Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta admitted in a CNBC interview that he bid on the Washington Commanders. Fertitta was first reported to be interested in the Commanders back in February, placing a bid on the NFL franchise.
Fertitta said that while he did bid on Washington, he is now “done.”
“I’ll be flat out honest, I made a bid on the Washington Commanders for $5.6 billion,” Fertitta said per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “That’s the value that Forbes had them at, and at some point, you’ve got to draw a line in the sand on everything, and that’s where we are. If they can get somebody to pay them more than that, good luck to them. That’s all I can say. I own a franchise, so I love them selling for a lot. But at some point, I don’t think $6 billion is the right number.”
Fertitta is probably right in this case, but NFL owners would disagree.
Don’t count on Fertitta increasing his bid to compete with the bids of Josh Harris and Steve Apostolopoulos.
“Everybody that’s watched me do business for the last 40 years knows when I draw a line in the sand, I’m done,” Fertitta continued. “So, I’m here, you know I can close, and that’s the way it is.”
Harris and Apostolopoulos reportedly had bids near $6 billion, with Harris’ bid, which includes billionaire businessman and philanthropist Mitchell Rales and NBA legend Magic Johnson, considered the more stable bid.
It sounds like Fertitta would’ve been a logical option if Washington owner Dan Snyder wasn’t set on the winning bidder reaching $6 billion — or potentially more. Fertitta went by the franchise’s value, and considering the new owner will need to build a new stadium, that’s understandable.
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