Tag: Team Sale

Report: Dan Snyder plans to sell ‘majority stake in the’ Commanders

it doesn’t mean that Snyder isn’t selling the entire team.

We finally have some confirmation that Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder plans to sell the team.

A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports reported Tuesday that bidders for the Commanders have been told that Snyder plans to sell “a majority stake in the team.”

“They know he’s selling at least a majority stake in the team,” Perez’s source said.

What’s interesting is many believe Snyder will sell the team. When it was revealed in November that Snyder had hired Bank of America to “explore potential transactions” with the franchise, many were skeptical. Some believed Snyder wanted to add a minority partner for cash flow purposes.

However, any transaction would need to be approved by the 31 other owners, and it’s doubtful that strategy would have worked.

Bank of America accepted a first round of bids last month that came in a bit disappointing, Perez reported over the weekend. None of the first round of bids exceeded $6.3 billion, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos did not submit a bid.

That doesn’t mean Bezos is out of the running. Many believe Bezos didn’t want to come out with a strong offer because if he genuinely wanted the franchise, no one could match his offer. That would be Bezos essentially bidding against himself.

Perez included this nugget in his latest report.

And while he has yet to fully enter the bidding, sources told FOS that Bank of America continues to court Bezos — even if there are indications that Snyder doesn’t want to sell to the second-richest person in the U.S.

Perez and JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington have reported that Snyder prefers not to sell the franchise to Bezos because of his disdain for The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. However, with Bank of America continuing to court Bezos, anything is possible.

Finlay did say his sources believe the sale will be complete in March and that Josh Harris was a name to watch.

Fans and coaches would prefer to have the sale over before the new league year begins on March 15 so the Commanders would have clarity ahead of free agency.

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Is Josh Harris now the favorite to be the next Commanders’ owner?

Regardless, the sale of the Commanders should be going down sometime soon.

Over the weekend, A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports broke the news that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos hasn’t even placed a bid on the Washington Commanders.

JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington followed Perez’s report, saying he’d heard the same and added more context to the report.

Snyder said the Snyder family had no interest in selling their franchise to Bezos. The source of Snyder’s frustration: Bezos owns The Washington Post, which has reported many of the stories concerning Snyder and Washington’s toxic workplace under his watch.

On Monday, Finlay reiterated his Twitter report from Sunday, where he said the Commanders’ sale “will be over soon.” How soon? Perhaps March, said Finlay, with the owners approving the deal later that month at the NFL owner’s meetings.

Finlay speculated a deal could be announced before then, especially since the new league year begins March 15. However, it doesn’t become official until the 31 other owners vote to approve.

That’s unclear, and while the NFL might not want any major news stories during its playoffs, an announcement could come as soon as March.

The league holds its annual meeting at the end of March, though the new league year opens at 4 p.m. on March 15. Ideally, a new owner could be installed prior to that date so Washington can hit the ground running during free agency.

Finlay again mentioned Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris as a name to watch.

The Washington D.C. native led a group that was prepared to pay $5 billion for the Denver Broncos last year. However, Harris chose not to enter a bidding war against the Walton-Penner group that eventually bought the Broncos.

Finlay also noted that Todd Boehly had removed himself from the bidding.

As for Bezos, you still shouldn’t count him out. Bezos not submitting a bid in the first round was strategic. He didn’t want to be bidding against himself because no one could offer the Snyder family what Bezos could. Bezos could still come in with the most significant offer, which would put Dan Snyder in an awkward position: Take the highest bid, or sell to someone else to keep Bezos away from the Commanders.

While Snyder loves money, he’d probably enjoy sticking it to Bezos even more.

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Todd Boehly making a ‘very strong push’ to buy the Commanders

Boehly is a local native and has plenty of experience owning professional sports franchises.

All is quiet regarding news of a potential sale of the Washington Commanders. Last month, the first round of bids for the Commanders were due, but nothing was revealed regarding who put in a bid. However, while names weren’t disclosed, there were some impressive bids for the Commanders.

Scott Abraham of ABC 7 in Washington says one of those names is Bethesda native Todd Boehly. Boehly was on the initial list of prospective bidders back in November when it was initially announced that owner Daniel Snyder was exploring potential transactions with the team.

In addition to being a Maryland native, Boehly has deep ties to the sporting world. Boehly is part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Last year, the 49-year-old led a group that purchased the Chelsea Football Club of the Premier League.

Boehly was a member of the Forbes 400 list in 2022 with a value of $5.3 billion.

Outside of sports endeavors, Boehly co-founded the holding company Eldridge in 2015. Boehly has also invested in multiple companies and sits on the board of several organizations.

Boehly partnered with Clearlake Capital in their purchase of Chelsea. The interesting aspect of that partnership is Clearlake Capital has also been rumored to be interested in the Commanders. Behdad Eghbali and José Feliciano, co-owners of Clearlake Capital, attempted to buy a minority share of the Commanders for $900 from Snyder’s former partners, which he rejected.

Clearlake Capital also attempted to buy the Denver Broncos last summer. It isn’t known if they were among the first round of bids for the Commanders.

The Commanders are expected to be sold for $7 billion or more.

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Commanders owner Daniel Snyder: A resident of England?

An interesting Dan Snyder revelation.

In more news that could mean the end of Daniel Snyder’s tenure as owner of the Washington Commanders comes this finding by Mark Maske, Nicki Jhabvala and Liz Clarke of The Washington Post.

Per Maske, Jhabvala and Clarke, in a recent filing, Snyder was asked for which country or state in which he is “usually a resident,” and Snyder’s response was an interesting one: England.

Here’s a bit more from the Post story:

The certificate of incorporation of a private limited company for Snyder UK Investments Limited was filed Nov. 21 with the registrar of companies for England and Wales. Snyder and his wife, Tanya, the co-CEO of the Commanders, are listed as company directors. For both, the country or state of which they are “usually” a resident is listed as England.

Here’s the interesting part. Nov. 21 is just 19 days after the initial report revealing that the Snyder family was exploring potential transactions for the Commanders.

Could it be a coincidence? Sure. Does it mean anything regarding a sale of the team? Possibly not. However, it is curious.

Snyder is a longtime resident of the DMV, having grown up in Maryland’s Montgomery County and graduated high school in Rockville. He has made his primary residence in Potomac, Md., since 2001 and bought a home in Virginia in 2021. He owns other properties in Virginia and Colorado.

The report also states that sources confirmed to The Washington Post that the Snyders have long owned property in England. The Commanders declined to comment.

The first round of bids recently came in for the Commanders, which were quite high. Still, it doesn’t necessarily mean Snyder will sell the team — or part of the team.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is said to have an interest in buying the Commanders with music mogul Jay-Z as an investor.

The Commanders are 7-8-1 and were eliminated from the playoffs after Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns. Legendary former head coach Joe Gibbs was in attendance for Sunday’s game as the franchise honored “The Hogs.” Interestingly, Gibbs was not seen with Snyder, which is a departure from any time Gibbs returns to Washington for a game. Of course, that doesn’t mean Snyder didn’t see Gibbs, but they weren’t spotted sitting together in the press box.

Washington hosts the Dallas Cowboys in the season finale next Sunday.

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Jim Irsay isn’t ready to vote Dan Snyder out, wants to hear from fellow owners

Jim Irsay speaks on Daniel Snyder and the Commanders at league meetings.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay shocked the NFL world at the October owner’s meetings when he came out strong against Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder.

“I believe there is merit to removing him as owner,” Irsay said. In follow-up discussions with the media, Irsay didn’t just stand by his comments; he doubled down.

“I don’t not feel it’s in the best interests of the shield and the NFL,” Irsay said about Snyder’s ownership. “This is not how we should be represented, and it’s regrettable that we have to be in this position.”

So, when the NFL convened in Dallas for league meetings this week, every reporter was looking for Irsay. However, Irsay’s tone was a bit different this time around, although his opinion hasn’t necessarily changed.

“I’m not ready to vote him out,” Irsay said per Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press. “I need to hear more of my partners talk. It’s been something where you want to get more information about everything is the key.”

Daniel Snyder wasn’t in Dallas for the meeting, but his wife and co-owner, Tanya, along with team president Jason Wright represented Washington.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell briefly discussed the Commanders Wednesday, stating only that he didn’t have any “expectations” of a sale.

Irsay was also asked if he thought Snyder selling the team would be a better alternative than the owners voting to force him out.

“I think that’s something that’s certainly a better solution if it came to that,” Irsay said.

Snyder hired Bank of America recently to explore possible transactions with the franchise, leading many to believe it would be a complete sale.

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Jay Glazer: Commanders are for sale and NFL hopes to have it done within 6 months

The NFL hopes to finalize the sale of the Commanders by the NFL owner’s meetings in March.

The Washington Commanders are for sale and could fetch as much as $7 billion, according to Jay Glazer of FOX Sports.

Forbes broke the story last week that Washington owner Daniel Snyder was “exploring” a potential team sale. It wasn’t specific as to whether it was a complete sale or a minority stake in the franchise to raise some capital.

The Commanders released a statement shortly after the Forbes report, stating they were exploring “potential transactions.”

Regardless, the potential buyers are already lining up, with Byron Allen expecting to make a bid. And, unsurprisingly, Jeff Bezos is also reportedly interested.

There will be others.

And the sale of Washington could happen soon.

“The other interesting part is the timeline,” Glazer said. “This is not going to be a long, drawn-out process. I’m told the hope is to have this done within the next six months and actually have it finalized by the NFL owner’s meetings next March.”

The Commanders are hosting the Minnesota Vikings in Week 9 at FedEx Field.