assault, and intolerance.

But, he’s not the only one. Below you will find a list of owners in sports that have crossed the line. And unfortunately, due to their power, privilege, and money, many still remain in power.

Bob McNair

Before passing away at the age of 81 in 2018, the former Houston Texans owner did his due diligence when it came to racism, as he let us know that he didn’t like Black people. During McNair’s tenure, the team publicly declared that at one point they wouldn’t trade for or sign players that kneeled in peaceful protests in the past. In 2017, McNair infamously compared Black NFL players to “inmates running the prison.” He would later apologize after catching heat. However, he didn’t mean it. In 2018, he told the Wall Street Journal, “The main thing I regret is apologizing.”

Mark Cuban

While he may be on the right side of history now, as he’s been speaking out during the pandemic and in this moment of “racial awakening,” it doesn’t erase the fact that 2018 happened. Yet again, another Sports Illustrated exclusive detailed how a toxic culture was taking place within a franchise. The Dallas Mavericks front office tolerated sexual harassment, domestics abuse, and employees that watched porn at work, who also left used condoms laying around. Cynthia Marshall was brought in to be the team’s CEO, and since then she’s cleaned house. The Mavericks situation caused NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to send a memo to teams advocating for better female hiring and harassment reporting.

Jerry Jones

Oddly, the most famous owner in sports has gone ghost in 2020, despite the number of historic things that are taking place. And on top of all the head-scratching decisions he’s made when it’s come to the Dallas Cowboys, Jones has a history of sexual assault allegations over the years.

Kelly Loeffler

The Atlanta Dream owner and Republican Senator from Georgia, has been in the news lately due to the protection and privileges her race and gender have provided for her, despite her racist and unethical ways. As a proud gun supporter, Loeffler referred to legally-armed Black people, in an open-carry state, as “mob rule,” and is in the middle of the battle with the WNBA and its players due to her hatred of the Black Lives Matter Movement. A government official that owns a professional women’s basketball team has the nerve to have an issue with the infusion of sports and politics.

Loeffler also doesn’t know how to “read a room,” as she took to Twitter to post hollow words about the passing of John Lewis.

“John Lewis changed Georgia, America, and the world for the better. He lived a life of service and his impact cannot be overstated. Jeff & I are praying for his loved ones during this difficult time.”

Martha Ford

While the former Detroit Lions owner stepped down from her positions last month, she made sure she ruffled feathers during her final years on the job. Back in 2017, Ford tried to bribe players with a check, by claiming she would donate her name and money to community issues if they didn’t kneel during the national anthem. A few months later, she fired the team’s only Black head coach in franchise history, Jim Caldwell, who was also one of its best, for Matt Patricia, a Bill Belichick disciple that’s been nothing but a failure in his time in Detroit.

Marge Schott

The former Cincinnati Reds owner was a handful. She was a fan of Hitler and had no problem using racist slurs when it came to Asians, Jews, and Black people. She was banned from baseball for a year and was forced to give up control of her team. Last month, the University of Cincinnati took her name off its baseball stadium.

Donald Sterling

Sterling is famous for being NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s first casualty, as he was banned from the league and forced to sell his team after TMZ released audio of him, in 2014, making racist comments to his girlfriend about bringing Black people to games. Players, and some media members, had been accusing Sterling of being racist years prior.

Gedvydas Vainauskas

A few years after Sterling, the former Euroleague basketball president was forced out at BC Lietuvos Rytas after saying that having too many Black players on his team could lead to the formation of gangs.

Robert Kraft

In 2019, the Patriots team owner and longtime Trump buddy was charged with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution, as he was allegedly caught on camera getting “happy endings” from massage parlors. Kraft was among 25 people that were caught up in an investigation into sex trafficking at Florida day spas.

John Mara

Back in 2017, the owner of the New York Giants told The MMQB that all the “emotional mail” from fans were the main reason why he and other team owners were staying away from Colin Kaepernick. That was the day that we discovered that racial equality was an issue for Mara, while domestic abuse was not. Mara not only kept kicker Josh Brown on the roster after being aware that he’d been arrested for domestic violence, but he also signed him to a new deal worth more money.

If you haven’t noticed by now, all of these owners are white. It’s a reflection of our country and how things tend to go in the workplace. Because only in America could one race continue to keep a stranglehold on ownership, while constantly proving that they’re unfit to do the job.