[Senator Clay Davis]

When this does eventually come to a head it's gonna be quite the "Get your popcorn ready" moment.

DAN SNYDER DOES this thing when he feels cornered, say those who know him well. He paces in a hotel suite, or on his superyacht, or at River View, his $48 million Virginia estate. Cradling a drink in one hand, he tells members of his inner circle about the dirt he has accumulated on fellow owners, coaches, executives, even his own employees -- all the stuff he's learned from other sources, including private investigative firms. He never says exactly what he knows, only that in his 23 years as owner of the Washington Commanders, he knows a lot. And that in the zero-sum world of billionaires, this is how you survive. Snyder recently told a close associate that he has gathered enough secrets to "blow up" several NFL owners, the league office and even commissioner Roger Goodell.

"They can't f--- with me," he has said privately.

Senior team executives and confidants have heard him say it since he was considered merely one of the worst owners in sports. Now that he's facing investigations on multiple fronts and running out of high-powered allies, he alludes more than ever to the dirty work. Snyder, now 57 years old, has told associates he will not lose his beloved franchise without a fight that would end with multiple casualties.

"The NFL is a mafia," he recently told an associate. "All the owners hate each other."

"That's not true," one veteran owner says. "All the owners hate Dan."

According to more than 30 owners, league and team executives, lawyers and current and former Commanders employees interviewed by ESPN, the fear of reprisal that Snyder has instilled in his franchise, poisoning it on the field and off, has expanded to some of his fellow owners. Multiple owners and league and team sources say they've been told that Snyder instructed his law firms to hire private investigators to look into other owners -- and Goodell.

League sources say the NFL is aware that Snyder has claimed to be tracking owners. But none of the owners or sources would reveal how they learned of Snyder's alleged effort to use private investigators. It's also unclear how many owners are said to have been targeted, though sources say they believe it's at least six. One owner was told by Snyder directly that he "has dirt on Jerry Jones," a team source told ESPN, though the nature of the information was unclear. Another source confirmed that Snyder has told a confidant that he has "a file" on Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner who has served as Snyder's friend, mentor and longtime firewall of support.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-roger-goodell