Tag: Commanders future owner Josh Harris

Jason Wright to continue in role under Commanders new owner

Wright will have a chance to prove himself under new ownership.

[anyclip pubname=”2103″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8036″]

Jason Wright will be retained.

When the Josh Harris Group is named by the NFL later in July as the official owners of the Washington Commanders, apparently present Commanders President Jason Wright will not be replaced.

Ron Rivera has been in charge of the football operations since being hired by outgoing owner Daniel Snyder in 2020. Wright was hired and became the first Black team president in league history when he was hired in August 2020 to head the business operations of the Commanders.

It is hard to read what the import of this announcement actually communicates. Does it indicate Wright is safe and the Harris group is going to keep him? Is it because the purchase of the team coming only days before the opening of the 2023 seasons’ training camp, the common sense move would be to make no move? This could provide Harris time to evaluate Wright’s effectiveness during the 2023 season.

One side of the coin could be that there are those who feel Wright needs an opportunity to show what he can do under different ownership. The other side of the coin would state that the business side has executed more than a few sloppy errors, even comical at times, this being under the supervision of Wright.

The rebrand announcement televised on NBC led by Wright left viewers wondering how much forethought and planning occurred. There was little excitement when Doug Williams was asked by Wright to simply utter, “We are the Commanders.” Why so anticlimactic? Why was there no enthusiasm planned?

Then there were both Sean Taylor days being huge disappointments with, again, little to show in organization and thoughtfulness. The team also was selling mugs with the Washington State geographical design on the mug.

How in the world does that get by several people? What type of leadership and oversight was there in that process? What does that say for cultural literacy as well within the organization?

Then when the Commanders announced they were announcing the 90 Greatest players in franchise history, there was a comedy of errors, so many in fact it ceased to be funny. It was, no exaggeration, an embarrassment for a professional sports league organization.

Yet, there will be those who feel Wright deserves a clean slate, placing all of the blame for his lack of effectiveness on Daniel and Tanya Snyder. His supporters will convey that an immediate dismissal of Wright would be reactionary and not fair to him.

Why are the NFL owners taking so long in the sale of the Commanders?

Some advice for the NFL to get this thing done.

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”afe1e038-d3c2-49c0-922d-6511a229f69c” cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

Why are the NFL owners taking so long in the sale of the Washington Commanders?

NFL owners have more than a few occasions declared that they must undergo a process of vetting the new owners comprising the Josh Harris Group.

Have the NFL owners forgotten where this franchise was just one calendar year ago? Have the NFL owners already forgotten how badly they wanted Daniel Snyder out of their elite club? Have they not recalled how this once-mighty franchise that was selling out all home games, has plummeted to number 32 last season in home attendance?

NFL owners just one year ago were doomed with Daniel Snyder. The plan was Snyder would hold onto the team until his children were old enough to take the reigns of ownership. But this would also mean Snyder would hang around for who knows how many more decades?

Losing at least half of the fan base, how much more could the NFL owners permit the declining trajectory of the Snyder-owned franchise to descend lower and lower? And, for how long would they permit such a downward trend?

Suddenly, during the 2022 season, it was announced Snyder was surprisingly looking to sell. Who would have dreamed the Josh Harris group would agree to overpay $6 billion for a franchise in decline and in need of a new stadium as well?

By the new year, the Snyder’s offices at the Ashburn facility were cleaned out, and Snyder did not even show up for Sonny Jurgensen’s No. 9 retirement ceremony. He was really done with the franchise. He was already moving on!

Isn’t this better (much better) than the NFL owners could have ever imagined? It has been Christmas for the NFL owners. They have been given a huge gift, and frankly, are they showing the gratitude they should display?

Josh Harris has incredibly provided the NFL owners the opportunity to rid themselves of Daniel Snyder, to help the Washington franchise regain a financial stability it once enjoyed for decades.

Yet, why are the NFL owners dragging their feet on this? Why won’t they go ahead and confirm Josh Harris has the new owner of the Washington Commanders?

Sometimes I wonder if this is a game of “chicken.” For instance, what if Harris suddenly proclaimed to the owners, “I’m sick of you not trying to help this franchise get ready for this season from a business side of things. So, you have two weeks to vote and confirm my ownership, or I am out. You can find someone else to replace ‘Mr Snyder’.”

Would we hear a different tune from the owners? Would they suddenly put their feet to the task and ‘get ‘er done’?

These delays, according to head coach Ron Rivera are costing the Commanders. They cannot have contract talks with any of their players who are entering the final year of their contracts, such as Kam Curl and Montez Sweat.

With modern-day technology, why can’t the NFL owners simply Zoom together and resolve this issue, allowing the Commanders to get back into business?

It is a competitive disadvantage. In addition, we are now being told this vote on the sale of the Commanders from Snyder to Harris may not be voted upon until August? Seriously?

“You cannot be serious!” (think John McEnroe).

Come on, NFL owners, get moving and do your part.

Jim Irsay comments on Harris group and NFL hoping to get deal done

Jim Irsay was talking about the Commanders again.

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”afe1e038-d3c2-49c0-922d-6511a229f69c” cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

Jim Irsay was again commenting about the Commanders.

Monday at the NFL owners meeting which is taking place Monday through Wednesday, Irsay expressed some comments regarding the Harris group hopefully getting the deal done in the purchasing of the Washington Commanders.

Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, had recently expressed some anger feeling the Commanders had broken the NFL’s tampering rules. Irsay had warned that tampering with Colts retired quarterback Andrew Luck would bring a team trouble.

But Monday, Irsay was speaking as representing the finance committee overseeing the sale of the Commanders by Daniel Snyder to the Josh Harris group.

The finance committee had met earlier Monday, and consequently, it was very reasonable that one of the committee members would update the media or answer questions.

Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post, provided some of Irsay’s statement:

Listeners and readers may find themselves wondering if there has been some discussion or debate regarding the NFL rules and policies being altered. Irsay did bring up the rules and said the NFL was not changing them. Then Irsay went as far as to offer that NFL owners are looking for the same type of cooperation they received from the Broncos’ sale to the Walton family.

On the one hand, the NFL does not want to alter the rules, change the policies, or change the procedures. On the other hand, might the Harris group be responding that the world of NFL sales and purchases is escalating? In this case, the purchase price is $ 6.05 billion. This necessitates a plurality of people making a purchase, not simply a single owner.

Was Irsay speaking to the Harris group through the media about rules, policies and cooperation? Or might Irsay have been hinting that the NFL is not going to update its policies for the Harris group purchase?

Might we be in the middle of an old-fashioned game of chicken? The owners want to rid themselves of Daniel Snyder so much; might Harris actually possess more leverage than we imagined at first?

New owner Josh Harris will bring high standards to the Commanders

One of Josh Harris’ teams made a big move Tuesday. How could it relate to the Commanders?

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”afe1e038-d3c2-49c0-922d-6511a229f69c” cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

Washington Commanders owner-in-waiting Josh Harris made a huge move Tuesday… he fired his head basketball coach.

His basketball team, the Philadelphia 76ers had concluded their most successful regular season since the 2000-01 season, as this year’s club won 54 of their 82 regular season games.

However, for the third consecutive season, the 76ers led by head coach “Doc” Rivers were unable to advance beyond the second round of the Eastern Conference NBA playoffs.

In fact, the 76ers under Rivers complied a 154-82 (.653) record and winning percentage. Yet, two days following their hard-fought 7-game series loss to the Boston Celtics, Rivers has been relieved of his duties.

Harris is about to take the reigns of the NFL’s Washington Commanders. The Commanders are coached by Ron Rivera who came to Washington in January of 2020. In his three NFL seasons in Washington, Rivera’s teams have compiled records of 7-9, 7-10 and 8-8-1.

76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey’s statement following the firing of Rivers included, “After having the chance to reflect upon our season, we decided that certain changes are necessary to further our goals of competing for a championship.”

Was Morey conveying that he and Harris agreed that they did not feel Rivers could take the team any further than he had in his three seasons?

Rivers led his team to three winning seasons and three first-round series victories in the playoffs as well. Yet, Rivers is no longer employed by Harris.

If Harris possesses such high standards for Rivers, what might this say for Ron Rivera, entering his fourth season in September, having not yet obtained a winning record?

Rivera has been to the NFC Conference championship game once, winning in 2015,  before losing the Super Bowl to the Denver Broncos. He has coached in eight NFL playoff games, winning three.

Further, Rivera also has the circumstances of his starting quarterback having played in only one NFL game prior to the 2023 season opener. His offensive line fell off considerably in 2022 from their 2021 performance.

Ron Rivera will no doubt need to have some success this upcoming season if he is to survive to his final season in his contract (2024).

The least we can say today is there is no question Harris now has the attention of the Commanders’ coaching staff much more than he did prior to the 76ers’ game-seven loss to the Celtics.