Washington Spirit CEO and managing partner Steve Baldwin has resigned amid unspooling investigations into workplace harassment and a toxic team culture.

It is not clear yet if Baldwin also plans to sell his controlling interest in the club. Team president and former D.C. United coach Ben Olsen has been tapped to replace Baldwin in the interim.

“This was an extremely difficult decision for me. I have poured everything into building this club and care deeply for the players, staff and fan base,” Baldwin said in a statement posted on the team’s Twitter account. “I hope that stepping back removes me as a distraction and allows the club to thrive.”

Baldwin said in the statement that his decision to leave the leadership post, which he has held for three years, came following discussions with staff, investors, fans and players. He particularly noted a “recent request” from players for his resignation.

A group of 27 Spirit players sent a letter to Baldwin and team leadership calling for Baldwin to step down yesterday, The Washington Post reported. In the letter, players wrote that the damage to trust in Baldwin’s leadership was irreparable.

“We do not feel like we can recover from all that has been revealed in 2021,” the players said.

Baldwin has presided over an ongoing and increasingly public crisis over the Spirit’s team culture. Reporting from The Washington Post in August revealed allegations from three former players of verbal and emotional harassment on the part of then-Spirit coach Richie Burke.

Those allegations led to an investigation into Burke and the team by the National Women’s Soccer League — which culminated in Burke’s firing, a ban on Spirit leadership participating in NWSL governance, and further revelations that Baldwin and other team leaders were aware of the harassment but didn’t act adequately to stop it, according to further reporting from The Post. The investigation also found that Baldwin hired friends for jobs they were unqualified for, and that multiple male employees made misogynistic comments in the hearing of female colleagues.

In late September, non-controlling Spirit owner Y. Michele Kang called on Baldwin to resign and sell his shares to her, The Post reported. In a letter to investors and fans, Kang also said she was approached in the spring by Spirit players and staff, who told her personal accounts of the team’s toxic culture.

“Over the past five months, I have worked very hard to convince my co-owners that fundamental changes were necessary to provide a safe and professional workplace for our players and staff,” Kang’s letter reads. “These efforts were met with denial, evasion, and outright hostility, along with demands that I identify those who told me of these concerns.”

It’s not clear yet if Kang will ultimately purchase the controlling interest in the team from Baldwin, though reporting from The Athletic on Twitter suggests that Kang and Baldwin’s legal teams are in talks.

Fans — including the Spirit Squadron, the team’s supporter group, which pledged to limit its gameday activities until team leadership presented a plan to protect players and staff — have called for Baldwin to sell, using a  #SellTheTeamSteve hashtag on Twitter.

For now, Olsen “will have full authority over all club operations,” Baldwin’s statement said. Olsen was hired into the role in early September, after investigations into Burke and the team’s toxic workplace culture were already in full swing. At the time, Kang’s name was noticeably absent from the announcement, which featured Baldwin and the third co-owner, Bill Lynch.

The Spirit’s internal controversy comes as the NWSL itself struggles to respond to allegations of harassment and bad behavior in the workplace across several teams. On Saturday, league commissioner Lisa Baird resigned, and all games were suspended last weekend.