The Washington Commanders agreed to a $1.3 million settlement with season ticket holders following allegations that the organization neglected to return ticket deposits and other fees.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Tuesday the agreement with the team, which has already returned over $600,000 in deposits to roughly 475 season ticket holders. Washington agreed to pay an additional $700,000 in penalties and costs as part of the two-year investigation.
The failure to return deposits occurred when Dan Snyder owned the franchise before Josh Harris and his partners purchased the team for $6.05 billion in July 2023. The initial allegations about how the team approached returning season ticket holder deposits occurred during a congressional investigation regarding questionable business and workplace practices conducted throughout Snyder’s ownership.
“Our investigation found that the Commanders’ prior ownership unlawfully retained security deposits for years after they should have been returned to consumers,” Miyares said in a statement. “I thank the team’s current ownership for cooperating with this investigation and for working towards rectifying the consumer harm we identified.”
All fines are the responsibility of Snyder, according to a person briefed on the situation.
The Commanders previously settled similar allegations with the office of Maryland and District of Columbia attorney generals.
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Commanders settle ticket holder deposits lawsuit
A team spokesperson said in a statement, “We are pleased that this settlement has been reached, resolving issues that occurred under prior ownership.”
According to the statement from Miyares’ office, the team “entered long-term contracts with season ticket holders” beginning in 1997 that, in certain cases require payments of refundable security deposits. The team “unlawfully retained significant sums of security deposits, often imposing additional conditions on consumers seeking refunds.” Snyder purchased the franchise from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke in 1997.
Washington sent approximately 650 form letters to former season ticket holders with unrefunded security deposits on file, representing that it “would remit unclaimed funds to state unclaimed property offices,” per the statement from Miyares office. “Despite that commitment, the team failed to remit a single unclaimed security deposit to a state unclaimed property office, including to the Virginia Department of the Treasury, until at least 2023.”
(Photo: Brett Davis / USA Today)
