An in depth view of the brand new Washington Commanders uniforms following the announcement of the Washington Football Team’s name change to the Washington Commanders at FedExField on February 02, 2022 in Landover, Maryland.
Rob Carr | Getty Images
The NFL’s Washington Commanders pays $625,000 to settle allegations brought by the Washington, D.C., attorney general that the organization did not return fans’ ticket deposits, the AG’s office announced Monday.
Former D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine sued the Commanders in November, alleging the team cheated residents out of their security deposits collected from season ticket holders and used the cash for its own purposes. The lawsuit also claimed the team “intentionally complicated the return process by imposing extra, burdensome conditions that weren’t previously adequately disclosed.”
Racine alleged the Commanders sold premium seating tickets to D.C. fans since 1996, which sometimes required a security deposit. While the team promised tickets holders they’d get their deposits back inside 30 days of the contracts’ expiration, Racine alleged the team pocketed the cash, sometimes for over a decade, and spent it.
A Commanders spokesperson said in a press release the team hasn’t collected security deposits in greater than a decade and has been “actively working to return any remaining deposits since 2014.”
“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement on the matter with the D.C. attorney general and can work with the office to meet our obligations to our fans,” the spokesperson said.
The team denied wrongdoing in settling the claims.
Per the settlement agreement, the Commanders pays greater than $200,000 to affected fans, in addition to $425,000 to the district for “restitution, attorneys’ fees, costs related to the investigation and contributions to the District’s litigation support fund,” in response to a news release from the office of Brian Schwalb, the present AG.
The agreement stipulates the Commanders must conduct a public record seek for affected fans and try to notify them by multiple means, including phone calls and emails. The team also can have to prominently disclose the refund process on its website and supply the attorney general’s office with “regular reports” documenting its attempts to return the money.
In a press release tied to the settlement agreement, Schwalb said his office “will maintain strict oversight over the Commanders” to make sure fans are properly reimbursed for the total refund they’re entitled to.
“Our office takes seriously the duty to implement DC consumer protection laws by holding accountable anyone that tries to take advantage of District consumers,” he added.
The Commanders have been hit with several claims of misconduct from contained in the team’s front office lately. In 2022, a report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee said the NFL and the Commanders had misled the general public concerning an investigation into long-standing misconduct within the team’s workplace.
