There were tears, hugs, at least two panic attacks and some veteran dance moves in Suite 108 at FedEx Field on Sunday.
After years of acrimony, “I can finally watch football again,” said Tiffani Johnston, who once again shook burgundy and gold pompoms (this time in an executive suite as a spectator) as the Washington Commanders scored the final touchdown of their season opener and the rain clouds — in a ridiculous metaphor — parted for the sun.
“I never, ever imagined we’d be in this place right now,” said Johnston, who went from cheerleading for the team to testifying before Congress about it — a David and Goliath story that ultimately saw the big man fall.
The people in that suite with Johnston — nearly all women — were the ex-cheerleaders and staffers who testified and spoke up over the way former Commanders owner Daniel Snyder did business.
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Their stories alleging sexual misconduct, harassment, financial impropriety and shocking unprofessionalism made it to congressional hearings on Capitol Hill, increasing pressure on the wildly unpopular Snyder in the ramp-up to his decision to sell the team after 24 painful years at the helm.
And this day — with new owners in the box and Snyder nowhere in sight (his yacht is reportedly on a course to Singapore) — was their ultimate, #MeToo moment.
“Pop!” went another champagne bottle. “I love that sound,” said Melanie Coburn, a former Commanders cheerleader and marketing director who had been outspoken about the mistreatment of women in the organization.
“The universe is amazing!” she posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside a shot of herself smiling and a stunning view of the field.
The stadium had sold out for the first time in years as fans who had sworn off the Commanders during the perpetually underperforming and scandal-plagued Snyder years returned to witness the team eke out a 20-16 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
“This is really cathartic for a lot of us,” she said.
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Most of the hugs in that suite began with her.
It was the first time Coburn, and many others, had been to the stadium as spectators. It was the first time — for most of them — to return after explosive scandals that led to resignations and firings.
It was also the first football game — ever — for some of their attorneys.
“It’s a fourth down,” one of the former cheerleaders explained to a civil rights attorney. “So they get one more chance.”
Side by side, some in bedazzled clothes and platforms, some in sensible shoes and pressed pants, the sisterhood of empowerment politics met itself in a mood amplified by an ebullient, sold-out crowd and explained across chests and backs in T-shirts and jerseys — a popular one being a burgundy No. 23 jersey that simply said “BYE DAN.”
“It’s bittersweet, to be honest,” said Emily Applegate, who had recounted years of alleged sexual innuendo and bullying as a marketing coordinator when she worked for the team in 2014. “I had a panic attack coming in. It brought everything back up and I could just hear Mitch [Gershman] yelling at me as soon I got here.”
Applegate was one of the first women to speak out against Snyder in a Washington Post story by Will Hobson and Liz Clarke in 2020. She left the team after one year and it took her awhile to understand that the workplace culture she said was harassing, berating and lewd was not normal.
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“I was in my 20s,” said Applegate, who now works as a legal assistant and is heading back to law school. “It was my first adult, corporate job. I didn’t know any better.”
The gathering was put together by Lisa Banks, the lead lawyer who represented the staffers who all said their dream jobs in the NFL turned into nightmares under Snyder’s leadership.
Snyder had weathered so many scandals: the improperly chopped trees on his property, the controversial team name, the stadium location, ticket price hikes, an NFL investigation into unsavory profit-making schemes, the dismal team record, plummeting attendance, and unofficial videos using nude outtakes of cheerleader photo shoots.
But it was the two investigations into complaints by dozens of employees, the $60 million fine by the National Football League — all started by the people in Suite 108 plus others who didn’t come — that helped push him out, Banks said.
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“This is one of my most meaningful representations,” Banks said. “And I feel like we have a lot to celebrate.”
The women included the leader of the National Women’s Law Center, Fatima Goss Graves, and Jennifer Mondino, the director of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. These are the powerhouses behind the wave of firings, lawsuits and blockbuster revelations that were a part of the #MeToo movement.
It’s not often that civil rights attorneys get such a definitive win. This day was their spike of the ball.
None of Banks’s clients work with the Commanders anymore. A lot of them wouldn’t mind returning. All of them, as we spoke during the game, wondered whether the new owners even knew they were there.
“I think we would all like to know they hear us,” said Megan Imbert, a former producer in the broadcast department who walked into an editing bay in the summer of 2008 and saw an image on the screen she later learned was the lewd close-up of a cheerleader that would be used for that notorious video.
Imbert and Coburn have protested outside the Commanders’ stadium when the NFL took its time releasing the sexual harassment and workplace investigation. And they’ve been vocal in insisting the league comprehend the scope of the team’s dysfunction.
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They were talking about the long road they took the past few years when someone caused a stir near the pasta station and wine bar. It was Tad Brown, CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group that bought the Commanders. The women gathered around to speak with and to him.
He declined to comment on the record.
“It’s great that he came,” one former cheerleader said to another. “I mean, at least that, right?”
Brad Baker, a former team broadcast producer who helped in the cheerleader video investigation, echoed what many of the other women said: The NFL’s problems weren’t limited to the Commanders.
“I feel like with this, we scored a touchdown,” Baker said. “But we didn’t win the game.”
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