Consider the NFL’s headaches from just the last four months: one coach forced to resign after revelation of a history of homophobic and misogynistic emails; a former coach suing the league and three organizations alleging racism in hiring practices, not to mention an owner bribing him to lose; and a congressional committee requesting the league’s findings of its investigation into the Washington Commanders’ “highly unprofessional” workplace.
The latest black eye came Wednesday with the revelation of a reported $2.4 million settlement between the NFL’s flagship organization and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders amid accusations of voyeurism against a former Cowboys executive.
And that may not be the last of the Cowboys’ or NFL’s problems, according to Don Van Natta, author of the months-long ESPN investigation.
Congress might want to loop the Cowboys into that Commanders inquiry, too.
“I think they’re reviewing it,” Van Natta told me.
Even for an organization that has accumulated more than its share of unsavory headlines under Jerry Jones’ ownership, Wednesday’s story was stunning.
Rich Dalrymple — until recently the Cowboys’ longtime senior vice president of public relations and official gatekeeper to the owner — allegedly used his cellphone to tape four cheerleaders undressing in their locker room during a 2015 event at AT&T Stadium. He was also accused of taking “upskirt” photos of Charlotte Jones Anderson in the Cowboys’ war room during the 2015 NFL draft.
Charlotte, of course, is Jerry’s daughter.
A Cowboys representative said Dalrymple acknowledges entering the cheerleaders’ locker room but claims he quickly left after realizing it was occupied. In a statement, Dalrymple called the other accusations false.
Nevertheless, the timing of the May 16, 2016 settlement – agreed upon shortly after lawyers for the cheerleaders learned of the draft room allegations against Dalrymple – was notable. At the time, the PR chief was in the process of spearheading Jerry’s Pro Football Hall of Fame campaign with media voters, an undertaking that may have helped his boss’s election in 2017. Publicity from a scandal almost certainly would have killed Jerry’s candidacy.
As for the veracity of Wednesday’s allegations, the finer points are problematic, to say the least. Van Natta said the Cowboys refused to provide him evidence they said they used to clear Dalrymple.
“We asked for it,” he said, “and we never got it.”
Then again, that’s the problem with internal investigations, isn’t it? Do you really trust the Cowboys or NFL to get to the bottom of anything?
Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee heard from six former Washington Commanders employees who say Daniel Snyder has not sufficiently been held accountable for his role in a workplace culture rampant with sexual harassment. In fact, the ex-employees even alleged new charges against Snyder, who has denied them.
As a result of the testimony, the committee sent Roger Goodell a second letter requesting that the league release the full findings of its investigation. The NFL, which has already turned over nearly 80,000 pages of documents, claims that some documents are protected by attorney-client privilege. NFL.com has called it a “legal limbo.”
Even at that, it’s been enlightening. In the course of the back-and-forth between the congressional committee and the NFL, we learned that when the league attorney in charge of the investigation went to Goodell to present the results, he asked that she just tell him what she’d found. In order to protect the anonymity of witnesses, the commissioner said.
As we learned in the fouled-up Baylor investigation, an oral presentation is also a convenient way to keep nasty facts from getting out.
Bottom line: The NFL fined Washington $10 million and Snyder agreed to turn over day-to-day operations to his wife, Tanya, which is like Bonnie taking the wheel from Clyde.
As for the impact of that $10 million fine? According to a report in Forbes last fall, thanks to the NFL’s new $111 billion media rights deal, the average value of an NFL team is $3.48 billion. That’s up 14%, the largest gain in five years, in the face of a pandemic, no less.
What’s another black eye when you get that kind of bang for your buck?
“It doesn’t keep the gravy train from rolling,” Van Natta said.
No organization keeps getting richer than the Cowboys, the world’s most valuable sports franchise at $6.5 billion. No fine will make a dent in that pile. Let’s hope the congressional committee does, indeed, widen its inquiry to include the Cowboys. Jerry’s joint could use a little sunshine.
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