After Commanders sale, what now for the women who stood up to Dan Snyder?

“It was glorious.”

Melanie Coburn’s ride pulled up to the party that most feared would never come. Hundreds of jubilant fans clad in burgundy and gold cheered and alternated chants of “F— Dan Snyder” and “Thank you, Josh.” In the crowd, she saw a familiar face.

It was Mark Ein, a D.C. businessman with whom Coburn once worked and who had just become a limited partner of the Washington Commanders, after his childhood friend Josh Harris bought the team for a North American record $6.05 billion. Coburn “beelined” for Ein and hugged him, surrendering her emotions to the moment.

“I started bawling, and he was choked up,” she told The Athletic. “It was so nice.”

At that moment, Coburn experienced something that NFC East rivals became accustomed to during 24 years of facing Snyder’s team: victory.

It was a celebration that began one day earlier for Coburn and dozens of fellow ex-employees. On July 20, inside a conference room at a JW Marriott outside Minneapolis, NFL owners unanimously approved Harris’ purchase of the team from Snyder. Then the league released the findings from Mary Jo White’s investigation, corroborating allegations against Snyder, and fined the outgoing owner $60 million.