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.