Dan Snyder Agrees to Sell Washington Commanders for $6 Billion

Once the Harris group submits its deal, the sale would have to be approved by the league’s finance committee and by at least three-quarters of the 31 other team owners, which could occur within weeks. Harris’s group includes Mitchell Rales, a billionaire from the Washington, D.C., area, and a group of limited partners that includes Magic Johnson.

The owners will next meet in person as a group in Minneapolis on May 22 and 23. Last June, the Walton family, founders of Walmart, bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion, about twice as much as the previous record high for an N.F.L. team.

Spokesmen for the Commanders, the N.F.L. and for Josh Harris declined to comment on the agreement.

Snyder and his wife, Tanya, a co-owner of the team, formally began a search for a buyer in November 2022, when they hired Bank of America to seek offers for all or a portion of the Commanders. They began to field offers just weeks after the owner Jim Irsay of the Indianapolis Colts said that Snyder “needs to be removed,” confirming what owners had been saying privately for months.

In recent years, Snyder has fended off a growing array of scandals and legal challenges. In July 2020, Snyder ceded to years of pressure, including from one of the team’s biggest sponsors, FedEx, and agreed to change its longtime name, which many considered a slur against Native Americans.

Weeks later, dozens of women accused Snyder and top executives of sexual harassment of female employees. Snyder hired a prominent Washington lawyer to look into the charges, which were detailed in The Washington Post, but the league quickly took over the investigation.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/sports/football/washington-commanders-sale-dan-snyder.html