Washington NFL Team president says fans will see 'demonstrable steps that can't be denied' toward reform
Jason Wright, the new president of the Washington Football Team and the NFL’s first-ever Black team president, has a huge task in front of him.
The team formerly known as the Redskins has not won a playoff game since 2005. It has had five different head coaches since then. Its team name has been under fire since 1992. The organization ditched the Redskins name this year, but hasn’t yet announced a new name. And two damaging exposés this summer from the Washington Post painted a picture of a poisonous culture known for harassment and sexism.
Wright, a former NFL player and ex-McKinsey consultant, is being brought in as a reformer. But he’s hesitant to say that the first order of business is a full house-cleaning at the organization.
“House cleaning is a big term, it suggests that there’s nothing good going on,” Wright told Yahoo Finance Live in a candid interview on Wednesday, 10 days after his hiring. “What I’ve learned in my few days on the job is that there are some bright spots here in this organization... But you’re not wrong that getting our culture right, setting new leadership standards, having transparency and managing those is really going to unlock the performance of our talented folks. And we absolutely have to do it quickly.”
Indeed, some convincing change had better come fast. The numerous examples of harassment reported by the Washington Post have mostly been attributed to staff members now gone from the team, but the chorus of critics pushing for Dan Snyder to sell the team is louder than ever—and now reportedly includes FedEx CEO and team minority owner Fred Smith.
Wright says this is his message to disheartened Washington fans: “You’re hearing new words—from Coach [Ron] Rivera, from me, from [new lead broadcaster] Julie Donaldson, other new leaders in the organization. And you’re seeing new deeds—the hiring of all of us, the internal investigation; swift move to take people out of the organization that were found to be bad apples early on, even prior to the investigation. You’re hearing new words, you’re seeing new deeds. Keep looking for those. And the moment that you don’t see us doing deeds in that direction, you should shout. And hold us accountable. But I expect that with our new leadership team, with the great talent that’s in house, you'll continue to see demonstrable steps that can't be denied that this is a new direction for the franchise."
If fixing the team’s culture problem and damaged reputation isn’t enough of a task, Wright and the Washington Football Team, along with the other 31 NFL franchises, is dealing with how to start the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Washington and the Las Vegas Raiders are the only two teams so far to have announced they will not allow fans to attend any of their home games all season. (Other teams, including the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, L.A. Chargers, and L.A. Rams have said they will not have fans “for the initial part of the season” or “until further notice,” which leaves the door open to begin allowing fans at some point if they decide it’s safe.)
Wright explains that early call this way: “The best we could see in the data, especially what has happened with European soccer and other leagues that were traveling, it’s just not a good idea for us. That’s the business decision that was made before I got here, but I’m fully aligned with it.”
In addition to the overseas soccer interruptions Wright references, the Big Ten and PAC-12, two of the “Power 5” U.S. college athletics conferences, have canceled fall sports, including football. The cancellations will cost member universities billions of dollars. The remaining three college conferences are moving full steam ahead, scheduled to start their seasons in September.
Before they do, the NFL opener is set for Sept. 10.
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Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance and closely covers sports business. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
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