Season after season, they enabled and even prospered Snyder. He ran his franchise with all the trustworthiness and temperament of a drug lord? No problem. Presided over a team headquarters that turned into a peep show, in which women employees were leered at and harassed? No problem. Made a $1.6 million settlement for an alleged assault of a female executive on his private plane, an allegation he has called “meritless”? No problem. Took out a suspect line of credit while spending like a treasury-draining sultan, as ESPN reported this week? No problem. The league gave him a virtue-signaling slap on the wrist — after extending his debt ceiling by $450 million.

The NFL had no problem with any of his corrosive practices, even as the acid spill crept closer to them. Foisted off expired beer well past its “freshness date” on fans for $9 a pop, and peddled sour, rancid old peanuts from defunct Independence Air, past their shelf life? No problem. Lied about season-ticket waiting lists, deceived customers about fees? Not a problem, either.

You know when they started caring? When it finally became clear that Snyder had so exhausted local goodwill that he couldn’t get a new stadium deal done. Only then did they decide to do something about him.

[Or does the league finally have Snyder where they want him? Jenkins makes a pretty good argument for that, and also argues that anything less than total war on Snyder would be a mistake. But that shouldn’t obscure the fact that the league tolerated Snyder far longer than they should have, and that should have some real-world consequences for Goodell and the league. In these accountability-free days, however, don’t hold your breath. — Ed]