Commanders
- According to the Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, the source of claims that the Commanders and owner Dan Snyder withheld ticketing revenue from the NFL is former employee Jason Friedman, who worked for the team in ticket sales for 24 years until 2020.
- One of the sources told Kaplan, however, that Friedman presented no evidence for his claims and it’s not clear that he held a position of enough authority to be able to have access to the evidence that would be necessary.
- Friedman is represented by Lisa Banks, the attorney who also represents the more than 40 women who say they were sexually harassed while working for the team. She and the team have traded statements this week, with the team denying the allegations. The NFL has not commented.
- Kaplan talked to Frank Hawkins, the NFL’s senior vice president of business affairs until 2008, who said it would be difficult for the Commanders to conceal this type of embezzling: “Essentially what you have is an approved manifest that shows your number of tickets and then you have weekly gate reports. So the money comes into the league midweek, and (the teams) have to certify, the CFO or treasurer of the team certifies … it has to be certified, too, by outside accountants in the quartiles. And that’s when it’s going to get caught.”
Cowboys
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones defended the workplace culture of the franchise after paying a $2.4 million settlement to cheerleaders over a voyeurism incident involving former Cowboys Director of Personal Relations Richard Dalrymple.
“That settlement was in the best interest of everyone involved, including our fans,” Jones said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “We have a very high appreciation for our visibility and for the interest in what we do. I’m very proud of our workplace culture. Extraordinarily proud. We have great systems. We have great HR. We have a high sensitivity. … I have, and should, a big awareness of how other corporate entities are with these issues. And I recognize how sensitive they are and how important they are. But I have the unique position of knowing about other sports teams’ workplace cultures. As an executive of the Cowboys, I have a good feel for other businesses and other organizations’ workplace cultures. In my mind, we’re really good. We have room for improvement, yes, but that’s ongoing. … We’re always striving to get the best grade.”
- The Cowboys expressed interest in trading for WR DeVante Parker before Miami sent him to the Patriots. Dallas is still looking to add to their wide receiver corps. (Adam Schefter)
Giants
- SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano writes the Giants basically felt like they were forced to restructure CB Adoree’ Jackson‘s deal to have some breathing room to operate and more restructures could be coming for players like DL Leonard Williams or WR Kenny Golladay.
- Vacchiano adds the Giants are still willing to eat some salary to facilitate a trade involving CB James Bradberry. They could sign him to an extension to lower his cap hit but Vacchiano says there have been no talks in that regard and there’s not much motivation for Bradberry to do that either.
- NorthJersey.com’s Art Stapleton mentions a factor in the Giants releasing S Logan Ryan despite the minimal cap savings is they may have wanted to clear the way for S Xavier McKinney to step into a larger leadership role.
- Alabama RB Brian Robinson had a top 30 visit with the Giants. (Billy Marshall)
- Michigan RB Hassan Haskins says he met with the Giants at the Combine. (Justin Melo)
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